In honor of dad, son restores pickup down to the last detail

By Tim Goodwin - Jan 7, 2014 | 0 comments

Even the upholstery is reminiscent of 1985.

After buying the truck back from the man who bought it from his dad, Kimball spent over a year returning it to the original condition.

The Silver Bullet, a 1985 Chevrolet Scottsdale K10 pickup, was found and rebuilt by Jeff Kimball in a tribute to his late father Chris, who bought the truck brand new in Rock Springs, Wyo.

Jeff Kimball allows his 1985 Scottsdale to leave the garage in the winter for a couple photos.

Jeff Kimball still remembers the day his father purchased that 1985 Chevrolet Scottsdale K10 pickup.

The truck was brand-spanking new sitting on the lot at the Whisler Chevrolet dealership in Rock Springs, Wyo. And Chris Kimball was going to take it home – the first new vehicle he had ever bought.

Jeff Kimball was only 7 at the time, but he will never forget that day, what it meant for his dad. And Kimball later found out that he actually knew about buying the truck before his mom, Sherri.

“I went with him to the dealership and picked it up,” said Kimball.

Chris, who traded in a 1980 Ford pickup, drove the Scottsdale for four years, putting less than 19,000 miles on it, before receiving a company truck from V-1 Propane. At that point, the family of four had moved from Cody, Wyo. to Billings, Mont., and with no need for the truck anymore, Chris sold it to a neighbor down the street named Larry. But Kimball knew his dad always loved that truck.

“It was my dad’s pride and joy,” said Kimball.

When Chris passed away in April 2011 at the age of 60 due to complications from a condition known as frontotemporal dementia combined with ALS, Kimball began to think about that old truck.

“I always thought it’d be cool to go back and get that truck,” said Kimball. “Once he was gone, it was that connection. I knew I had to get it back.”

As someone who loves to buy and restore automobiles, Kimball thought it would be a great way to honor a man who was also his best friend. In the years of going back to Wyoming and Montana for family vacations following a move to Massachusetts in 1994, five years removed from selling the Scottsdale, Kimball had seen the truck quite a few times in the old neighborhood.

On a whim, Kimball sent his grandfather, Alfred Guilmaiaka – aka Gil – to Larry’s house in Billings just a few months later to see if the old truck was still around. Gil knocked on the door and was beginning to write a note just as Larry returned home.

“It was dad’s favorite truck. He always loved that truck,” said Sherri. “At the time, we just didn’t need it.”

After hearing Chris’s story and Kimball’s interest in buying the truck, the two began to talk. A few phone conversations and a visit from Sherri later, Larry finally agreed to sell it. (Don’t worry, there was no Sopranos-style approach to this purchase.)

“He thought about it for a while,” said Kimball. “People were asking him all the time to buy the truck.”

Kimball never looked at it. There was no need to. He wanted the truck and was willing to pay a reasonable price to get it. They agreed – over the phone – on $2,500, and in September 2011, Kimball and Sherri got on a plane to Montana. But not before shipping his tool box for any necessary fixes.

“I didn’t look at the truck,” said Kimball. “I didn’t care because I was going to fix it.”

And did he ever need those tools. The truck, which had about 150,000 miles on it, had quite a bit of body damage due to a bad hail storm, “smoked like a fool,” according to Kimball, and needed some fine-tuning before attempting a cross-country voyage back to Concord. Then, when Kimball went to the local gas station, he soon realized there was another issue – and this was a big one. One of the two, 16-gallon gas tanks had a leak, and it was the one he filled up first. A good portion of the fuel dripped all over the ground, some went into Kimball’s mouth as he tried to siphon it and the rest ended up in some emergency gas tanks. Just to be clear, gas is not okay to drink.

“That was a bad day,” said Kimball.

But the nice thing was that Larry had kept all the records of work done – a bonus for someone who plans to do a lot of work himself.

“He still had the original bill of sale and paperwork from my father,” said Kimball.

So, after changing the intake in the motor, replacing all the gaskets, timing it and buying a set of new tires, Kimball set out for home. He also found a new hood at his favorite junkyard from his childhood days. Didn’t know you could have a favorite junkyard? They all seem special and unique.

They also brought some of his father’s ashes along for the ride – hanging over the Scottsdale’s rear view mirror.

With only one operational gas tank and a truck that got just 15 miles to the gallon, it was a stop-filled ride home. Driving up to 15 hours a day, Kimball and Sherri stayed in Spearfish, S.D. and Toledo, Ohio during the three-plus day journey.

“People were looking at me like I was crazy for driving that truck cross-country,” said Kimball.

And once he got the Scottsdale back home, the real work began. The goal was to return the truck to its original condition when his father drove it, but after realizing he could not go back in time, Kimball began the restoration process anyway.

Chris saved everything from the truck when he sold it, and Kimball made sure that he put it all back where it belonged – right down to his hollowed out flashlight pencil holder attached to the drivers side door and the matchbooks that remained in the glove box all those years.

“I wanted to make it right,” said Kimball. “It looks like it did when he bought it.”

In the winter of 2011, Kimball spent much of the time rebuilding the motor. The following spring and summer, he tore apart the truck, right down to the frame. There are even some chalk drawings from his daughter, Caia, to prove it. Last fall, Kimball took it to have the only pieces to the puzzle he could not arrange himself – the body work and paint job.

Lucky for Kimball, one of his father’s old friends, Rick Madden, owns a body shop in Tyngsboro, Mass., called Duff’s Garage and was willing to help with the project. It took about a month, but before Christmas 2012, Kimball had his truck back.

“It brought back a lot of memories,” said Kimball.

By the time last spring rolled around, Kimball had it all back together, down to the original tachometer and the propane conversion kit that his father installed. He added a new 32-gallon tank in the same spot his dad had it.

“I wanted to put it back on propane like my dad had it,” said Kimball. “That was his life. He was a propane guy. That’s why the truck runs on propane.”

All the parts were General Motors, and he even had it painted the original color.

“It’s not the most desirable color, because everybody thinks it looks like primer,” said Kimball.

The only major change he made is the addition of a chrome rear bumper. The original is something that Kimball referred to as ugly and something his father even disliked, but didn’t have the money to replace. Kimball found one in Mooresville, N.C., and decided to make the upgrade. For his dad.

An important consideration for Kimball was the license plate. Chris had nicknamed the truck ‘The Silver Bullet,’ and he wanted to have the vanity plate to complete the restoration process. So he went on the DMV website, found a variation that was not used and ordered it.

The first trip in the finished version of the truck last spring was to Madden’s house. The two have become close friends since Chris’s passing. Kimball will take it to car shows and to Arnie’s on Tuesdays for cruise night during the summer. But right now, you won’t see him driving it around.

“I’d walk to work before I’d drive it in the snow and salt,” said Kimball. “My plan is to never drive it in the winter.”

Kimball knows he put more money into the truck than it’s worth, but that doesn’t bother him at all. What matters is that he now has his dad’s truck, and it looks just like it did back in 1985.

“I’ll never get back what I put into it, but I’ll also never sell it,” said Kimball.