I purchased this truck back in 1995.  Although I have had a few 73-87's in the past, this is the first one that I really fell in love with and it had the potential to be real special.  When I acquired the truck, it was bone stock with an excellent body, decent paint, and a very tired 350.   It was also equipped with a automatic transmission, 3.08 geared 12 bolt (open carrier), tilt wheel, air conditioning (didn't work), and 15X8 inch rally wheels.

After driving the truck for a few months, I decided I wanted to change a few things, and give it more of a muscular look and feel.  The first thing I did was to remove all the trim and emblems...exposing many holes, all of which would need to be welded shut.  Once the holes were closed, I talked with a friend of mine who worked at a autobody shop, and he agreed to help me paint the truck.  The first order of business was to order two new doors, a right inner fender, a right fender, and a tailgate handle relocation kit.  Once they were in my possession, I loaded up the truck and headed to the shop.  Once at the shop, the front end was taken apart, the doors were pulled, and we took everything off the body we could.   Next I needed to decide what color I wanted to paint the truck.  Since I like high impact colors, and there wasn't many yellow truck running around (at the time), I decided to go with yellow.  Once the shade of yellow was picked out, the fenders, hood, doors, and cab were all "jammed".  Since the body on the truck was in excellent condition, all that was needed to get it paint ready was some minor block sanding, a once over with a DA sander, and to install the tailgate handle relocation kit.   Next, all of the jammed pieces were carefully bolted to the truck and aligned to ensure proper fit.  With everything back together, the truck was primed, painted, cleared, and baked.  Since my friend did such an excellent job, the truck needed no wet sanding or buffing...it looked awesome!  Once home, I then re-assembled the rest of the truck, again, being very careful not to damage the new paintjob.  This whole process took the better part of two months, on weekends, to finish...and I learned A LOT.

Once the body was finished, it was time to tackle the drivetrain.  Since I had very little mechanical knowledge at the time, another friend of mine stepped in and gave me a hand.  He located a freshly rebuilt 350 at a very decent price, and had it shipped to his house.  The engine and transmission were then pulled, and the transmission went to a local transmission shop and had a bench rebuild done to it.  Once the transmission was finished, it was hooked up to the new engine, and they were installed in the truck.  Once installed, the engine was broken in, tuned, and running like a champ!

After driving the truck for a year or so, I needed more, more speed that is.  Over the course of the next year or two, I changed intake manifolds, rockers, carburetors, and gears...all of which propelled the truck to its best time of 14.6 @ 93 mph in the quarter mile.  Considering the engine is more or less internally stock (.030 overbore), has stock heads, and is a 4000+ pound truck with stock suspension, I consider that very good.  This is also where the truck got its name...Yeller.  It was named this by a friend of mine, not just because it is yellow in color, but because it had a mean exhaust note and was loud...Yeller.

Next, I decided to make it look like it ran.  I purchased and installed a fiberglass cowl induction hood, dropped spindles and springs for the front, and a shackle and hanger kit for the rear.  The truck now sat 4 inches lower in front and in back, and had the mean, muscular look I was after.

In 1999, Since I had just finished college, I decided I needed to move out and purchase a house of my own.  Over the course of the next year, I sold my motorcycle, snowmobile, and four wheeler...the only thing I kept was Yeller.  With all the things out of the way that would cost me money, I was able to save and focus on finding a new place to live.  In the early fall of 2000, I finally found and purchased a house...and it had a two car garage (a min requirement of mine).  In the spring of 2001, I decided to take Yeller down to the frame and build it up the way I really wanted to...this is where I am at now.

Future plans are to finish up the project, and drive it!  When finished, it will look similar to what it did prior to taking it apart, only it will be lower, louder, faster...and better than new!

I want to send out a special thanks to Cory Lincoln, Chuck Rice, Pete Fick, Paul Hostetler, and Derek Olsen.  Without their help, Yeller would not have been, and would not be, what it is today.  Not only did they help with my many on going projects, they each taught me things I never knew...and to this day, I use that knowledge every time I work on my truck.  Thanks guys!

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