1972 Chevy Cheyenne
Article and photos by Larry Crain

This super clean Chevy truck is owned by Johnny Golden of Pickens, South Carolina, and it loves living in the country. This truck was purchased new by Johnny’s father in 1972 for use on the family farm, but that doesn’t mean it was treated like just another farm truck. This truck found itself in the promised land with its new owner. It got washed and waxed on a regular basis; no cow manure stayed on this truck for long. This old farm truck had it really good, shoot, it was even garage kept, not like its country cousins that sat out in the yard everyday. Heck, this truck had an owner that loved it so much that he put mag wheels and dual exhaust on it. A very sad day arrived in 1989 when Johnny’s father passed away, and the truck mourned the passing of its dear old friend. The truck found a new home with Johnny who drove it for 6 or 7 years, taking care of it just like his father had. The day did arrive when Johnny made the decision to freshen up the truck a little with the help of Jim Keith who was ready to help a friend out. Before Johnny knew it, the truck was in a gazillion pieces that would take close to 3 years of work to put back together better than new.

The exterior of the old farm truck looks pretty much the way it did back in 1972 when it was brand new. The body is straighter and the paint is a lot slicker thanks to the hard work and talents of Roberts Body Shop laying out the PPG green paint. The bed area of the truck was not overlooked in the upgrades. It was treated to an all new wood floor and strips with hidden bolts. The awesome looking exterior chrome work on this beautiful truck was done by Advance Plating. The exterior of this truck almost hides its true nature after this rebuild, but look closely at the front fender badging and it lets you know to be very careful about picking on this old farm truck.

The frame under this old Chevy might be original but it has been cleaned up, dressed up and updated to stand out from the crowd. The front and rear suspension have been update with Hotchkis Sport Suspension packages with the front lowered by 3 inches and the rear lowered by 4 inches. A complete Wilwood brake system has been installed along with an update GM 12 bolt rear end with Richmond 3:73 gears. The truck was given a really good hot rod look with a set of Boyd Coddington Magneto Wheels mounted with Goodyear Eagle radials, 17x8 with 255/45/17 on the front and 18x10 with 295/15/18 on the rear.

The drivetrain on this truck was given a very serious upgrade package in the form of a dressed out butt-kicking American Speed 383 stroker motor that pumps out 450 horsepower. The internals of this bad bowtie comes in the form of a Comp Cam Thumper and roller valve train assembly. The “dressed out” part comes in the form of a custom dual cone air cleaner, valve covers, brackets, alternator, oil pan, Edelbrock carburetor and Edelbrock intake all chromed to the max by Advance Plating. This beast of a motor is equipped with Hooker Super Comp headers and a custom mandrel bent 2 ½ polished stainless steel exhaust system. Transmission of choice for this updated drivetrain is a GM 700R4 with a 3000 stall converter.

The interior of this truck has seen some changes from what it came with back in the day. The factory column was changed out in favor of a tilt column from a Chevy van, then that has been topped off with a custom steering wheel from Billet Specialties. The original gauge cluster has been freshened up but the only change to OEM was an upgraded electric tach capable of handling whatever revs Johnny throws at the truck. When it came time to tackle the interior, Johnny took the hot rod Chevy to Kings Upholstery who built the custom panels, console and reworked a pair of bucket seats from a Suburban. Kings covered the interior in grey leather and used Mercedes wool carpet where the original GM material once laid.

What is really going to be hard for you to believe about this story is the fact that Johnny Golden and his friend Jim Keith finished this truck build around 2004! That’s right! This truck has been on the road, finished and kicking butt at Super Chevy, Pigeon Forge Rod Run and World of Wheels for over 12 years! Johnny will be the first one to tell you that what he loves about this old farm truck is that about 85% of the rebuild was done by him and his friend Jim.