follow the first reTruck prototype as it is built

What is a reTruck?

It’s a completely remanufactured 1973-1987 Chevrolet or GMC truck.  When we say remanufactured we don’t mean rebuilt or restored…

rebuilt means what was broken is fixed – nothing more.  Pretty good, but what about the parts that haven’t broken yet, but will break soon?

restored means just about anything, depending on who’s using the term.  Ideally, it means brought back to original appearance and function.  Problem is, restoration can mean painting a vacuum brake booster to look like ‘yellow cad’ instead of replating it in the original finish.  Or, how about dyeing a carburetor to look good from 50 feet rather than re-chromating the parts with the original olive green conversion coating, the way The General* did it, back in the day!

Those tricks will look nice and will work fine in car shows, but won’t have the durability and the correctness of the originals. Even the most expensive restorations tend to have problems like this.

remanufactured is what we do: The entire truck is disassembled to its smallest pieces, just like back at the factory on day one.  Then parts are either replaced or reworked so they look, work and will last as long as or longer than new.  If the part is supposed to be plated, it’s plated – not painted.  If a wearing part is still OK – it’s replaced with a new one!  Even if it still has life left in it, it wouldn’t have the life of a new one.  That’s why, to be part of a reTruck it has to be like new, in every possible way.

Looking at it another way, reTruck is a philosophy, a way of looking at ‘restoration’ that goes beyond what any regular, one-off restoration would do.

How is it possible?

OK – we all know how incredibly expensive a one-off restoration can be. 

That’s the key:

reTruck doesn’t do one-off restorations –

We do restorations on one type of vehicle at a time, in assembly-line fashion.

 
Chevrolet truck cab on jig

The Trouble With One-Off Restorations

When your truck was new there was an assembly line where they were built one after another.

The guys that put them together had plenty of opportunity to practice. 

It wasn’t a new experience every day with an unfamiliar vehicle to work on - the way it is today in an ordinary restoration shop.

That’s why we’re the experts and we can do it right, every time, and over and over again, to deliver the best new old truck available anywhere!

 

*General Motors

(c)2010 retruck Trademarks appearing on this website are the property of their respective owners. No endorsement by the trademark owners is to be construed nor was any sought. All prices are in US currency.

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Rusty's 1978 Suburban

Suburban engine cradle

1973-1987 Chevrolet and GMC Trucks

Our concept is simple: set up a line for each type of vehicle you restore, and do lots of ‘em.  This way we bring costs way down because we buy in quantity, and we bring quality way up, because we’re experts at what we do.