Mike Swaney’s Showstopper C10

Hot rod builder Mike Swaney didn’t think twice about gifting his 14-year-old son Brad with the rusty 1971 Chevy C10 he had lying around, as well as the cruddy pile of parts that went with it. It had sat dormant for way too many years and he just figured his mechanically competent teenager could throw it all back together for some basic transportation. Even good ol’ Pop would have a hard time believing what the very needy pickup would metamorphosize into under the direction of his talented son.

Rusty Bones

This story takes place in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, a quiet hamlet about an hour south of Pittsburgh, located in the rolling countryside in the southwest corner of the state. Young Brad grew up alongside his dad watching, learning, and sometimes pitching in on some of his dad’s four-wheeled creations. By the time he was a teenager, the young gun was ready, willing, and able to take on a project of his own. “I figured he was two years from getting his license, so I ‘gifted’ him my C10, which I have had since 1993. I never