A Detour to Dreamland

NOT EVERYONE has the time or the opportunity to do the things they truly want to do in life. Chalk it up to hectic work schedules, too many responsibilities, or a simple lack of ambition. Some interpret their dreams as being some far off, imaginary place that they’ll never reach no matter how hard they try. But in reality, that faraway, distant land is more reachable than most people think. There’s no secret passage or foolproof shortcut that we know of, but a fresh perspective and positive outlook can turn mysterious impossibilities into real- life, tangible things. Hey, and you don’t even need to break out the Visa and charge a session with life coach Tony Robbins.

In reality, that faraway, distant land is more reachable than most people think.

No, finding the path to the place or object you’ve only seen in your sleep is just an attitude adjustment away. Eddy Bramel can attest to this. He’d recently bought this sweet ’65 C-10 from his friend Dino Battilana, who had hauled it back to Arizona from California after a trip to Delmo’s Speed & Kustom Shop. Eddy’s vision was simple: ’bag it and keep it rusty, but he encountered some outside influences that tried to sway him from his original vision. Eddy told us, “My son Connor found a U.S. Mag wheel and kept showing me a picture of it on his phone. Time after time I told him to forget about it and that the wheels didn’t fit in with the quick build I had planned. He didn’t give up though; he was very persistent.”

…you can easily miss the enjoyments of life just by not taking the time to do the things you love.

When Eddy had the truck ripped apart to pancake the front cross member, his wife came into the garage and gave him some advice that he didn’t expect to hear from her. “She asked me why I hadn’t bought the wheels that Conner had been showing me. The whole reason I had intended on keeping the build simple in the first place was to keep the project inexpensive. Well, I took her question as permission to go ahead and take the truck a bit further, so I ordered the wheels and built the rest of the truck around the set of wheels my son had been hounding me about. I can officially say that things got carried away from this point on, but it was the start of an 11-month process that I wouldn’t change for anything.”

Now, before this story goes any further, there’s something about Eddy that you should know. A while back when he was 40 (he’s currently 46) he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. As you could imagine, that news completely changed his life. He underwent a hellish, yearlong battle of recovery including surgery and chemotherapy. “I was given a second chance in life. I had been working a demanding job and was totally stressed out with no end in sight. I had to reevaluate my life and it took something as big as this to make me realize that you can easily miss the enjoyments of life just by not taking the time to do the things you love.” Eddy found a form of therapy that ended up being the best available treatment right inside his own garage. It has incorporated a mixture of things he loves: family, friends and his favorite hobby. “I’m fortunate to have an understanding wife who gets how I tick. I can have the most stressful day and a couple of hours in the garage does wonders to help me unwind.”

Eddy hasn’t let his bout with cancer get the best of him. He’s turned the situation into the most positive of experiences. He now has a killer truck that he had no intention of building when he first took ownership of it. He tells us, “I dig all aspects of building trucks: the fabrication, design, shopping for parts and the installation. I’m a Tri-5 Chevy guy and have never owned or built a 1960-66 before. I tried my best to apply my ideas of what I was familiar with on this new build. I loved the challenge.”

Eddy was definitely taken into a different direction with this one, and it’s apparent that the fire inside of him to see the truck through was burning a hole right from the very center of his being. “I have always loved cars and decided to start spending more time with the things I loved. After all, tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. I believe that I learned this lesson before it was too late. You can run and chase all the things you want or you can stop and enjoy the things you already have.”

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BUILD SPECS

OWNER

Eddy Bramel
1965 Chevy C-10
Peoria, AZ

ENGINE

• Shop: A&S Transmission
• GM eight-cylinder small-block crate engine
• Edlebrock water pump
• MSD alternator
• Champion cross-flow radiator
• CPP tubular motor mounts
• Edlebrock intake manifold
• March Performance air cleaner
• Quick Fuel Technology carburetor
• Champion radiator and fan
• Ram Horn headers
• Flowmaster 40 mufflers
• Billet Specialties valve covers
• Trutrac pulleys
• 700R4 trans
• Hughes Performance 3,000-stall toque converter
• Lokar shifter
• John’s Industries narrowed 9-inch rearend with Trac-Lok locker
• Yogi’s universal gas tank

SUSPENSION

• CPP modular drop spindles
• Stock control arms
• Pancaked stock front cross member
• Factory trailing arms
• Custom rear notch and ‘bag mounts
• Air Lift Dominator airbags
• KYB shocks
• CPP 14-inch slotted/drilled rotors
• Corvette master cylinder
• Viair compressors

WHEELS & TIRES

• 20×9-inch and 20×15 U.S. Mag Cartel with polished hoops and brushed, powder-coated centers
• 245/35/ZR20 and 335/30/ZR20 Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires

BODY & PAINT

• Shop: DNA Concepts
• PPG Gray Metallic exterior/Pewter and Gray interior
• Brushed nickel front and rear bumpers, grille and inserts
• Seamless hood with Porterbuilt hinges
• Seamless bed with custom tubs and oak and billet strips
• Shaved tailgate chains
• Pneumatic-actuated lift
• GE Nighthawk LED headlights
• LED taillights

INTERIOR

• Shops: DOM Interiors in Phoenix, and Connections in Glendale, AZ
• Leather/suede German square weave upholstery on stock 1965 seat
• Painted headliner
• Dakota Digital VHX gauges
• Billet Specialties steering wheel and handles
• Vintage Air A/C
• Pioneer 7500BT head unit
• JL Audio components
• JL Audio 12-inch shallow-mount sub
• Two JL Audio 1500-watt digital amps
• Two Odyssey batteries
• Dynamat throughout cab

SPECIAL THANKS FROM OWNER: Thank you to my wife for putting up with all my time in the garage, my son Connor for not giving up on his wheel vision, thanks to Dino and Delmo for NOT building this truck, and to Joe Casias for spending countless hours right next to me on this project.

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