1960 to 1966 Chevrolet C10 Small to Big-Window Conversion - Panoramic Change

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From the May, 2011 issue of Custom Classic Trucks / By John Gilbert
In the mid-’50s, a styling trend that found its way from American automobiles into light-duty trucks was wraparound windshields and rear windows. The idea was to offer as much visibility to the occupants as possible. Fashioned after the freshly redesigned 1955 Chevy automobile, the second series Chevrolet pickups came standard with a wraparound windshield featuring a similar appearance. In the rear, a flat small window was standard, with an optional wraparound big rear window described as Panoramic offered as an option.

The year 1960 brought the most radical departure from the previous year’s design in Chevrolet truck history. Up front, the non-independent straight-axle design was dropped in favor of torsion bar IFS, and nothing about the truck’s cab, or frontend, bore a resemblance to the styling of the 1955-1959 trucks. The wraparound windshield on the 1960 model was of an even more radical curvature, but the rear of the cab was flat and dictated flat window glass. Unique to all 1960-1966 C10 cabs is the presence of a big rear window relief in the sheetmetal. This was a means to save production costs. If a Panoramic rear window was ordered, the factory only had to make one more punch, and the cab was ready to accept the larger pane of glass. To make up for the larger glass on the inside of the cab, a matching panel was installed as the cab was going down the assembly line.
Back when these trucks were new, the cost of the optional big rear window wasn’t all that much. Today is a different story where big-window trucks are highly coveted and demand thousands of dollars more than a comparable small-window truck. Unlike 1955-1959 Chevy trucks where the aftermarket offers a replacement big-window cab section, there isn’t anything available for 1960-1966 trucks, or at least not up until now that is.

To fill this very tiny gap in the market, a fellow up in Montana named Scott Hursh founded Scott’s Classic Big Window and spends his winters hand forming a section out of 20-guage steel that makes the job relatively simple. That’s not to say anyone can do it, because some basic fabricating skills are necessary.

To convert the rear window on my ’66 C10, I asked my friend, Steve Bentley, a master fabricator, to handle the job. A veteran of anything from chopping a ’67 C10 Suburban into a crew cab dualie to turning coupes into convertibles, Steve said the best tool for this particular job was a Harbor Freight electric body saw. Don’t try the pneumatic version because it won’t be as controllable. For a new replacement big-window glass and window rubber, Steve said he found Brothers to sell the best quality. While we were converting the ’66 to a big-window, I figured it’d be a good time to install Brothers’ Custom Cab moldings as well. In this month’s segment, we got all the way to where the rear window glass is ready to install. Since my ’66 C10 is a typical example where there are some rust issues that must be addressed first, we’ll save that for next month along with how to properly install a new windshield. CCT




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