Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
OGDEN — The paint job on Andy Turrubiartez's pickup truck was so good that he paid the painter more than he was billed.
The story of this low-rider pickup begins in 1991 when Turrubiartez was in high school. For his 16th birthday, his father passed down his 1969 Chevrolet C10 pickup. It had a straight-six engine and three-on-the-tree manual transmission. It was just the thing to get Andy to school, but C10 trucks weren't cool, yet. The commuter — Ogden to Centerville for his dad — was stock white and got decent gas mileage.
The younger Turrubiartez picked up a part-time job to pay for gas.
At age 18, with a daughter on the way, he started his own full-time cleaning business. The pickup became his work truck for the first three years of the business. When the straight-six engine started smoking, he tried to replace it with a 350 V-8; but after finding three engines with cracked blocks, he settled on a 283 with four on the floor.
When Turrubiartez was 21, he replaced the truck at work and put it out to pasture — in his backyard. It sat for 10 years, losing the air in its tires while leaves fell on it and the sun did its damage.
In 2006, a friend offered to work on it. The truck was dragged to the shop, where it stayed for a year while the friend pulled parts off and Turrubiartez provided new replacements.
It got back on the road at stock height with pearl white paint. Turrubiartez started driving it around and added wire wheels. His friends gave good feedback, and he started taking it to car shows. After three years of just looking nice, he went full low-rider show truck. He took off the suspension and sent the parts to get chromed. He added EZ Air Ride airbags: it will go low, but it won't hop.
The truck got more attention from people, which then caused it to get more attention from Turrubiartez.
He got the upholstery done by Maldo's in Ogden. Andy bought a crate-350 engine, ordered chrome parts, mated it to a Turbo 350 transmission, and cleaned up the engine bay. He replaced the steering column with one compatible with the automatic shifter, also chromed.
As if a chromed chassis, new engines and interiors weren't over the top — the paint did that.
Turrubiartez took the plain white C10 to Jesse Anguiano, in Ogden. He asked what kind of design he wanted. Turrubiartez replied that he had seen Anguiano's work and fully trusted him to do what he thought looked best. Turrubiartez's only input was the colors: He wanted black, silver and his mother's favorite color, cobalt blue.
Anguiano kept the truck for four months, working on it nights and weekends after his day job. Changes at this stage are a hassle and setback, typically instigated by clients who can't make up their minds. Turrubiartez says it was Anguiano who changed patterns, three or four times, trying to find something that worked best with the lines of the truck. He would ask Turrubiartez what he thought of the design as he went and, at every stage, Turrubiartez loved it.
Anguiano charged him $12,000 for the paint job, a price Turrubiartez didn't think was fair enough.
And while he tried to refuse, Turrubiartez was able to pay $15,000 — which he said is still too low for what came of it. The two are good friends, now, and Turrubiartez said he is in awe every time he looks at the job Anguiano did on the truck.
The paint and everything else were good enough to win its class at the Cinco de Mayo Lowrider Show in Los Angeles. Turrubiartez said there are very few low-rider trucks in the 1967-1972 category, and his is the only one with a short bed that he knows of.
He's not all low and slow, however. With the improved suspension and drivetrain, he's caught himself exceeding the speed limit on Utah interstates. He drives the truck with the serious paint on short trips and cruises, and his daughter drives it to car shows when he takes his 1966 Impala. He's offered to let his dad drive it, but his dad always declines — not wanting to damage that (meager) $15,000 paint job.
