Square Body Chevy Hood Bent as Heading onto Mecum Stage

Chevy truck hood was bent while being closed before heading onto the televised auction.

Imagine taking your custom LS-powered 1980 Chevy square body pickup to a Mecum auction with the hopes of getting top dollar. You get her all shined up ahead of time and spend the final few minutes in the staging area of the venue making sure that the truck looks its best when it rolls across the stage. You open the hood to make sure that the engine looks and as you pull the hood down, the hinges bind up a bit and you bend the hood.

Unfortunately, this is a common problem for many Chevy square body owners. Due to the construction of square body hoods, if the hinges aren’t well lubricated and you try to force the hood down, it can bend. Sadly, it seems that this exact scenario happened to the owner of the 1980 Chevy C10 pickup shown here at the 2021 Mecum Dallas auction back in September.

Super Clean Square Body Chevy

In the video below from the Mecum YouTube channel, you can watch the auction proceedings for this 1980 Chevy C10 pickup. This truck is powered by a 5.3-liter LS engine with an aftermarket camshaft and a headers through dual exhaust.

Power is sent to the rear wheels by means of a built 4L80 transmission with a 2500 stall and the truck has been dropped over the 20-inch wheels, complete with a notched frame. The interior is super clean, but it looks all stock, right down to the slick ‘80s upholstery.

We have included a few pictures here of the Chevy C10 before heading to the Mecum Dallas auction and the truck really looks great inside and out. It isn’t a wild build, but it looks to be a well-sorted truck.

The Bent Hood

If you have never been to a Mecum auction, it is a pretty unique experience. The vehicles are parked around the auction venue, allowing potential bidders a chance to check them out in person before bidding. That area is very relaxed and laid back, but up around the auction block, it is a whole different world.

The staging area leading up to the auction block is comprised of rows of vehicles being moved quickly through a relatively tight area. There are lots of people in this area, with some cleaning vehicles, some helping to move the vehicles, some helping to maintain some system of organization and some people who aren’t doing anything more than being in the way.

While in the staging area, this 1980 Chevy C10 was being cleaned up as the owner prepared the truck for its time in the spotlight. Unfortunately, when the owner went to close the hood, it bent rather than closing, doing quite a bit of damage. As a result, when the truck rolls onto the stage, the announcer states that the owner will pay for up to $1,500 worth of body work to fix the bent hood. Also, Mecum made it clear that none of their employees had anything to do with the bent hood.

This 1980 Chevy sold for $31,900 and it seems as though the guy doing the most active bidding is the big guy on the stage in the Army green shirt. We don’t know if he won the auction, but he looked up close at the damage and still bid.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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