LUVTruck.com

does anyone no the history behind the chevy luv stepside i have a glass bed on mine but i have also seen steel beds

Well they where mad back in the 70’s by a co. called California step side. They where basic looking to start …one style fit all but just moving the bed rails under the bed to the mounting points on the truck then sitting the bed on and marking where to weld them… then they became very popular with the mini truckers … and 2 other companies started to make them on in Florida and one in Texas not sure what the beds where made of from these companies but they used Chevy or Ford fenders from late 50’s early 60’s
Then Chevy got the idea of having a bed designed for the luv and had I believe the nephew of Barris design the fender for the bed… and that is the one we see almost all the time on the luv, this made it a dealer option (not factory) that could be sold as an upgrade for the luv … here in Oregon I would go to the dealer and for every 10 luvs they had 4 or 5 would be step sides new but not from factory seeing how it was cheaper to import the luv with out the beds on the truck (less tax) and then the dealers would install the beds weather fleet or step side this also explains why there are more step side luv’s then any other import truck… as a side note there where a few 80’s step side made that where all fiberglass for ford and Chevy but not sure who made them
this ends the class of step sides 101

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My old but now gone Luv...

send me a pic and ill see what i can find out for you... oh and welcome to the luv site

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My old but now gone Luv...

Generally speaking, if you see a Luv with an all-metal stepside bed, it's probably custom made. Usually they just took a full-sized truck stepside bed and cut it down and welded it back together to fit.

Back in the 70's there was a fad going around up here in the great(?) northwest that had a lot of guys whacking up full-size stepside Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and even a few Jeep and old Studebaker truck stepside beds and putting them on their small trucks.

I guess they figured that was better than driving around with plastic rear fenders.

A few guys even got some duals off of an old minitruck/motorhome and stuck them on longbed and extended cab small trucks and bolted on some add-on extended fenders to create their own mini-dually's.

My neighbor had one...it was a Toyota extended cab with dual wheels and add-on rear fenders. It sure was an odd looking thing...especially since he painted it bright John Deere yellow.

Boy, you made Ctmadu's day when he read this. I bet he almost got a tear in his eye. The stepside guru called in to serve.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

sniff sniff... ahhhh come on now it wasnt that bad

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My old but now gone Luv...

I thought about finding a step for my 4X4 but the roll bar it has wouldn't fit. But I do think a lifted 4X4 step side would be a cool look.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

Ron...if you can find an old used full sized chevy stepside bed, you can cut it to narrow and shorten it to fit your Luv and fab your own mounts if you have to. That's what the guys around here used to do.

They just stood the two beds up beside each other, measured them both, an started cuttin' and weldin' untill they got it ready to bolt on. Some of them even cut down the stock full-sized chevy stepside bed tailgate to fit, so they would still have the Chevrolet logo on the back of their truck.

A good sawsall, a decent grinder, and a wirefeed welder should make you a pretty decent bed you can use in no time.

I have been looking at the stepside beds on the newer Chevy extreme and the Ford splash but haven't got a tape measure on one to see how close one would fit but they sure look like they would.

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1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s