1971 Chevy Dream Truck Packs a 10.4L V8 Under the Hood, and It’s Headed to Auction

If you see an old GM pickup and automatically assume it has a 350 small-block, well, you’d have to guess again on this one. It’s a 1971 Chevrolet K10, and no, it doesn’t have an LS or even a 454 big-block. Instead, it has a honking 632-cubic-inch V8 crate engine thanks to the JPS Customs crew, which made this Cheyenne Super Custom into an absolute dream build.

You can bet it’ll get the crowd’s attention as it thump-thump-thumps across the auction block at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale spectacular in January. The 10.4-liter GM Performance lump is rated at an astounding 1,004 horsepower and 876 lb-ft of torque, and it does so without any kind of power adders. I usually disagree with that old adage, but in this case, there really is no replacement for displacement.

The V8 sits in the smoothed engine bay like a crown jewel with its orange valve covers and high-rise intake. There really is a lot of artistic expression going on here—or maybe you prefer the term “craftsmanship.” Either way, JPS was intentional with every step, from the Stainless Works headers to the mandrel-bent 3-inch Borla exhaust and everything around it.

With an engine this rowdy, the rest of the truck has to be up to snuff, too. JPS opted for a 4L80E transmission from Hughes Performance, which sends all that output through a billet two-speed Atlas transfer case, Tom Wood’s driveshafts, and Currie axles that come standard with the Roadster Shop RS4 chassis. That has a base price of $43,995 on its own, so you can imagine the level of detail work going on underneath this rig: Fox 2.5 Factory Series shocks with a 10-inch stroke, triangulated four-links to help with articulation and stability, CAD-optimized steering geometry… this Bowtie has it all.

The K10’s styling speaks for itself. It’s only right that the truck wears a two-tone, black-and-white paint job with lots of polishing. And the interior is a sharp chocolate color with a factory-look woodgrain dash that has awesome patina, not to mention a new Gen V HVAC system from Vintage Air. Everything you touch looks high-quality, including the twin sticks in the floorboard.

I can’t even begin to guess how much this Chevy will sell for, though it’s worth noting that it has no reserve attached right now. I imagine it will be north of $200,000 simply because of the quality and the fact that it’s turnkey ready for whoever to have fun in. You’d spend a lot of time and, clearly, a lot of money to recreate this on your own. Or, you could just buy this one whenever it goes to auction during the week of Jan. 17, 2026.

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