In many families, as the love of custom vehicles gets passed down from generation to generation, it goes through gradual changes. While Grandpa may have a perfectly restored '57 F-100 and Dad may have a lowered '67 shortbed, when the time comes for Junior to get his first truck, he wants it to be 'bagged, body-dropped, and shaved clean. This story is all too familiar to Justin Smith and his father Howard.
When the time came for Justin to get his very first vehicle, he knew that he wanted a 'bagged truck that would be fun to cruise around his hometown of Webster, Florida. After a quick flip through the classifieds, the father-and-son team found an '85 GMC Extra Cab that was in relatively good shape and aching to get cut up.
To get the truck to sit on the ground, there were a few suspension upgrades as well as a body drop that would be needed. Howard and his fellow crewmates at LA Kustoms in Bushnell, Florida, started by performing a 3-3/4-inch stock-floor body drop on the cab and created new mounting points for the bed to match. Up front, the stock spindles were removed and replaced with DJM 2-inch drop spindles. Behind them, a set of Firestone 'bags was mounted in the spring pockets and plumbed with 1/2-inch line, while out back, a two-link was used in conjunction with a set of Firestone 'bags to lay the truck out. Each of the wheelwells was then filled with 18-inch Enkei AKA wheels shod in Nitto rubber.
Once the truck was ready to drag, LA Kustoms focused its attention on smoothing out the exterior of the truck. The door handles were shaved along with the gas tank and antenna. A 2-1/2-inch cowl-induction hood was bolted to the hinges up front, and a set of Street Scene mirrors was attached to each side. To clean up the bed of the truck, the tailgate was welded shut, the handle was shaved, and the taillights were deleted. Using 16-gauge steel, the entire tub of the bed was smoothed out and a set of LEDs was frenched into the top of the tailgate for braking and turns. Finally, the roof was measured and cut to allow a 35x35-inch Street Beat sliding ragtop to be installed.