Custom 1996 Chevy S10 - Two-Tone Ten

We've all heard the term "less is more." Well, this can definitely play a part in building a custom truck. It's easy to get caught up in all the aftermarket products available. We've all seen custom builds that have gone way overboard. Be it a whacked-out paintjob or too many billet accessories, a lot of modifications are often too much. Smooth, clean, and carrying lines without frequent disruption are the keys to success. Themes are cool as long as the balance between simplicity and identity is maintained.

For every quality show truck you see, there are many projects gone south that never make it past the garage. That's the very reason we get to publish Sport Truck magazine. The tech and features we cover bring you the outcome of the best builds on the street today. This helps builders create an image in their minds of what they want their truck to look like, what parts will work, or what color paint to use. Manufacturers get into building trucks to show off their skill, and products. This is particularly true for Kevin O'Leary, a former employee of Drew Brothers Customs. Kevin started customizing his 96 Chevy S-10 while working at Drew Brothers. He was offered a job at Ultimate Electronics and had to move on, but he still went to Drew Brothers after work and on weekends to get his truck built.

The techs at Trevco got the mini's posture perfect with a 4-inch drop up front via Slam Specialties Slam 'Bags. An 8-inch drop with the use of airbags out back brings the ride down to earth. A VIAIR 350 air pump fills 9 gallons of storage. A Trevco switch box controls the ride height with SMC air valves fed by 1/2-inch air line. The little 10 sits on a set of KMC SS 20x8-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli 245/35R20 P-Zero tires.

Drew Brothers smoothed out the truck by shaving the door handles, taillights, gutters, third brake light, and windscreen coil. DB also inlaid its own scratch-built grille, along with some other really cool parts. A set of Street Scene sideview mirrors is just enough to keep the Five-O from cutting you a ticket. The crew also pulled off the stock front bumper and employed an Envoy unit. A Sir Michaels roll pan was used out back to fill the void. A saw was employed to make room in the tailgate for light-emitting diode (LED) strips to be used as the rear signals. While all the smoothing was being done, a welder was taken to the new roll pan. Fine small beads were run in the seams to join the roll pan to the bed. Then the bed was topped off with a Gaylord's tonneau cover.

The custom paint is clean, simple, and smooth. Rod Drew hit the S-10 with Red and Cream Auto Air Colors to put the S-10 closer to a finished state. After the base colors were laid down, the transition between the two colors was tapped off with a thick line all the way around the truck and tapered off at the grille. Metallic silver was shot in the freshly tapped area, and the airbrush was taken to it. After a couple coats of clear, the sliver strip took on the look of a chrome-molding strip.

The interior was recovered in an Ultra Leathers & Suede red-and-cream color scheme. This not only included the seats, but the door panels and dash as well. The cream is the base of the interior; accenting the cream interior are red seat inserts and red carpet. Billet pedals and a dash insert tie the Colorado Customs steering wheel into the scheme, which was also covered in the cream color to match.

The simple and smooth modifications give this truck more than half a ton of scratch-built sex appeal. So remember: Just because you see a part that looks sweet in a display booth, it doesn't mean it's going to look good on your truck.