For those of you who haven't experienced it, the passion to build a truck that is far and beyond what most people could ever imagine is something only a few possess. It takes vision and dedication with constant focus on the final goal, fueled by a desire that burns from within. Many people have the desire but not the ability to put thoughts into action. For Gilbert Avila of Bakersfield, California, fixing up trucks has been something he's done for the last five years. His first custom truck was an S-10 that he built with lowrider appeal. That was the beginning of what would become a love affair with building cool custom trucks. When Gilbert got his '00 Chevy back in October, 2004, his goal was to customize it well beyond the level of his previous custom ride. His dream was to build one better, one that would stand out among the millions of other Chevys.
The most obvious attention-getting feature of Gilbert's Chevy is the intense flash of the candy-apple red traditional flames and scallops draped over the refinished factory black. Kyle "K-Daddy" Gann at K-Daddy Kustomz put down the retro-style lines and applied the silver base color for the eye-popping graphics. Under the smooth color lies a few body modifications that Gilbert addressed. To clean up the outside, the tailgate handle was removed and smoothed over, then the rear bumper was swapped for a molded steel roll pan, adding more real estate for the graphics.
While the chassis and suspension are nothing short of cool, they do have a purpose. That purpose is to make the truck sit as low as possible, allowing Gilbert to put the frame down flat on the pavement, tucking the 20x9-inch Center Line wheels surrounded by 255/35ZR20 tires. The stance of the Chevy up front was achieved by the installation of Slam Specialties air springs into new Belltech tubular upper and lower control arms. If you were to look under the truck at the rear suspension, you would see the healthy-sized step notch and custom two-link airbag suspension that Area 51 Customs created. The bridge is made from tubular steel, resting over nother set of Slam's dual-ported airbags.
Like so much on this truck already, it only stands to reason the interior would be something really wild as well. Gilbert wanted to keep the theme created on the outside flowing perfectly through the interior. As a result, the factory dash was removed and treated to the same PPG black that covers the outside. The dash flows into the smoothed door panels that incorporate the exterior candy-red scallops. Daniel Sandoval reworked the form of the center console that plays host to the 10 switches controlling front, back, and side-to-side movement of the truck.