What mini-trucker hasn't thought of stealing a big, brown UPS truck and body-dropping it to the doors, just to drag it out to the strip and pick up chicks? If anyone is closer than the rest of us, it's Eric Foelber of Owings Mills, Maryland, who spends his days delivering packages for UPS and nights working on his '99 S-10.
After working on an '89 S-10 at 16 and not receiving the results he was looking for, Eric bought a brand-new '99 and decided to do things right the first time. Wanting to take on as much of the work as possible,Eric and fellow Negative Camber member Chad Gill went to work on the suspension. The pair got down with the welder, starting with a homemade three-link and an in-frame notch. They also installed two Thomas compressors to fill a 6-gallon tank, all hidden underneath the stock bed floor. Adjustability is enhanced by AIM valves, and 3/8-inch air lines keep the air flowing and the S-10 dragging, while Eric monitors the pressure with Dakota digital gauges from inside the cab.
When it came to body and paintwork,Eric knew who could tag-team the S-10 to get it into perfect form. He relied on Dennis Citrano to smooth things out by completely shaving the truck, only saving the stock taillights from the shop floor. Citrano also installed an '00 Envoy front end and custom flip-up license plate mount. Once the truck had been blocked to perfection, he and Ryan Owens, of Wesben Body and Fender, laid down the Sikkens Lamborghini Orange paint.To keep things rolling, Eric decided to mount up a set of 18-inch Niche Spitfire wheels with Pirelli P7000 tires.
Keeping the interior as smooth as the outside, more Lamborghini Orange was laid down on the dash and the console. Covering the rest of the interior is several yards of gray tweed on the floor, door panels, and dash. The only task Eric didn't tackle inside was re-covering the chopped-down seats, which was tackled by Hock Auto Upholstering. Eric also shined up the interior with scattered billet goodies from Colorado Customs, including the steering wheel and the shifter.
Eric wanted the ability to wake up the neighborhood on his way to work, so inside the extended cab he installed four 12-inch Audiobahn subs in a custom fiberglass enclosure that was airbrushed by Pete Reimberg of Big Dog Customs. A Soundstream CD/DVD player runs all of the audio and visual pleasure.
When we caught up with Eric at Kiddie Rydes Droptoberfest in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, Eric told us that he drove his truck almost 400 miles and more than six hours in one day just to hang out with other minitruckers. With that kind of dedication, we'll be interested to see what Eric delivers next.