By the look of this '95 Chevy S-10, you probably couldn't tell that a first-timer built it. That's right, Cody "Popeye" Stoute brought this truck to completion without any experience. Though he developed a love for custom trucks riding around with his brother in a lowered '93 Isuzu pickup, he wasn't familiar with actually working on them. With a desire to learn more, Cody picked up some truck magazines and was captivated by some of the more radical customs he saw.
Eager to get his start, Cody got a job at a shop called John Wayne Body & Paint in Scott, Louisiana. He found the job by searching through the classified ads of his local paper. He figured if he got the position, he could pick up the skills needed to make a nice truck. Luckily for him, he got the job, and John, the owner of the shop, was willing to teach him everything he wanted to know.
In a short time, Cody became very familiar with paint and body and felt he was ready to tackle customizing a vehicle. He heard about an S-10 that was already body-dropped and up for sale. Not only had he earned enough money to buy the truck from working at the body shop, but he had picked up the necessary knowledge to start building it too.
Cody played around with the Chevy for a while, dragging body and showing off, and eventually the bed became damaged enough that it had to be replaced. He swapped in a new bed to clean up the truck's appearance and also updated the front end with one from an '00 Sonoma. Then, with some minor adjustments to the suspension, the truck was cut and tubbed to fit a set of 20-inch Boss Motorsports 304 rims.
The S-10 was lying low and tucking big wheels, so Cody moved onto the bodywork and shaving all of the exterior sheetmetal. Of course, this meant that the usual items like the door handles, fuel door, and tailgate were deleted in order to clean up the body lines. Afterward, he was able to work the surface straight in preparation for paint. Since Cody likes the look of simple two-tones, he painted the truck in Surreal Green and Lunar Mist with a Sunburst Orange pinstripe.
You can see how nice the paintjob turned out, and it inspired Cody to add the same colors to the interior. All of the interior plastics were smoothed down and prepped for paint. When it came time for the dash, he decided to take it a step further and make one out of sheetmetal. After everything was painted, he installed a bench seat from an Isuzu pickup and a custom-made tall shifter to add a slight retro touch.
Cody brought together a lot of great ideas and executed them in a high-quality fashion. It's pretty amazing to think that he went from knowing very little to creating a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. It goes to show that with hard work and determination anyone can pick up the skills needed to build the truck of his dreams.