Todd Sherwood
Grant Park, IL
'93 Chevy 454 SS
1993 Chevy 454 SS VIDEO FROM HAVOC EAST 2008
The truck you see here has had a lot of history with Sport Truck magazine, especially the cover page. You see, this truck graced the January cover back in 2001 when it belonged to Brant Konopacke. Brant had recently bought the '93 SS from Bob Thrash, who had already turned it into a custom ride. It had an orange and white two-tone paintjob, a static drop, and a 454 big-block under the hood. Brant dropped the truck a little more, color-sanded and rubbed the paint, changed the wheels, and pulled the motor to detail the engine compartment and spray the block orange.
The truck was back up to par so Brant drove it to the Sport Truck Nationals in Huron, Ohio. At the show, he hooked up with then-editor Kevin Lee and ended up getting shot for the cover. Not long after those photos hit the newsstand, Brant decided the truck would need a complete redesign if he was to consider the truck truly his.
The redesign of the truck took five years and a group of talented people to pull off. Larry Cheffer shaved the truck clean and did most of the rough bodywork. Then the truck went to Warren Lewis, who blocked everything nice and straight and prepped the surface for paint. Jeff St. Aubin was then called upon to spray the two-tone green. Next, it was off to Bob Thrash-yes, the guy who sold it-to have the graphics sprayed along with installation of a new airbagged suspension setup and some frame modifications. Bob fabricated a new back half of the frame to hold the four-link and 'bags to complement the 'bags up front. He also temporarily plumbed the air system just to see how much travel it had. The 17-inch wheels that were on the truck were nice, but with the ability to adjust ride height came room for a larger wheel-and-tire setup in the way of staggered 18- and 20-inch billets.
With the suspension and paint out of the way, it was time to really put some muscle under the hood. Brant chose to take his truck to Larry Nagy's shop, so he enlisted the help of Larry's stepson, Todd Sherwood, to tow the truck there. Larry plucked a 477ci big-block out of a Chevelle and freshened it up before bolting on a 4L80E trans. The new motor and trans setup was good for plenty of motivation for the truck. Larry was also enlisted to do all of the final little touches while it was at his shop like the limited-slip 4.10 gears and plumbing the air system. The truck was basically done (minus the interior and the final tune on the motor), so Brant took it to Shannon at Drivers Edge to have the seats recovered and the audio system stuffed into the cab.
Right about then Brant fell on some hard times and needed some cash, but he was reluctant to let go of this truck. Luckily, Todd Sherwood, the friend who towed the truck to Larry's shop, was in the market for a custom ride. Because Todd is Larry's stepson, he knew what was in the truck and how good of a deal it was. With the exchange of some cash and signing of the pink slip, this green Chevy was Todd's. He took the SS back to Larry for the final tune and to have some stuff changed to let the motor really breathe. New 4-inch pipes coupled with a handmade set of 2.125-inch headers woke the 477 right up. A 3,500-stall converter was slipped in to let the motor get into its powerband. The TCI trans computer and the jets and timing were all adjusted properly. The truck was officially a monster, and Todd brought it out to out the Havoc show at Beech Bend in Bowling Green, Kentucky.