Jude Souza • Lemoore, California
'72 Chevy C10
We cover all kinds of custom trucks here at Sport Truck. The mild ones are usually built with bolt-on parts, while the middle ground customs usually include a few subtle body mods and mild paint. Then there are trucks like this '72 C10 owned by Jude Souza. Every single piece of metal on this C10 has been cut, reshaped, and put back together to create a fully custom, one-of-a-kind truck. Jude has been into trucks since the day his dad gave him a '66 Dodge Sweptline. That truck lit the fuse on what was going to become a custom truck firecracker. Jude has a love for the classic trucks and said he really doesn't like the late-model stuff. We asked him why he built a truck this modified and he responded, "The original plan was to build a nice driver that I could enjoy and later pass down to my kids—that was until I hooked up with Brandon Sisco. After I saw Brandon's concept of what the truck could look like, I said go for it. Now I have something truly different."
Over the seven years it took to build this truck, a lot of stuff happened. Not only did the top get chopped, the bed get shortened, and cab get leaned forward, it also survived two horrific shop fires. Luckily the truck survived the fires instead of burning down before it could see the light of day. Jude and Brandon Sisco worked together forming ideas with the same conclusion in mind: a straight, all black exterior laid out over big billets. As you can see from the pictures, that is exactly what happened.
When we asked Jude what was the best and worst part of the build he said, "It was meeting all the new people who were involved with the build. Driving it for the first time and getting all kinds of thumbs up wasn't a bad feeling either. The worst part had to be going way past my original plan of it being a daily driver and hearing from all of my friends, "When is it going to be done?"
As custom trucks go, this one will leave a lasting impression on anyone who gets to see it in person. It obviously took a lot of time, effort, and money to build it, so we wanted to know what would Jude do differently.
"The one thing I would have done different is taking it to Brandon from the start. I didn't know exactly what I wanted in the beginning, so I wasted money doing stupid stuff. Once I dropped it off to Brandon, told him to go for it, and returned a few days later to see what he was doing, I knew we were on the same page. I wanted a lot of custom stuff that didn't all show. Brandon told me all the stuff he had planned, and I told him great, as long as the truck is black. I don't want to hide anything with multicolored graphics or flames. I guess I wanted something subtle in the beginning, but this truck is far from subtle now, and I love it. I can always build a bike to putt around on."
There are a ton of body mods on this truck; some can be spotted a mile away like the 2 1/2 inches missing from the top, the super-short bed, and leaned-forward cab. Others are a little harder to spot like the leaned-forward rear wheelwells and the one-piece hood and cowl. Not only were the hood and cowl joined, a 1-1/2-inch section was taken out of the side to lower its profile. The crown of the roof was flattened out a bit and the drip rails shaved off. Removing the drip rails on one of these trucks is not that easy of a task as there are three and sometimes four layers of sheetmetal to deal with. Also, once the drip rails are gone the roof overhangs the windshield by about an inch, so it took some forethought to make it all look right. Brandon Sisco did an excellent job modifying the lines of the C10 without it becoming an eyesore.
The 411
Engine/Drivetrain:
'74 350ci V-8 / Edelbrock intake and cam / Vortech heads / MSD HEI-style distributor / Hedman Hedders / Griffin aluminum radiator with dual fans / Cool-Flex radiator hoses / fiberglass engine cover / March pulleys / custom dual exhaust system with polished mufflers / 700R4 transmission with a B&M shift kit / 12-bolt Posi rearend with 4.56 gears and a billet cover / 15-gallon fuel cell
By: Brandon Sisco, Exeter, California, and Quality Muffler, Visalia, California
Rims:
Front: 20x8.5 Boyd Coddington Harm
Rear: 20x10 Boyd Coddington Harm
Tires:
Front: 255/35ZR20 Pirelli P-Zero
Rear: 295/30ZR20 Pirelli P-Zero