When Brian Reaves picked up his '03 Silverado from a dealership in Moreno Valley, California, he was looking for something clean that had enough torque to trailer around the S-10 he had been working on. Funny thing is, the minute he had the keys for his new truck, his old truck went straight to the backburner and his new truck was 'bagged, rolling big wheels, and sporting a tight system.
Within four days, the truck had a mild drop using de-arched monoleaves with a C-notch in the rear and a set of 20s; however, due to some heckling from Brian's friends, it was finally switched up to a reverse triangulated four-link and a step notch. One of Brian's friends, Tom from Auto Accessory Warehouse in San Bernardino, set up the four-link and 'bagged the truck. Up front, a set Firestone 'bags was installed, along with DJM 2-inch drop spindles, and dampened using KYB shocks. The four-link was also supported with Firestone 'bags, and then the system was plumbed using 1/2-inch line. Two Viair compressors and 10 gallons of storage were used to supply the 'bags with air. A set of 22-inch Motiv Matrix wheels were then placed at each corner and wrapped in Michelin rubber.
To make room for the new twankie-twos, Tom had to remove the factory wheelwells up front and fabricate a new set. The battery was relocated beneath the cab, and the fuse box was extended 14 inches and set into the battery tray. Out back, Tom trimmed the pinch welds to allow the tires to clear when the truck was aired out.
Once the truck was nice and low, it resumed its life as Brian's everyday wheels, taking him throughout town and to truck shows. One such show trip would prove to be a changing point for his truck. While at the Forbidden Fantasy show, Brian saw a Mustang with an awesome paintjob. On the window was a business card for The Painters Shak in San Jacinto, California.
Brian called up Mike, the owner of The Painters Shak, and scheduled an appointment. When they met, the original concept had been for tribal flames to be laid out over the truck, but once Brian got a good look at Mike's portfolio, everything changed. The final decision was pretty straightforward: He wanted Mike to go nuts on the truck.
Mike began laying out designs on the stock yellow canvas. Sets of purple licks were laid across the hood and down the body panels, then interrupted with sweeping orange and yellow spikes of color. Iron crosses were inlaid into the flames and then accented from the back with airbrushed lines. The airbrushing continued down into the rocker panels, where it was sprayed over a candy-orange base. Mike then pinstriped the truck from head to tail, added a drop shadow to the flames, and hand-painted the flying eyeballs to finish it up.
After the paint had baked, the truck was buried under several coats of clear and handed back to Brian. When he finally saw the finished project, he had mixed emotions. The paintjob had turned out so good that there was no way he could run a stock interior, but this was supposed to be the clean truck he would haul around with his mini. There was no real compromise -- his project had taken on a life of its own -- and the only thing he could do was hold on for the ride.
stop was to Kinetic Kustoms in Riverside, California. Chris from Kinetic pulled off the stock seat covers and replaced them with new covers consisting of purple suede with inserts that boasted the iron-cross theme. Purple suede was also used in the door inserts, the kicker panels, and the pillars. The headliner was removed and recovered using bright-yellow shag, as were each of the rear doors. For continuity, the rear cab wall was wrapped with the iron-cross material and framed using purple suede.
When the interior was finished, the truck was taken back to Auto Accessory Warehouse, where Bryan and Manuel set up the stereo system. A Clarion CD/DVD head unit was placed in the dash, and a 1,600-watt Soundstream Tarantula amp was installed on the rear cab wall. A free-from fiberglass box was built behind the passenger seat to house two 12-inch Kicker subs and a video game console.
Now, when Brian committed to using a full A/V system that included a game console, he didn't want to use a PS2 or Xbox. Instead, he wanted to bring a little old-school styling to the truck. Rather than using a 32-bit or newer system, he opted to use the classic 8-bit Atari 2600, which boasted classics such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Pac-Man, and Pong. The Atari 2600 box was mounted above the two 12s in the fiberglass box and wired to the head unit as well as the four screens. Two 7-inch Myron & Davis screens were mounted to the pillars, and the other two 6.5-inch screens were set into the headrests.
To finish off the truck, Brian had The Painters Shak spray the dash, console, and switch plates, as well as do a little airbrush work. The fiberglass speaker box was painted yellow and also airbrushed to match. Up front, the stock grille was replaced with a Stull billet grille, and beneath the hood a K&N intake was added.
Sometimes a project takes on a life of its own. Luckily for Brian, he had guys like Mike, Richard, Nate, and John from The Painters Shak; Tom, Mike, Bryan, and Manual from Auto Accessory Warehouse; and Gerry from Hot Wax Custom Detailing, to help him turn his truck into the ideal daily driver.