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 There&8217s no room for improvement...  There’s no room for improvement out the back window of Alan Button’s cruiser. The flush-fit tonneau and filled stake pockets are perfect complements to the extended quarters, smoothed &8217gate, and one-off roll pan. |
 Here&8217s one roll pan you...  Here’s one roll pan you won’t find in your favorite truck parts catalog. Alan&8217s hand-fabricated aluminum pan was built to fit the extended quarters and blends perfectly with the extended lower tailgate edge. |
 The stylin&8217 tan tweed...  The stylin’ tan tweed interior is one of the cleanest we&8217ve seen and is not only beautiful but comfy as well. |
 Alan&8217s hauler looks just...  Alan’s hauler looks just as stylish rolling down the boulevard as it does parked in the front row at the local truck show. Careful you don&8217t hurt your neck doing the twist when Alan creeps past. |
 Alan&8217s grille of choice...  Alan’s grille of choice was the stock unit. It’s in perfect keeping with the minimalist theme and keeps the nose from appearing too busy. |
Sometimes a project comes together like magic. You make minimal plans, just a basic clean-up, a set of wheels, and all of a sudden the planets align, good karma comes your way, and it's as if King Midas happened by and laid his hand on your project. Alan Button of O'Fallon, Missouri, has that kind of power, and it shows in his rendition of this '87 Chevy Fleetside.
Alan's truck started life as a special-order from his local Chevy dealer and came with the Wheatland Yellow fleet color already applied. The truck started out as intended, serving Alan as a hauler for his auto body business until that fateful day when he decided that stock just wasn't cutting it. After a subtle reworking of the body, mostly to the bed, and a reapplication of the factory color, Alan hit the streets in the head-turner you see here.
It takes a trained eye to spot all the subtle modifications Alan applied to his shortbed beauty. After shaving the markers and emblems from the fenders and color matching the driprails, handles, and door lock bezels on the cab, Alan went to work on the bed. He started with probably the most subtle and difficult-to-spot modification: He vertically extended the quarters behind the rear wheel openings. This brought the lower edge of the body down until it visually matched the height of the quarters in front of the wheel openings. A hand-fabricated aluminum roll pan followed the extension of the lower edge of the tailgate--both modifications were masterfully executed by Alan himself. The bed was finished with filled stake pockets and a custom-built flush tonneau cover.
With the body mods completed, Alan finished the exterior with the reapplication of the factory color in PPG two-stage paint before sending the truck to Stitch N Fit of St. Peters, Missouri, for the tastefully low-key tan tweed interior. The final touch to Alan's smoothie was the owner-fabricated 6/8 drop and the addition of a set of 15-inch skinny Boyds wheels up front and 17-inch fat Boyds wheels out back for that perfect bigs 'n' littles look. If you ever have the good fortune to run into Alan at a truck show, be sure to rub elbows with him, because with a little luck, some of that magic might just rub off.