Janet Russell from Seldon, New York, built this '71 Chevy truck to show the guys in her neighborhood that you don't have to be a boy to play with trucks. Janet has been going to shows for some time, walking around and soaking up as much information as she could. Being a smart girl, she soaked it up like a chamois. She figured that the best way to build a custom was to start with the cleanest truck possible, so she held out until she saw this cherry with a "for sale" sign perched in the rear window. After a thorough inspection she purchased this clean, rust-free C-20. As an added bonus, the truck had a freshly rebuilt big-block mill resting between the framerails; this allowed her to focus more on the appearance rather than blowing her whole wad on the motor. The first modification Janet tackled was relocating the gas tank out of the cab and replacing it with a stainless fuel cell in the bed.
Janet wanted to roll on a 20/22-inch wheel combo, but since it's an eight-lug truck, there aren't many options, so she put in a lot of work so that it could roll the big combo. The first thing Janet had to do was update the inefficient drum brakes, which she did herself by swapping on a setup from a later-model truck, which also gave her the 1/2-ton five-lug pattern. Now she set her sights on getting this sucker low - and we mean low. With the help of her husband Dan she installed Firestone 'bags and a set of Doetech shocks up front and bolted up the 20-inch Neeper Isis wheels with Dunlop rubber. Lowering the back was more involved to roll the matching set of 22s; the stock rear components were replaced with a monster notch and a four-link setup mounted to a custom bridge. Then another set of 2,600-pound Firestones went in and were plumbed with 1/2-inch line to get the sucker up to ride height. Having this much travel, the stock two-piece driveshaft took a beating, so after munching a few, Janet had a one-piece 'shaft made instead of buying stock carrier bearings.
Now the focus was turned to the exterior. The truck was cruised over to Class Act Auto and Collision for a freshening up. The crew blocked the mile-long quarters until they were nice and straight, shaved the mirrors and tailgate letters, and fitted up the roll pan from FBI. Once the bodywork cured for awhile, the truck was rolled into the booth and sprayed Sundance Gold, which Janet had seen on an Acura. The crew color-sanded and buffed the truck and installed the billet grille and Lund tonneau cover.
Janet moved onto the interior - after she stopped drooling over the exterior, of course. She ripped the seat out and had a cover made while the bracketry was in the chrome shop. A new chrome dash panel and A/C vents brighten up the cab, and the two-tone seat gives her a place to sit in style. Now here comes the woman's touch. Instead of building a bulky switch box, Janet wired it all up into a purse, which is now a permanent fixture; she figured that with the purse, no one would mistake this rig for a man's. The last little bit of the She-20 buildup was the Panasonic head unit that feeds a set of 6X9-inch in the doors powered by a 400w Urban amp.
Janet now has a blast scrappin' and draggin' with her friends, but she has one up on most of them: this sucker has a big-block. So when her buddies are topped out, Janet pedals the She-20 and lets them all check out her rear.