One of the older Dodge Ram commercials had a slogan that said, "Think different." That is exactly Mitch Rall of Ekstensive Metalworks's game plan. He is thinking outside of the box and building himself a brand-new '09 Dodge Ram Crew Cab 1500. Though a Ram is out of the norm for most custom-truck guys, Mitch has been a fan of Dodge pickups for quite some time now. Not only has he liked the trucks, but he has also owned both body-style trucks previous to this one. Naturally, when Chrysler announced the arrival of the new-style Ram, Mitch was one of the first custom-truck guys we know of with a big interest in making a project out of it.
Mitch Rall is already doing his best to turn this rendering into a reality. Here, it's on the lift at Ekstensive Metalworks for the custom suspension work.
Since Mitch works at Ekstensive, a shop known for dropping trucks down over big wheels, this Ram will get that very same treatment. The rear axle will get narrowed a few inches to fit the 26x10 Giovanna Canelli wheels with Toyo Proxes STII tires in between the bedsides. Then, a three-link will be fabricated to hold the rearend in place, while a set of Slam Specialties RE-8 airbags will control its travel. The crew plans on making a custom set of lower control arms and raising the upper arms while another pair of RE-8 airbags will lift and lower the front of the truck.
From there, the truck will be painted in-house by Chris Gilbert who will prep it for an eye-catching paint scheme like the one depicted here. Since the truck already has some nice body lines, it will only be cleaned with a shaving of the antenna. Afterward, the truck will get scuffed and covered in sealer primer. At that point, the truck will recieve a two-tone of dark gold on top and subtle champagne on the lower side. Then, Patrick Reid will take care of the airbrush work for the dropped shadows. When finished, the paintjob will make the truck stand out without making it gaudy.
Because this truck will be Mitch's daily driver, things will stay generally mild on the inside of this build. This is due to Mitch being a true family man who has to transport his wife, 3-year-old daughter, and baby boy to come. What he has in mind is to keep the factory leather seats intact, while a few plastic pieces will be smoothed and painted to match the exterior. Though the interior will be very simple, it will host a Rockford Fosgate sound system that is anything but that. The system will include a component speaker set for each door and three of Rockford Fosgate's shallow subwoofers to fit behind the rear seats.
Besides building this truck for the sake of going all out, it is being built for the '08 SEMA Show where it will go into a special Mopar booth. As I write this, Mitch has three weeks to complete the vehicle and transport it from Houston, Texas, to Las Vegas, Nevada. If all goes well, you should be seeing this thing in the SEMA Show coverage in the next issue.