Despite the popularity of other classic GM pickups, I am a true lover of the '60-'66 body style. I love the big bold body lines they have and like the fact that there isn't an abundance of them customized. Although I personally have a '62 GMC, I still like the SUV version of that era. While staring at a photo of a Suburban's rear end, I got the idea for what you see here. Since the rear with its somewhat triangle-shaped taillights looks better than the truck version's rear, I thought of how cool it would be if a truck was made out of it. Then the idea went further because if you cut off the top and use a truck top, you can create a unibody truck at the same time.
As soon as I got the picture in my head I had to see what it would look in a rendering. Since Travis Pruis of CTP Concepts is pretty good at doing hand-drawings, I pitched the design to him and ran with it. To start it off, it had to be low and cut to the doors so that it can accentuate the body of the truck. In reality, I would probably have a custom airbagged frame made with custom control arms up front and a multilink setup in the rear. This would be worked to fit a set of 20s like the Colorado Customs Segundo billet wheels shown here.
The truck is heavily redesigned with lots of body mods to help the design flow. The biggest mod is the removal of the top. It would probably be best to remove the entire roof and all of the pillars and glass behind the front doors. From there, a roof and rear panel from a donor big-window truck cab would be used to create a bed. While the top is off, it could be chopped an inch or two to make it sleeker. To complete the bed, I would use flat sheetmetal to make it all smooth. On the tailgate, the license plate is shaved out and placed in the chrome bumper. Moving forward, the fuel door and mirrors would be shaved. On the front, the center body line of the hood would be removed and a centersection of an '85 Chevy truck would be welded in.
The body mods would continue into the engine compartment with a smoothed firewall and set of wheeltubs. In between all of this would be a rebuilt 350-cid Chevy V-8 with tons of chrome and paint. The air cleaner is kind of like the top ornament on a Christmas tree, so this one is designed to not only function but look good as well. The air cleaner would have a slick shape and use modern cone-type air filters.
As for the design, that is pretty much as far as we have gotten in our dream world. I say that because I would love to build this truck but don't have the time or money to create it as I speak. However, if there is anyone out there who can make this truck, feel free to do so and we will feature it. If this is not your thing and you have another idea you want to see rendered, feel free to email Travis at ctpconcepts@yahoo.com.