Feature Truck
Tracy "Chico" Shaw * O'fallon, Missouri
'04 Nissan Titan
When Courtney Halowell got a few talented hands to help him create the world's first body-dropped and finished Nissan Titan, we all went crazy for it like we did for toys in our youth. It was like Courtney was the cool kid on the block with a cool new toy, and we were all envious. The thing that really got everyone going was the fact that the truck was a brand-new model when he had it cut to lay hard over big wheels. It appeared in a couple of incarnations at different SEMA shows and made its way across the country to some of the other major shows.
One of the most envious of truck guys who actually got to see the truck in person was Tracey "Chico" Shaw. This is because he has been chasing the dream of owning the baddest truck since '88, and when he saw the Titan he went goo goo ga ga over it. After seeing the truck that captured everyone in the truck scene, Chico knew he had to have a truck just like this and purchased one as soon as he could in order to build it. That was the plan, yet years passed and Chico found himself more occupied finishing a few mini-trucks and towing them with his Titan than turning it into the baddest Nissan on earth.
Once he completed a rebuild on his '98 Nissan Frontier it was sold, and Chico had cash to work on his fullsize truck. At the same time, he saw some recent photos of Courtney's pad with the body-dropped Titan in the background. Out of curiosity, Chico asked if it was for sale. Since Courtney had some debt from a recent hospital stay, he was willing to bargain with him. This sounded great to Chico because instead of building his truck, he could own the original he fell in love with and rebuild it to his liking. A few weeks later, the two reached an agreement on a price and the famous Titan was hauled from the West Coast to Chico's place in the midwestern state of Missouri.
With the truck at Chico's garage, it was time for him to gut the truck and rebuild it from the ground up. He knew that the truck was originally built in 50 days for the '03 SEMA Show and that only a few things were worked on it since then. To make sure that he was going to rebuild from a good point, Chico disassembled the truck and took it to bare bones. The first thing to get redone was the Z'd and airbagged frame. It received a new undercoating and a new set of Slam Specialties airbags on all four corners.
The body had about three different layers of paint on it and needed to be stripped. Chico took all of the panels off and removed the glass in order to chemically strip the sheetmetal. The original bed had seen better days as it had a welded-on roll pan that got ripped off on the road and mangled the bedsides. For the fix, Chico removed the sides, welded on a new set, and attached the rear bumper from his tow pig Titan. Then he bodyworked all of the sheetmetal and painted it all Standox Real Black. Though Chico's favorite color on a vehicle is silver, he painted it black to prove to the naysayers that it could be done straight when finished. That and it had a silver paintjob before and he wanted to personalize it.
The last of the rejuvenation included a cleanup of all the painted interior plastics. Since a lot of the pieces had fiberglass pieces bonded to them, it was time they got redone. Chico pulled all of these pieces out, reinforced them, prepped them, and painted them Viper Red. At the same time, he updated the stereo to his liking. This includes a Kenwood DDX-512 head unit and a ton of Kicker speakers to help pound out some tunes. On the upholstery side, the truck already had a set of Katzkin leather seat covers. Those held up pretty well and only needed a cleanup, while the suede headliner and pillar covers were recovered.
Over a few months time, he finished off every detail and always makes sure to keep it as clean as possible. Now that the truck is refinished, Chico takes it everywhere and shows it as much as possible. If you see this truck in person, you can tell it landed in the right hands because it is truly loved by the owner. Though it made some major noise in another man's hands, Chico rebuilt it to fit him and it shows well.
The 411
Engine/Drivetrain:
5.6L V-8 / Flex-a-Lite electric fan / CGS Motorsports cold-air intake / relocated fuse box and ABS computer / dual Flowmaster exhaust / two Kinetik batteries
BY: Owner / Devious Customs, Riverside, California
Rims:
Front: 22x8.5 Devious Instigators
Rear: 24x10 Devious Instigators
Tires:
Front: 265/35R22 Nitto NT420S
Rear: 315/35R24 Nitto NT420S
Suspension:
Front: Custom control arms and airbag mounts / Slam Specialties RE-7 airbags / Bilstein shocks
Rear: Custom triangulated four-link and airbag mounts / Slam Specialties RE-8 airbags / Bilstein shocks
Accessories: No Limit Engineering aluminum fuel cell / Wilwood big brake kit / brake booster and master cylinder relocated to clear control arms / Extreme 550 valves / Oasis compressor
Chassis: Front clip Z'd 3 1/2 inches / custom step notch with bridge in the rear / custom crossmembers / lower part of frame was cut and plated for body drop
BY: Owner / Devious Customs
Body Mods:
Shaved antenna, fuel door, third brake light, and tailgate / billet grilles / Grant Kustoms rear wheeltubs / custom transmission tunnel / Delta toolbox cut down 5 inches and mounted in the bed / Line-X spray-on bedliner
BY: Owner / Jason "Killer" Johnson at Devious Customs / Vince "Ghetto Bob" Incalcaterra at Homeless Entertainment, Lake Elsinore, California
Custom Paint:
Standox Real Black / red and white pinstriping on hood, tailgate, and toolbox
BY: Owner / Bill Clyne, O'Fallon, Missouri / Linda Efrig, O'Fallon, Missouri (pinstriping)
Interior:
Dash and door panels smoothed with fiberglass speaker pods and painted Standox Viper Red / pillar covers and headliner upholstered in gray suede / all other plastics smoothed and painted Viper Red / Katzkin gray leather seat covers with red inserts
BY: Owner / Devious Customs
Audio/Video:
Kenwood DDX-512 head unit / Kicker 6-1/2-inch speakers, 8-inch subwoofers, and 400-watt amps
BY: Adam Weinrich, O'Fallon, Missouri
Special Thanks:
His wife, daughter, Adam, Greg, Dusty, Bill Carlton, and all the boys in Negative Camber