Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Street Trucks

THOUGH THERE ARE MANY FORCES THAT AFFECT TRENDS AND STYLES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SCENE, NONE HAVE MORE IMPACT THAN THE ANNUAL SEMA SHOW. Many other large events take place throughout the country that hold a special place in our hearts. Everyone preps for them by adding extra touches to their rides, and though these shows might be important, their impact is felt among their specific fans exclusively. What makes SEMA so meaningful is that it’s not just a show for truck folks. Aside from the fact that it’s a tradeshow for all aftermarket parts manufacturers, the event also brings all types of vehicles to a world audience. It’s where the best customizers come out to flaunt their skills, and if you can leave a mark at SEMA, then you’ll know…

Chevy trucks from 1973-87 have been popular for a while, and there are a ton of reasons why. The thing is, finding one that’s well preserved is becoming more and more difficult; so, when you discover a diamond in the rough, you’ve got to snatch it while you can. What you’re looking at is a ’73 Chevrolet C-10 with 43,000 original miles owned by the man whose name is synonymous with square-body Chevys, Joe Yezzi. He is, of course, the owner of Squarebody Syndicate, a company dedicated to 1973-87 Chevy trucks, but he has a particular soft spot in his heart for 1973 and 1974 models, since his dad owned one back in the day. When he found this particular truck a year or so ago, he knew he had…

DESTINY IS A FICKLE THING. The choices people make are often genuinely surprising because life throws curveballs when you least expect them. Nevertheless, some things never seem to change. Certain people, places and things become part of our consciousness and can never be sloughed off. Sometimes this is a problem, but often these connections are great and life-affirming. Texas native Trae Baxter feels this way about his ’98 Chevrolet Silverado. The Low Intentions Texas club member has had a multi-year, multi-ownership connection with his Silverado. The Chevy has developed quite a reputation throughout its custom lifetime, and is well known in the truck community. Trae’s first connection with the OBS came after his nephew purchased it in basic, ’bagged form. The original suspension work on the Silverado was carried out…

IF YOU GET A BUNCH OF CAR BUILDERS TOGETHER, THE TOPIC OF ODDBALL BUILDS OFTEN COMES UP. They’re the kind of projects that most people wouldn’t do, like taking the 5-foot bed from a Chevy crew cab and putting it on a standard cab truck, for example. And although they were popular decades ago, the phantom dually seems to have fallen into that category. Back in the ’90s, it was all the rage to bolt some dually fenders onto a regular-bed pickup and slap some deep-dish rollers onto the axle. But in recent years they’ve gone by the wayside, and now the only way most people ever see them is if they stop by their local auto parts store and find an OG truck guy in the parking lot with…

LAST SEEN ON THE MUCH-LOVED CHEVY S-10, THE ZR2 RPO (REGULAR PRODUCTION OPTION) WAS THE GO-TO OFF-ROAD PACKAGE IF YOU WANTED AN AGGRESSIVE, GO-ANYWHERE COMPACT TRUCK. When the last S-10s and Blazers rolled off the lines in 2005, the ZR2 badge died along with it—until now. The new Chevy Colorado ZR2 seeks to reclaim the off-road market in mid-sized form and flaunts a multitude of features that leave little doubt as to its intention. Along with the wider track and increased ride height we’re accustomed to from the name, ZR2s get front and rear locking diffs, Multimatic Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve (DSSV) shocks and, of course, the Colorado’s available diesel power plant. Sounds like Chevy has come up with the perfect combination: an all-terrain-capable mid-size rig with plenty of torque…

 MOST PROJECT TRUCKS ARE BUILT WITH A PURPOSE OR FOR A SPECIFIC REASON. Builders usually operate with a kind of mission statement at the outset of a project that outlines the reasons for spending time lying in grease and oil, sending sparks into the atmosphere as they massage metal what was never intended to be as cool as the builder is working to make it. There’s an over-arching vision and passion that keeps all of the build participants focused as the midnight oil burns. It’s a drive most folks outside the scene can’t understand. “NOT ONE TO FOLLOW THE CROWD,ADAM WANTED TO BUILD SOMETHING OTHER THAN A C-10.ONE NIGHT WHILE SURFING CRAIGSLIST ,THE FORD APPEARED,AND BECAUSE IT’S A UNIBODY WITH A BIG WINDOW, HE KNEW HE HAD TO JUMP…

JOHNY GONZALEZ OF DOWNEY, CALIFORNIA, IS THE OWNER OF THIS SUPER CLEAN ’74 CHEVY C-10 RIGHT HERE. He picked it up in the middle of 2015 when it had a grand total of 66k original miles on the odometer. He bought it from a good friend, but he suspects that its original owner might have been a cute old lady who never put the truck to heavy use. The C-10 had to be more than a utilitarian must-have for her because you never realize just how much you need a pickup until the day you actually need one. “The truck used to have an original four-speed on the floor,” Johny says. “The little old lady had it swapped out to an automatic transmission though, probably to make it easier on…

EVERY YEAR WE look forward to the first week of November for the annual SEMA Show, the nation’s largest gathering of custom automotive gearheads . The action takes place throughout the 1,181,400 net square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The reason for the tradeshow is to provide the world’s leading aftermarket parts manufacturers a place to promote new offerings to industry professionals. The event is closed to the public, and only those working in the automotive sector are allowed through the doors. With more than 2,400 exhibiting aftermarket companies, it takes an advanced strategy to capture the attention of the 60,000 people who will attend. Some companies lure attendees by creating parts never before seen, others try to get noticed by hiring breathtaking models to staff their…

“THOUGH RICH CONSIDERS MANY OF HIS PAST RIDES TO HAVE BEEN SOLID, COOL CARS, HE CLAIMS THIS MODIFIED JEEP GETS MORE ATTENTION THAN ALL OF THEM COMBINED AND MADE FOR A GREAT PROJECT.” Jeep Mash-Up This ’94 Cherokee Sport belongs to Rich Cline, who began the following list of modifications just in the last year. We know what you’re thinking: It’s not a truck. Not until Rich got to work on it, anyway. Rich thought way outside the box on this build, creating a Cherokee with a cab in a concept just begging for a feature. The bones of the build lie in the Cherokee Sport modified using the rear 3 inches of a Jeep Comanche cab with about the last 6 inches of the tailgate section, but…

IT’S ALL RUMORS AT THIS POINT, BUT SEMA RECENTLY HAD A 2016 AUSTRALIAN-SPEC FORD RANGER IN THE SEMA GARAGE FOR A MEASURING SESSION, WHICH PROVIDES DATA TO AFTERMARKET PARTS COMPANIES THAT WISH TO MANUFACTURE PARTS FOR VARIOUS VEHICLE MODELS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. What we know as of this writing is that a United Auto Workers manager in the Wayne, Michigan, Ford plant was quoted as saying that the Ranger and Bronco will both be built in Wayne beginning in 2018. Current global models of the Ranger are built in Thailand, South Africa and Argentina, so this is a good indicator that we may see a Ford mid-size truck for sale in the U.S. once again, and aftermarket parts manufacturers will be ready.…

“THE THING WAS, KEVIN HAS TRUCK BUDDIES, AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A GROUP OF US GET TOGETHER. TO CUT RIGHT TO THE END OF THE STORY, THEY ALL PITCHED IN AND FINISHED THE WHOLE TRUCK IN 74 DAYS.” MOST OF US WANT TO LEAVE OUR KIDS (AND THEIR KIDS) SOME SORT OF LEGACY, SOMETHING THAT WILL TELL AT LEAST PART OF OUR STORY AND SERVE AS A REMINDER TO THEM OF WHO WE WERE AND WHAT WE ENJOYED. And hey, if it brings some enjoyment to them as well, all the better! We think Kevin Diehl had the right idea when he bought a partially restored ’68 GMC C-10 that he would eventually hand over to his son. Kevin grew up being inspired by mini-trucks,…

“THE TRUCK FINALLY FELT COMPLETE, AND AS WE ALL CAN SEE, IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT.” IF YOU’RE SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES THAT EVERY TRUCK BUILDER’S FIRST PROJECT IS DOOMED TO BE RUSHED OR SLOPPY, JOSE JUAREZ OF HOUSTON IS HERE TO PROVE YOU WRONG. It’s easy to see that Jose set out to do things right. Starting with a long list of detailed mods and custom parts, he took more than nine years to complete his Ford masterpiece. Growing up, Jose attended car and truck shows with his older brother, Armando. He always wanted to own a high-quality show truck, and in 2006, he seized the opportunity to purchase an ’03 Ford F-150. He’s been taking pride in his truck and its transformation ever since. Jose didn’t get…

While lifting this ’16 Chevy Colorado Z71 4x4 crew cab, we wanted to enhance the truck’s performance and increase low-end torque. We also wanted to recalibrate the speedometer and odometer for the 305/55R20 tires on 20x9-inch wheels that we added and give this mid-sized pickup greater off-road capability. Since its introduction in 2015, the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon has been flying off dealers’ lots, and its popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the aftermarket industry. A number of products have been introduced to make it run faster and ride better both on and off-road. Superchargers are a great option if you have the financial wherewithal to go that route, but in buying a vehicle with an MSRP of $36,445, we weren’t looking to break the bank. We had a plan in mind…

“AT HALF-TRAVEL, THE LINK BARS WILL PUSH THE BELL-CRANK TO ITS FURTHEST POINT. THIS MEANS THAT THE BELL-CRANK WILL BE OVER CENTER AT HALF-TRAVEL, NOT PERPENDICULAR TO THE GROUND. THE BELL-CRANK SHOULD ONLY BE PERPENDICULAR TO THE GROUND AT ROUGHLY THE ¼ AND ¾ TRAVEL POSITIONS.”—MAX FISH MAX FISH HAS BEEN A CONTRIBUTOR TO “STREET TRUCKS” FOR YEARS, AND HIS SOON-TO-BE-PUBLISHED BOOK, “AIR SUSPENSION DESIGN, VOLUME I,” GOES INTO GREAT DETAIL ON EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT LINK-TYPE REAR AIR SUSPENSIONS. He is also the owner of Bio Kustumz, one of the most well respected fab shops in the country. We recently picked his brain for wisdom regarding parts that are often installed incorrectly. In this interview, Max specifically goes into Mustang II-type front suspensions and…

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 4 GLENDALE, AZ—BRING THE NOIZE—At Victory Lane Sports Park, 22603 N. 43rd Ave. Onsite bar, food, volleyball, raffles, more than 90 awards and cash prizes. For more info, log on to Artofnoize.com. FEBRUARY 24-26 CONROE, TX—LONE STAR THROWDOWN—At the Lone Star Expo Center, 9255 Airport Rd. Multiple awards, including cash awards. Log on to Lonestarthrowdown.com for details. MARCH MARCH 4-5 SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX—2017 SPRING BREAK JAM—At the South Padre Island Convention Center, 355 Padre Blvd. Custom trucks and cars, burnout contest, live music, audio competition, bikini contest, tattoo expo and more. Log on to Heatwaveshow.com. MARCH 10-12 SCOTTSDALE, AZ—GOODGUYS 8 TH  SPRING NATIONALS—At WestWorld of Scottsdale, 16601 N. Pima Rd. Log on to Good-guys.com for more info. MARCH 17-19 FT. WORTH, TX—GOODGUYS 7 TH  SPRING…