Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i Street Trucks

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE DRIVING A CUSTOM TRUCK ON THE OPEN ROAD. You’ll never be able to fully enjoy your truck unless you’re behind the wheel blasting down the highway. Sure, there are certain situations when you’ll want to trailer your truck. Maybe it’s just been freshly painted. We get that, but you should definitely drive your truck occasionally. This month, we have a very special feature on a couple of trucks that were built to beat on. They’re the two on this month’s cover, and both were built by KC’s Paintshop. The ’49 Ford and ’53 Chevy were fully built with one exception: paint. This might seem odd for a shop that has “paint” in its name, but there is more to KC’s establishment than meets the eye. Owner KC…

LET’S GET ONE THING OUT OF THE WAY: THE ALL-NEW F-150 RAPTOR IS ANYTHING BUT A STREET TRUCK. With nearly 2 feet of suspension travel, shocks as thick as Dwayne Johnson’s neck and tires heavy enough to stop bullets, the F-150 Raptor is what you buy if you want to win the Baja 1000 and are too lazy to build a truck of your own. It’ll conquer the kind of off-road terrain that most off-road pickups can crawl over, but it’ll do it at freeway speeds. The Raptor is, to put it mildly, about as off-road as an off-road truck can get. That said, for those of us who stick to the blacktop, there’s still a lot to see, because a drive in the Raptor shows us the future of…

The second series 1955-59 Chevys used to be the trucks to own back in the day, but in recent years, everyone is leaning toward the C-10 generations: 1960-66, 1967-72 and so on. That’s a shame, because these pickups look amazing laid out and tucking a ton of wheel. Like many Chevy trucks, they came with either a small or big back window, the larger model wrapping around the sides of the pillars. It dramatically changes the look of the truck, which is why so many builders search for those versions. But what if you have a truck with a small back window and you want to go big? You cut up the truck that’s what, and now you can do it on your own. To find out how, we visited…

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE THAT MANY TRUCK BUILDERS LACK IN THIS DAY AND AGE OF “BUILD IT FAST AND SHOW IT ASAP.” But for Shawn Koerkenmeir, building his truck was a gradual process. After purchasing the blue ’02 Chevrolet Silverado in October 2005, Shawn felt the itch for air ride when he saw a classmate’s ’bagged S-10. He started saving in earnest, and slowly but surely he was on his way to setting his truck on the ground. The magical day arrived when he finally had enough money to get started. Shawn brought his Silverado to Nfamus Air Suspension and the crew installed air ride. Having done his research, Shawn purchased drop spindles for the front and a KP Components 6-link kit for the rear. Once the work was finished,…

COMPLAINTS ABOUT SOME 2014-16 DODGE DURANGOS AND 2013-16 RAM 1500S SUDDENLY ROLLING WHILE PARKED HAVE SPURRED AN INVESTIGATION BY THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NHTSA). The issue possibly stems from the electronic rotary shifters, which are essentially dials that are used to select gears and the parking setting. Whether it’s a technical glitch of some sort or simply driver error remains to be discovered as of this writing, and it’s unclear at this time whether the park setting is being selected and is somehow deselected through a software or mechanical failure. The other possibility is that perhaps “Park” was not selected, presumably with the driver(s) being in a hurry to exit the vehicle. In any case, with 25 separate incidents identified through the NHTSA, Fiat Chrysler (parent company to…

2015+ FORD F-150 LED LIGHT BAR UPGRADING YOUR TRUCK’S headlights is just one of the quick and easy mods that will set it apart from the pack. The light produced by Spec-D Tuning’s Optic LED light bar headlights not only looks amazing, but the light bar also increases visibility by throwing a wider, more concentrated beam through the projection lens. The light bar portion consists of numerous SMD LED bulbs that are covered with an opaque lens to create a bright and consistent light source output that suits form and function. Spec-D Tuning • 909.839.2533 • Specdtuning.com ADVENTURE SERIES 2.0 IFP FOX’S ADVENTURE SERIES 2.0 shock features silver powder-coated steel bodies, strong 5/8-inch hard chrome-plated steel shafts and an Internal Floating Piston (IFP) to deliver the same race-proven damping performance…

“BRAD WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT. THE NEXT TIME MIKE SAW HIS TRUCK, HE WAS IN AWE OF ITS PERFECTION. EVERY PANEL WAS GLASS STRAIGHT; EVERY GAP WAS TIGHT AND EVEN.” COMING UP WITH TITLES FOR FEATURES CAN BE DAUNTING. Sometimes we luck out and the owner already has an awesome name for their truck, and sometimes the perfect title just pops out at you. Most often, though, there’s something about the truck’s story that lays the foundation for a title. We’d like to think that we hit the mark more often than not, and at the very least we hope that we are giving proper respect to all of the hard work that builders put into their trucks. While at first glance the title of this…

“THESE TWO TRUCKS WERE BUILT TO DRIVE FAST WHILE MAINTAINING HIGH-PERFORMANCE HANDLING, PLACING MODERN-DAY DEPENDABILITY CENTER STAGE.” THE FIRST THING YOU’D EXPECT TO SEE ON A WORLD-RENOWNED PAINTER’S PERSONAL PROJECT TRUCK IS A FRESH PAINT JOB, RIGHT? Maybe that’s an unfair assumption or a result of thinking too much inside the box; either way, KC Mathieu of KC’s Paint Shop can appreciate the value of a natural patina finish just as much as a high-shine gloss. There’s no way to duplicate what years of neglect and punishment from the elements can do to a paint job. Sure, faux applications can yield passable results, but for authenticity’s sake, KC decided to leave the worn surfaces of both of his latest SEMA projects completely as-is, without…

THE CALL TO BE UNIQUE RINGS IN THE EAR OF EVERY BUILDER WHO TAKES UP A WRENCH. Despite the constant ebb and flow of custom trends, every truck reflects the singular perspective of its builder. That’s part of what makes the truck featured here so special, that and the owner’s long history with it. For long-time enthusiast and garage-built hero Matt Smith, inspiration came in the form of a mini-truck that was practically laying frame on the freeway. The mini caught Matt’s eye for just a few moments during his drive to school, but the image stuck with him for decades. After he graduated, Matt pursued his pickup passion with a vengeance. Matt has owned his ’83 Chevy S-10 since 1988, and every show he attended and every magazine he…

Street Legal This ’69 Chevrolet C-10 serves as a daily driver to John Szwarc from Utah and claims the title of a one-of-a-kind engine in a clean build. The truck came with a manual transmission, a straight-six engine and not much else. What stands today, however, is a feat of inspiration and determination. John found parts at wrecking yards and in catalogs and assembled everything himself. Originally without a motor, lights, glass, interior, hood hinges, door handles, grille, bumper and more, this Chevy has been built from the bottom up. A major feature of this build is the Chevy big-block V-8 454 engine mounted in the bed with a turbo 350 coupled to an Ace Champion V-drive in the rear. John had the C-10 for about seven years before the…

“PINSTRIPE” CHRIS DUNLOP RECENTLY SHARED THIS RENDERING HE FINISHED FOR ROBERT TRUEAX OF SYNDICATE AUTO WERX IN PHOENIX. Robert’s ’66 Chevy Carryall promises to be quite the neck-breaker with its US Mags Heritage wheels and ’bagged Porterbuilt Dropmember suspension, which will be controlled by an AccuAir e-Level system. Other modifications of note include a wedged chop with 12 inches of glass all around, a full-length ragtop, brushed nickel and stainless bright work. Another neat feature is that the roof hump that usually begins right after the rear edge of the doors has been moved all the way back to behind the ragtop. Can’t say we’ve ever seen that before. The inside of Rob’s Chevy deviates from the standard dashboard layout in favor of a 1960 Impala dashboard, which retains the…

“THE CROWNING GLORY OF THE F-450 BUILT FOR THEIR SEMA BOOTH IS THAT THE NAIVAR BROTHERS HAVE TAKEN CAREFULLY CALCULATED STEPS TO ENSURE THAT EVERY DETAIL OF THIS TRUCK HAS BEEN GIVEN ITS DUE.” A APPROXIMATELY 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF AUSTIN, TEXAS, SITS TAYLOR, AN OASIS OF SMALL TOWN CHARM SURROUNDED BY THE VAST AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY THAT EXISTS IN CENTRAL TEXAS. Taylor was home to early rodeo star Bill Pickett, Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig creator Tex Avery and NBA Hall of Famer KC Jones. However, on the south side of town, down a long dirt driveway, reside two brothers, Brandon and Dustin Naivar, and their custom fabrication shop, ShowTime Metal Works (STMW). Sharing a passion for the off-road industry, they quickly built a name for themselves on…

The popularity of square-body C-10s is growing, and they’re becoming more difficult to find. We’ve had our eye on a certain ’79 model that had been sitting in our friend’s backyard for about five years. When the time finally came for us to snatch it up, we were ready. The truck hasn’t run in all of that time, and it’s slowly been deteriorating. We did a little more research and discovered that the truck hadn’t been driven daily since 2000. We had our work cut out for us. We’ll be documenting several steps in the revival of our '79 square-body, and we’ll start with getting the truck’s heartbeat pumping again. We did some research and learned that the truck was originally equipped with a six-cylinder, but it had been swapped…

THE RESOLUTIONS TRUCK RUN WAS STARTED ALL THE WAY BACK IN 1976 BY WESTSIDE TRUCKERS. The crew continued to host the annual New Year’s Eve weekend event until Sunset Truckers took it over in 1984. Bob Hase and Jim Lynskey, longtime custom enthusiasts, agreed to keep the event going under the Sunset name. In 1985, the pair unveiled the first ever Reso Man on the event artwork. Resolutions has been hosted at many locations around Southern California, but in 2008, Bob and Jim had to say goodbye to the event because host parks were getting more difficult to find and increasingly expensive. According to Bob, it was like losing a child. As the 40th anniversary got closer, though, he knew they had to do something special. Bob got approval from…

WHEN IT COMES to classic car shows, Goodguys Rod and Custom Association is one of the top names. For the most part, these events are open only to vehicles 1972 and older. Though there are certain Goodguys shows where all years of American-made or powered vehicles can enter. These days are better known as K&N All American Sundays. Unlike your local cruise night, you can expect thousands of vehicles to flood the grounds at any Goodguys event. Though some are bigger than others, none of them disappoint. Wherever you are located in the country, there is most likely a Goodguys event that’s reasonably near you. Even if it’s a bit of a distance to get out to the closest event, the travel is definitely worth it because some of…