The Eleventh Hour EDITOR: JEREMY COOK
We want to hear from you! Please send any questions, comments, or concerns to [email protected].Keep on Truckin’
—JCPROJECTS—
And None
of Them
Are Mine!
I
f you’ve been reading the
magazine the last few years,
it’s no surprise to you that I
am known as what peopleaffectionately call a turd polisher.
While some people in my position like
to only work with brand-new vehicles
or fully custom builds, I enjoy taking a
truck that most people wouldn’t waste
time on and making it into something
respectable. My thinking has always been that while people like
to buy a magazine and see the latest and greatest the world of
custom trucks has to offer, they also have to live in reality and
do their truck customizing on a tight—or even nonexistent—
budget. That’s why I think it’s nice to see real-world updates
of trucks that are turned into respectable drivers without
completely breaking the bank. A couple great examples of this
would be the ’02 GMC we revamped a couple years ago or the
’97 F-150 I was talking about in this column last month.
Recently, a few of my friends have decided to get into theact. My buddy Brett of Severed Ties fame, and I were at Alpine
HQ talking about the old days, and his square-body dualie, and
how he kinda sorta wanted another one. Soon, we were on our
phones, and about a week later, he had amassed not one or two,
but about six of the ’73-’91 variety. He’s not stopping, and that
number just went up literally as I am writing this. (But that’s a
whole other story!) The creampuff of the bunch is destined to
be a SEMA build, but we have a nice
little makeover planned for the one
pictured here—lowering, wheels, tires,
and a handful of exterior upgrades—
and the removal of a whole bunch of
old stuff! It’ll be a good-lookin’ retro
driver when we’re done.
My other buddy Bryan Fross has
three Suburbans: the nice new one his
wife drives, his well-worn daily driver,
and this ’71 he picked up recently. He had no plans to go crazy
with it, but since he just picked up a set of Intro wheels, we
decided we should give this one a bit of a makeover, as well.
We’re working with Ridetech on this one to give you a hint as to
the plans.
My other buddy, David Engle of Engle Bros. fame has had
his ’88-’98 lowered driver for as long as I can remember. The
drivetrain is extremely stout, and you can hear the blower
whine from a block away. But since the suspension is shot, and
there’s not a straight panel left on the thing, we had another
great idea—prerunner! We’re working with BTR Fabrication in
Chino, California, to get a set of hand-fabricated arms. Those,
along with some coilovers and patina-matched fiberglass
fenders, will be just the ticket!
Look for some tech stories on these trucks and a whole
bunch more in future issues of Truckin! Heck, you might just
want to subscribe so you don’t miss them!- VOLUME 43, NO. 11, [8] SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 -