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Lo-Fuel
Out of Gas and Afraid of Heights
Written by Jeremy Cook
Photos by Mike Self
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Out of Gas and Afraid of Heights
There are a lot of ways to get into trucks. Some of us are born into it, wrenching on rides as soon as we are able to hold a wrench with both hands. Others fall into it at other times in their lives. Maybe a neighbor had a cool mini. Maybe there was a club in town that had some impressive rides at the local cruise night. Maybe some of them picked up this very magazine and decided it was time to buy a truck and work on it.
For John Pena, it was high school, shop class to be exact. It was there that he began to excel in auto body class, and shortly after that he had his own truck: an '86 Chevy short bed. It had a 12-inch lift and a bunch of other cool stuff done to it. Skip ahead nearly 10 years, and we see that John is an upstanding member of the truck community. He is the Texas chapter president of Acrophobia, one of the larger clubs out there if you didn't already know it. He also works on all kinds of shows and fundraisers to help out his fellow truck people when they are in need. Most importantly, he owns this clean and very original '99 Chevy Silverado standard cab. It came together like most projects: three years, a little work at a time, and plenty of patience from friends, family, and especially John's wife Melanie.
The suspension was capably handled by John's friend Rocky Fox. Up front, DJM control arms were combined with Slam Specialties airbags to get the front end down on the frame. The rear end got a step notch, tubbed rear fenders and a custom two-link for a second set of Slam Specialties bags to mount to. For wheels, 20 x 8-inch Stingrays from Centerline were picked up from Texas House of Dubs along with the Wan Li 255/35/20 tires.
Under the hood, things were kept pretty simple. The 4.3L V-6 received a K&N FIPK air intake and a Poweraid throttle body spacer from Airaid. Of course, the exhaust was rerouted and a Gibson Performance muffler was added to accommodate the new frame-laying stance. Finally, a few of the plastic pieces were smoothed and painted, then pinstriped to pick up those valuable show points and add a little accent under the hood.
The ultra smooth exterior and cool paint colors and scheme are a result of the combined efforts of a few talented guys around Texas. First, Chaotic Rods and Customs in Tomball performed all the metal work. An all-steel one-piece bumper was added up front and the mirrors and door handles were shaved along with the third brake light. The bed was also completely shaved, including the gas door, stake pockets and taillights. The tailgate and roll pan were molded in, then six holes were frenched in and beehive-style taillights backed with LEDs were installed. Bodywork was performed by Charles Kell and Diego Ramon before Diego (of DR Kustom Finishes in Victoria) shot the Dupont Spectramaster blue base coat, then laid down the unique scallop pattern in House of Kolor Kandy Planet green. Then Pat Reid of Mad Concepts laid down the pinstripes in tangelo pearl.
All of that custom paint work continued inside the cab as well. Santos and Jackie at Insane Autowerx built the cool center console, which, along with the entire dash and door panels were painted blue to match the interior. Insane also put together the audio system, which consists of an Eclipse head unit mated to a Coustic amplifier and Nakamichi separates, while the console features a pair of Rockford Fosgate 10-inch subs. The seats and headliner were covered in black leather with blue inserts and Orange stitching by Gilbert Valero at Izzy's Custom Upholstery in Humble. Added touches to the interior include a billet steering wheel from NRC and the kamikaze rearview mirror from wheelstop.com.
Although it's not a daily driver anymore, John and Melanie still managed to clock over 5,000 miles last year, hitting every show that was within driving distance. And since these photos were shot, John passed the truck on to a friend so he could concentrate on his next project, which you'll probably be reading about on these pages soon. |  John Pena - Spring, TX, 1999 Chevy Silverado     | Show comments (3) - Add comments to this article: |
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This truck rocks. i love it, i saw it in the magazine and i cried. its beautiful. there isnt a truck club here in kodiak alaska, but still some nice trucks. i beleive in having a cruiser truck AND a mud runner. anyways. thanks for the pics. keep up the bad ass work. Its all for the love of the truck. chilll--tj Posted by Thor Johnson, Whose homepage is www.myspace.com/goodol'chevylovin on September 19, 2006 at 15:58 i like that paint job my fav. color, that center piece is savage. i wanna see this truck face to face Posted by Jon Stevens, on February 20, 2008 at 12:02 this is a really nice truck. Posted by cody, on November 5, 2008 at 11:27 | 1
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