1972 Chevy C10 BLACK REIGN MAGIC

Always Bet on Black

Some people have ideas, and some people have contacts—and others have BOTH! Enter Triple C, which stands for Custom Car Consulting, and its mission is to be the bridge between the owner and the builders to help bring those wild ideas to fruition. Kenny Johnson started Triple C back in 2017 and it has flourished with time. Kenny’s connections help him connect the dots for many clients who sometimes don’t even know where to begin.

“‘I wasn’t positive what I wanted at the time,’ Kenny says,  ‘but I knew it was going to be a Chevy.’”

Back in the mid-1980s, Kenny first got the taste for custom vehicles from his father, Holand “Skipper” Baker, who built a showstopping 1957 Chevy truck. When Kenny decided to purchase a vehicle to show off what he could do (sort of a rolling business card), he was torn between building a Chevelle or a C10.

“I wasn’t positive what I wanted at the time,” Kenny says, “but I knew it was going to be a Chevy.”

When he found the 1972 Chevy C10 online, the style in its current form didn’t fit Kenny’s personality, but it was a good start. The C10 was bright purple and had suicide doors, which were someone else’s vision back then, but it was a nice canvas for Kenny to turn into his own personal billboard.

INTO THE BLACK

Kenny went straight to work with a new vision while trying to stay within a working budget, but as everyone knows in this game, budgets end up going completely out the window once you get the ball rolling. The Chevy had an air-ride system, but nothing like you see here now. At its very lowest stance, it was only a tad lower than stock height. Kenny summoned his first contact and enlisted Rocky at Chaotic Rods & Customs in Conroe, Texas, and showed him his ideas. The first step was to take the truck off the frame, while Scott at GSI Fabrication came up with the suspension needed to get this C10 much closer to Mother Earth.

Kenny “undid” the suicide doors on his Chevy and returned them to stock. Once the suspension and doors were reworked, the Chevy went to Oray at AutoBionix in Houston for the bodywork and paint. Kenny chose solid black simply because “it’s the best-looking color for a custom truck.” Although it takes perfection to make black look right, AutoBionix did a great job reworking the body into better-than-factory condition. The fuel cell was relocated to be under the bed and the custom bed was raised and lined.

BIG FINISH

Under the hood, Abraham Luna of Lunatic Custom Performance rebuilt the entire 350 bored 5 over and added a Comp cam, heads, shorty headers, and custom bent pipes with Borla mufflers. To keep the engine and transmission running smoothly, Abraham custom-built a shroud to house the dual 16-inch Spal fans and transmission cooler. The entire motor was finished in black powdercoating and polished stainless steel fittings. Stainless steel lines run both forward and backwards to line up with the new CPP Hydroboost and Wilwood Big Brake configuration.

“Kenny chose solid black simply because  ‘it’s the best-looking color for a custom truck.’”

Kenny added in a Vintage Air setup to make sure he and his family would have nice cool air during their summer cruises in Texas. The interior was handled entirely by Rico Gonzalez of Gonzalez Upholstery. The first step was adding the Dakota Digital gauges and then adding the red bench, custom panels, and doors. Black accents helped to make the red stand out while the air controller was strategically placed in the sliding ashtray compartment. Behind the seat, a full JL Audio sound system was installed using one shallow-mount JL Audio subwoofer with enough power that it could be heard blocks away.

BLACK REIGN MAGIC

Kenny built his career around helping people fulfill their dreams and creating magic. It was only fitting that he utilize those same resources for his own build in creating Black Reign. His first automotive memory was with his father, and he plans on giving his son, Dominick, those same memories. Kenny wishes to thank the team at Chaotic Rods & Customs, Lunatic Custom Performance, AutoBionix, GSI Fabrication, and of course his company, Triple C, for creating an undying masterpiece.

Build Specs

 OWNER

Kenny Johnson
1972 Chevy C10
Houston
Triple C

Chassis/Suspension

Front Suspension:

• GSI front control arms, GSI front dropmember, Air Lift 2,600-pound Dominator airbags

Rear Suspension:

• GSI 4-link, GSI back half kit, AccuAir e-Level management, Firestone sleeves, Viair 444 compressors, 10-gallon air tank

Drivetrain

Engine:

• 350 done by Lunatic Custom Performance, Weiand Stealth intake, FiTech Mean Street EFI, Hooker headers, Borla exhaust system, MSD ignition, Be Cool radiator, dual Spal electric fans, black billet air cleaner, CVF billet serpentine kit, black anodized and polished stainless steel, Wilwood brakes
• Transmission: GM TH400, TCI Street Fighter torque convertor, custom two-piece driveshaft
• Rearend: Custom Moser shortened rear axles

Body/Paint

• GM ’69-’70 front grille, smoothie front bumper, Slosh Tubz, LMC LED headlights and taillights, shaved mirror, markers and turn signals, PPG UA Black done by AutoBionix, custom raised bed floor, widened tubs, Brothers one-piece window set, fuel tank relocated beneath bed, Boyd flush-mount billet gas cap, PB Fab hood hinges, custom high hump transmission tunnel, shaved firewall

Interior

• Custom leather bench done by Gonzalez Upholstery, Dakota Digital gauges in VHX Hyper White, GT Performance steering wheel, Vintage Air with black billet controller, black billet door and window cranks, black billet column shifter

Stereo:

• Kenwood Exelon head unit, JL Audio components, 13TW5 shallow subwoofer, RD 900/5 amplifier, custom enclosure

Wheels & Tires

• Wheels: 22×8.5 and 22×12 Raceline Executive
• Tires: 255/30ZR22 and 225/35ZR22 Lexani LX Twenty

Special Thanks from

Owner: “My wife, Kristin, and kids, Rayah and Dominick; my parents, Holand and Mildred; sister Tomika; my Triple C driver, Mr. Craig Green; Rocky at Chaotic; Abe at Lunatic Custom; Oray at AutoBionix; Rory Green and Tomika Lew; Scott at GSI; and everyone who helped bring this one to life.”