Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Some things in life are a blessing and a curse. The addiction to custom vehicles is like that. It brings a ton of satisfaction, yet the process of building a radical custom also carries quite a bit of pain and heartache. To make matters worse, there’s a special breed of custom enthusiasts who have “the disease” so bad that they generally can’t leave well enough alone. Our good bud Rico Rodriguez from Fort Lauderdale, Florida knows this all too well.

As one of the original founders of Aftermath, Rico has given in to his custom obsession and spent many sleepless nights plotting the next phases of his truck builds. Rico has been into custom trucks since the ’90s and is no stranger to pushing boundaries and breaking rules when it comes to building his trucks his way. His past build, a ’99 S-10, went through many phases and was featured quite a few times throughout the decade that he owned, built and rebuilt it.

The Dime went under the knife so often because Rico was never quite satisfied, so he finally broke down and purchased an ’04 crew cab Chevy to tow his S-10 around to shows. Shortly after Rico decided it was time to part ways with his S-10, and to his surprise it sold more quickly than he anticipated and soon his garage was missing something custom.

As we know all too well, Rico wouldn’t be able to hold out for long, and soon enough his crew cab was being torn down for a complete build. Now that Rico had been around the block once or twice, he knew the right phone calls to make and the Silverado was quickly disassembled to get it flat on the ground. His buddy Jeremy Miranda of Miranda Built was responsible for building the frame and suspension to house a custom set of staggered 24- and 26-inch Modular Society wheels. Using Slam Specialty airbags coupled with McGaughy’s drop spindles up front and a custom- built 4-link with Ridetech Shockwaves in the rear, Rico’s truck was now that much closer to Mother Earth, and he was once again feeling like a proper member of the Aftermath crew.

At first things were meant to be kept simple; Rico just wanted another cruiser that he could take to shows to get his fix, but of course, it didn’t stay that way for long. Before he knew it, he and his buds had already devised a plan for a complete shave, custom interior and custom touches throughout, as well as a full repaint to set his crew cab apart from the rest. That’s another thing that’s both a blessing and a curse in our custom truck scene, having friends that push and motivate you to go that extra mile. It’s helpful to stay motivated, and in the end you usually thank them, but during the headache and slow going portions of a build sometimes you want to punch them right in the throat!

Thankfully, Rico and his buds made good progress, and soon enough Bob Bauman of Mad Mods had the truck’s exterior smoothed along with adding some killer custom features like rear suicide doors, a smooth bed floor and a custom louvered hood by Boman Coaches. Opting to keep things a bit different and give Rico’s truck a clean yet custom look, Bob sprayed the PPG Sand Storm color that he and Rico had settled on. Although many were skeptical of the color combo, once it was cured and everything began to come together, he couldn’t have been happier. It was exactly what he was after. When the wheels were painted the contrasting color, Rico knew he’d hit a homerun with the look he was after.

All that was left was to wrap up the custom aluminum bomber seats also done by Boman Coaches, and finish up the rest of the stereo and interior over at Advanced Audio Concepts. Rico’s buddy Eric Cryan was at the helm of the audio and interior build and designed an interior and stereo to complement the rest of the build theme. The dash was smoothed and painted, and plenty of tan suede took up residence in the cabin to give it a truly unique yet luxurious feel that Rico could be proud to cruise in with his friends and family.

All in all, Rico is a veteran of our scene and having been through this process time and time again he shared with us that the pain of a build is always worth the reward of seeing it completed; you just have to have dedication and stick to the plan. We couldn’t agree more, and we’re looking forward to seeing what Rico comes up with next, since we know that he can never leave well enough alone. For more info, check out the spec box on the left. ST

---

TRUCK SPECS

OWNERS

Rico Rodriguez
2004 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Aftermath

ENGINE

• Chevy 5.3L
• K&N Intake
• Flowmaster exhaust
• Paint and detailed

SUSPENSION

• 3/4 frame stock floor body drop
• McGaughy’s drop spindles
• Slam Specialites airbags in the front
• Custom parallel 4-link with pan hard bar in rear
• Ridetech Shockwaves in rear
• Shortened rearend to fit rear wheels
• Custom-built aluminum fuel cell
• Custom-mounted air tank in bed
• Four switches built into custom dash
• Chassis and suspension by Miranda Built

WHEELS & TIRES

• 24×9 and 26×12 Modular Society wheels painted tan
• 275/30/24 and 305/30/26 Kumho tires

BODY & PAINT

• Shaved door handles, taillights, tailgate, bedcaps, gas door, rain gutters and third brake light
• LED third brake light
• Custom roll pan with LEDs and tag
• Factory front bumper with upper cap and lower valance painted to match
• Louvered hood by Boman Coaches
• Smoothed and painted raised bed floor
• Sliding ragtop
• Suicide rear doors
• Trenz billet grille
• Custom metal/bodywork by Mad Mods
• PPG Sand Storm paint
• Painted by Bob Bauman at Mad Mods

INTERIOR

• Dash smoothed and painted
• Custom aluminum bomber seats built by Boman Coaches
• Suede headliner
• Looped carpet
• Custom smoothed and painted door panels with suede inserts
• Billet Specialties steering wheel
• Kinetik battery
• Stinger wiring
• Four 10-inch Image Dynamics subwoofers
• Kenwood Navigation head unit
• Rockford Fosgate components in custom kick panels
• Rockford Fosgate Prime Series amplifiers
• Done by Eric Cryan and Calvin Thomas at Advanced Audio Concepts

Special Thanks From Owner: My wife Danielle for all of her support, Jeremy Miranda from Miranda Built, Austin Weiss, Mike Gonzalez from Bowtie South, Eric Cryan from Advanced Audio Concepts, Bob Bauman from Mad Mods and the entire Aftermath family for their love and support through all these years.

---