When a Truck Is so Clean Words Are Unnecessary

What do you do when you’ve been displaying your truck at shows for a few years and everyone has already seen it? The answer, my friends, is that you make it even more awesome. This is exactly what happened to Joey Booth with his ’01 Ford F-150 single cab. He has owned it since the day it rolled off the dealer lot and has been busy making it legit ever since.

Joey’s been in the truck scene for more than two decades and has made a living off of customizing vehicles. If you enjoy this sport, then you can admire his involvement in making factory-built rides way cooler. Nowadays he spends his time working at Auto Extremes in Conyers, Georgia, installing high-end audio systems on luxury vehicles for various sports stars in the nearby Atlanta area. Joey knows what it takes to be the boss in the scene.

Tapping into his experience, he did the usual stuff to his F-150, like ‘bag it and shave it, and he added a two-tone paint job to kill at the shows. The truck was a hit. It got tons of looks, won trophies at many events, and scored a few magazine features along the way. After several years of touring the show scene, Joey had accomplished pretty much everything he could with the truck.

So, he started brainstorming with good friend John Keith of Keef’s Rod and Custom in Ridgeland, Mississippi. The two of them got to thinking about the various ways they could take the F-150 to the next level. Their best idea was to revamp it with street rod-type styling so that they could demonstrate how a modern truck could be cleaned up and elevated to a higher standard. The body would have to be slick but still have a few cool mods, the interior would need to be completely revamped but kept simple, and the engine compartment would have to be clean.

The super-low stance adds some aggressiveness and brings the body to the pavement to show all the fools how it’s really done. A custom 4-link in the rear with a set of Slam Specialties RE7 airbags mounted on top of the bars gets the job done. The rearend has been narrowed a total of 5 inches to keep the wheels between the bedsides, and the frame was notched to travel upwards. On the front, the upper control arms were moved up 3 inches to help with alignment, and another set of Slams was mounted in between. To delete additional height, the Keef’s crew did a 5-inch traditional body drop to set the exterior steel down low over the 24-inch 2Crave No. 4 wheels with Lexani rubber.

The exterior is simple, yet it gets your attention. The door handles, antenna, emblems, hood squirters, windshield wipers, fuel door and bed caps were all shaved. If that weren’t enough, a Grant Kustoms roll pan was added and the shaved tailgate was welded shut to streamline the entire rearend. For some extra flare, a set of taillights from a 1961 Ford F-100 was molded into the rear. The inner bed was raised and sheet metal was sculpted around it. The floor is accented with dimple dies and wood strips. To really mix it up, the doors got the suicide treatment, and then the entire body was covered in custom candy gold mixed from various Matrix paints.

Continuing with the street rod theme, the interior was completely redesigned for maximum style points. The most important piece is the bench seat, which was cut down and the foam was reshaped. It’s covered in tan leather and has a painted medallion on the top center of the seatback. The door panels were also reshaped, covered in leather and Clayton Machine handles were added. Completing the look, all plastics were dyed to match the leather, new carpet was installed, the headliner was covered in suede, and a B.A.D. steering wheel was swapped in. Of course, Joey had to hook up some audio, which includes a Pioneer head unit, PowerBass 6 1⁄2- inch component speakers, 10-inch shallow subs and amps to power it.

If you look under the hood of most trucks at a show, you might find that a lot of them lack custom pieces. The engine compartment on this truck was already modified with a set of wheel tubs and a CPP 7-inch brake booster to clear the 24s. The tubs are covered in tan paint to match the interior. A fiberglass cover painted the same color as the exterior was added to dress up the 4.2L V-6 engine.

After spending some time at Keef’s shop, this F-150 emerged looking like a new truck. If you take a second to check out all of the details, you can really see that this is no run-of-the-mill build. Joey really stepped it up on the final round and proved that during the time he has been in the scene, he has learned a thing or two about what it takes to create a killer ride. ST

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JOEY BOOTH
2001 FORD F-150
NEWNAN, GA
RELAXED ATMOSPHERE

TRUCK SPECS

ENGINE

• 4.2L V-6
• CUSTOM ENGINE COVER
• CPP BRAKE BOOSTER

SUSPENSION

• 5-INCH BODY DROP
• KEEF’S ROD & CUSTOM’S 4-LINK
• SLAM SPECIALTIES RE7 AIRBAGS

BODY

• SUICIDE DOORS
• 1961 F-100 TAILLIGHTS
• MATRIX CUSTOM GOLD CANDY

WHEELS

• 24X9.5 2CRAVE NO. 4 WHEELS
• LEXANI TIRES

INTERIOR

• 1985 C-10 BENCH SEAT
• TAN LEATHER
• CLAYTON MACHINE WORKS HANDLES
• POWERBASS AUDIO

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