Custom 1951 Chevrolet Truck Built Down Under

Jason Mulligan . March 10, 2026 . Features . BRIAN GOUDE

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This ’51 Chevy from Down Under Wears a Custom Metal Envelope

It’s overwhelming but intriguing when you trace the influence and connections in the custom truck industry, not just in the U.S., but all over the world. It was more than 12 years ago that Aaron Gregory picked up a Street Trucks Magazine in Australia. At the time he had no idea what a mini-truck was but he knew he had to get involved. He eventually picked up a dual cab Holden Rodeo and put it on the ground over 20s. Then he got a job at The Chop Shop in West Gosford, New South Wales.

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For his next project he wanted something a little older, with some crossover appeal, to help represent the shop. He found an old farm truck cab, a ’51 Chevrolet. The truck wasn’t perfect, though, the floor and 6 inches of the cab were rusted out, so he pulled out some of his old mini-truck tricks. Aaron grabbed a Rodeo chassis, floor and firewall and grafted on sheet metal before ’bagging the chassis using a triangulated 4-link with Slam Specialties RE7 airbags on the cantilever. Up front, the control arms were modified and the hubs were converted to five-lug to accept a set of 17 x 7- and 20 x 8.5-inch Boyd Coddington wheels wrapped in 205/40 and 295/45 Falken tires. The cab mounts were dropped down over the frame for a body drop.

1951 Chevrolet

The project sat for a few years as the shop grew, becoming one of the most sought after places in the country, particularly because all custom work must be government approved. When shop owner Laurie Starling took a trip to the U.S. right before SEMA, the project was reignited. Courtney Halowell, one of the editors of that old Street Trucks issue that helped Aaron get into the sport, had passed away, and Laurie helped with the tribute build, a ’53 Chevy truck.

When he returned to Australia, Laurie and Aaron pulled out the stops and worked three weeks straight on their own truck to build in tribute to Courtney for the 10th East Coast Cruise show, thrown by Negative Camber, the club Courtney helped found.

1951 Chevrolet

The truck sat for another year until the huge MotorEx show approached, and a three-month thrash was on to get the truck finished top to bottom to debut. An AccuAir eLevel system was added to the suspension setup. The 5L engine came from a Holden Commodore and features a Crow camshaft, Pacemaker Extractor headers, MagnaFlow 2.5-inch custom exhaust and a Holden Bananas intake manifold. Billet Gilmer pulleys and a K&N filter top things off.

1951 Chevrolet

The body had already received plenty of rust repair, then Aaron hand built the bed that flows into the body lines of the cab. The rear resembles a ’32 coupe trunk featuring XP Falcon taillights. The smooth running boards were completely hand built to flow into the lowered cab. The rear fenders were sectioned, and raised to fit the 20-inch wheels and the front fenders were trimmed to lay flat. The front grille comes from Brothers, but the bumper bar is all custom, made from extra grille bars. The body was slicked smooth and painted by Speedies Auto Refinishing in DeBeers Metallic Olive. The interior is truly hot rod inspired with a smoothed dash featuring Dakota Digital gauges and a Billet Specialties Classic steering wheel. The guys at Stitched Up Trim reshaped the Rodeo seat before wrapping it in chocolate leather. The panels received leather and tweed treatments as well.

Aaron would like to thank Laurie Starling, Dave at Speedies Auto Refinishing, Darren of Stiched Up Custom Trim, Stuart of Hot Wired, Chad, Glenn at Airride and his dad. ST