’Bagged + Big Motor + Classic = A Perfect 10

In the world of custom truck building, sometimes it takes a new owner to breathe new life into a project, as is the case with Kerry “Duck” Cunningham’s ’59 Chevy Apache pictured here. Anthony Noto had originally bought the truck as a 36 series flatbed, and he built it up as his daily driver, which some of you might remember since the red patina was hard to miss.

Anthony drove it for a while before he grew tired of it and was ready to move on. He had quite the collection building, so he decided to send a few of his rides to good homes. Duck came in at the perfect time to scoop up the ’59 and begin to build it into the classic truck he’d envisioned for quite some time. Since Duck already had big plans for the Apache, no sooner had he pulled it into his driveway, than it was torn apart and ready for a transformation.

Duck’s been in the game for a while and some of you might remember a few of his past features, including a bad-ass, laid-out dually that graced the cover of Street Trucks, a Nissan Hardbody body-dropped on 22-inch wheels back when that was unheard of, a laid-out Avalanche and a list of other killer customs that have made us drool throughout the years. As a proud member of Negative Camber for longer than a decade, he’s also got quite the group of buds to help him tear into his projects and very literally “Do work!”

Being a body guy and painter by trade, Duck already had the look he was after burning a hole in the back of his head. So, he and his partner in crime, Travis Chauvin, got down to business. Duck started by reworking the suspension a bit to get what he needed out of the truck, and to ensure that it could tow.

Next on the list was dialing in the paint scheme. Duck decided to put the red patina base to work and added a few more coats before laying down the final black topcoat. Then, he carefully gave it a “worn” look in all of the right places to contrast slightly with the black exterior. Going a slightly different route, he laid down a few coats of clear before buffing it to the perfect shine. Gloss black is the new black.

With the stance and paint dialed in, the Centerline smoothie wheels received matching paint and ’67 Camaro center caps because Duck is a huge fan of the little details that most people wouldn’t even notice. Those details were carried throughout the rest of the build with a subtly “weathered” wood bed floor, a custom-stitched bench seat, a factory-restored steering wheel with custom NC logo horn button and the Club Car White roof and tailgate accents. The perfect blend of power and stance, this Classic is easily bumped to the top of our list of favorite builds from Duck and his crew to date.

Duck’s ultimate goal was to have a slammed classic with a big-block between the frame rails that he could tow the toys with—yup, nailed it! Stay tuned; we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of Duck and the Dirty Souf NC boys in these pages. ST

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TRUCK SPECS

OWNER

Kerry “Duck” Cunningham
1959 Chevrolet Apache Gray, LA
Negative Camber

ENGINE

• Chevy 454 big-block
• Chevy 700R manual trans
• Holley high-flow water pump
• Demon carb
• Caddy style air cleaner, custom painted
• Dillon aluminum three-core radiator
• Dillon dual fans built into shroud
• True dual exhaust with Thrust mufflers

SUSPENSION

• ¼-inch manual paddles
• 1983 Camaro subframe
• Texas 2-link rear
• Narrowed 2 inches 1997 Camaro rearend with Moser Axles
• Ridetech shocks
• Under-floor brake booster mount

WHEELS & TIRES

• 20 x 8 and 22 x 9.5 Centerline Smoothie wheels
• 1967 Camaro caps
• Wilwood four-pistion disc brakes

BODY & PAINT

• Painted Sherwin-Williams black
• Brown and red patina
• Chrome front end
• Gas filler relocated to bed
• Fuel cell mounted behind rearend
• All new glass
• Custom hitch mounted below bumper
• Custom “weathered” wood bed floor

INTERIOR

• Stock steering wheel with billet NC logo
• Bench seat wrapped in real leather like “grandma’s couch”
• Patina aluminum floor mats
• Custom kick panel speaker pods for Kicker
• Two 10-inch Kicker subs
• Kinetik battery
• Dynamat
• Lokar tall shifter

Special Thanks: Travis Chauvin, Steven Rogers, Broson Loring, Wesley Cato at Anything Car Audio, Mobility Glass and everyone else who helped out. Also thanks to Anthony Noto for selling the truck, and a very special thanks to Stephanie and my son Kendal for all of their support.

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