Flashback Friday: A Tahoe Built for Tito

Travis Noack . January 30, 2026 . Features . JASON MULLIGAN

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A Tribute Tahoe Built to Honor and Remember Tito

Turn back the calendar to the August 2008 issue of Street Trucks and Chas Nichols’ stunning ’96 Chevy C-1500 lying flat out across the cover. Basecoated in charcoal, smothered with gold flames and sitting flat on the tarmac over B.A.D. billets, Chas’ truck pushed the custom envelope on every surface. As a proud member of Negative Camber, Chas has always rolled to shows with his extended truck club family. In 2009, as the Nichols clan began to grow, the cramped confines of the standard cab were becoming more and more challenging. It was clearly time for something with a backseat for the kiddos and more cargo room for the family’s stuff. A two-door Tahoe seemed like the perfect solution, and a ’98 Tahoe surfaced with a 4/6 drop and 22s was the perfect blank canvas for Chas’ next build. Between family life, buying a new house and his job at Coca-Cola Bottling Co., the Tahoe build lost momentum and sat in the garage for two years.

In July 2011, the loss of Courtney “Tito” Halowell rocked the truck scene and the Negative Camber family hard. A scene and magazine industry icon, Courtney was loved and respected by all who came in contact with him. Chas and Court were pretty tight, and their friendship was all the motivation Chas needed to step back into the garage again and retackle the Tahoe build. Well, that and the fact that Courtney would have sucker punched him in the nuts for not getting to work on the project earlier and doing something with the perfect blank canvas. Courtney was good like that; you could always count on a playful kick to the baby makers, a wet Willie or a creepy stare as he rubbed his belly in front of you—it got people moving.

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To honor this bearded bundle of joy, Chas chose to replicate the paint scheme Courtney had on his last S-10 project. Back in 2006, Courtney and a few good friends got together to finish an S-10 owned by Geoff Stott, who had been killed. In typical Tito style his generosity and compassion exploded on the S-10 project, and it was displayed at the SEMA Show where it received a GM Design Award. So just as Courtney had done for Geoff when he passed, Chas vowed to build the Tahoe to honor Courtney.

AIRBRUSHED FLAMES TRIMMED IN BLACK PINSTRIPING BY SHANE MEEKER BREAK UP THE MATRIX COOL VANILLA AND CITRUS GREEN METALLIC TWO-TONE APPLIED BY KEVIN YORK OF KREATIVE COLORS.

To get the rockers closer to Mother Earth, the frame was step notched and the rear suspension was slammed and lifted by a custom 2-link, panhard bar and airbags. The nose falls down courtesy of Bell Tech spindles and airbags. A quartet of 22 x 9-inch Centerline billet wheels with black centers and machined ﬂutes are buried in the fenders and protected by Toyo P245/35R22 front and rear rubber. Custom tubs were built to house the 22s, and Matt Holden built brackets to relocate the battery and computer.

TO HONOR THIS BEARDED BUNDLE OF JOY, CHAS CHOSE TO REPLICATE THE PAINT SCHEME COURTNEY HAD ON HIS LAST S-10 PROJECT.”

Once the style was nailed with the perfect rim-tucking and framelaying stance it was time to modify the metal and spray some new hues. To slick and smooth out the body, Chas relied on Kevin York at Kreative Colors. The roof rack and antenna were shaved and a Street Scene windshield cowl was installed. After the subtle mods were completed, Kevin laid down the Matrix Cool Vanilla and Citrus Green Metallic two-tone broken up by Aluminum Silver airbrushed ﬂames by Shane Meeker bordered in black pinstriping. The paint detail even ﬂows into the doorjambs, and the exterior artistry is topped off with LED taillights, clear corners and markers, a smoothed and painted rear bumper, a chrome smoothie front bumper and a billet grille insert and painted Bow Tie emblem.

The cruising chamber was the last area of custom concern and Chas had Shawn’s Upholstery tackle most of it. The factory front buckets and rear bench were covered in a combination of tan leather and green vinyl. Chas personally wrapped the door panel inserts and rear panel inserts in green vinyl and tacked fresh tan carpet to the ﬂoorboards. A smoothed and painted dash cluster, AC vents and center console bring some additional color to the cockpit, while a Billet steering wheel handles lefts and rights in style. Escalade inside door handles lend a subtle dash of bling, while blacked out windows deﬂect prying eyes.

Ever since the Tahoe’s completion Chas and his wife Jessica and kids Avery (7) and Jessie (2) have enjoyed cruising this amazing tribute to Courtney to shows with the Negative Camber family. Chas would like to thank his wife and kids, Kevin York, Chase Tucker, Robert Canida, Jeff Davy at Devious Customs, Matt Holden, Shane Meeker, the Marsh family, Eric Carver at Factory Finish, Kevin Doyle, and most of all Courtney “Tito” Halowell for “all the years he has motivated and inspired.” ST