Street Legal Pickup That’s a Killer on Autocross Courses

LIFE IS FULL of choices, and when faced with the somewhat odd yet palpable choice of having a wedding or building a race truck, most women would probably pick the wedding. Brandy Phillips is definitely not most women. Defining moments come in all shapes and sizes, and for Brandy, one of hers was the four-year period between 2008 and 2012, a time she spent working for Spectre Performance, piloting race cars all across the country in Pro-Touring competitions, hanging with the big boys and showing them that chicks certainly can, too.

The next defining moment was deciding to settle down and raise a family. It was later that Brandy realized that though she was ready for more of a family life, she ultimately missed racing more than she ever thought she would. So Rob, her then fiancé and co-operator of the couple’s business PCH RODS, asked her to choose: start planning a wedding or build a race truck. Brandy, of course, chose the truck.

While Brandy had competed against all kinds of competitors (both cars and trucks) during her stint with Spectre, the two stand-out ladies in the scene, Mary Pozzi and Stacey Tucker, were autocrossing cars at the time. This prompted the Phillips to build a C-10 race truck rather than another classic car. Plus, Rob already had plenty of spare parts laying around from his previous ’69 C-10 build that could be used for their current project.

Once they’d decided to build the truck, the couple tracked down a ’72 C-10 in less than perfect condition from fellow racer Wes Drelleshak and quickly started researching other Pro-Touring trucks in order to make their build stand out from the rest. As a guy who’s focused on aesthetics, Rob zeroed in on the look of the truck, while Brandy was all about functionality. They made the perfect team, ultimately creating an agile race machine with the looks of a supercar.

It’s not all about power. Rather, it’s the balance between power and handling, and of course, a great driver.

As it turns out, Rob always liked the styling of the Pagani Zonda R, so the couple worked to emulate some of the supercar’s styling cues in their aptly named C10-R. This is where the inspiration for the 3M Vinyl Charcoal Metallic Matte Finish wrap, as well as the gold wheels and “hidden” carbon fiber elements came from. Though the couple has gotten some flack about their supercar-influenced choices at times, they stand by their aesthetic decisions with just as much certainty as their performance-oriented choices, and the result is the gorgeous build you see here.

Whatever the next chapter for this truck entails, one thing is certain, the journey and possible changes to the truck will blow everyone away, yet again.

Powering the incredibly nimble C-10 is a bored 5.7L V-8 borrowed from a 2006 Chevy Silverado. With plenty of massaging and a ton of add-ons, the power plant provides the classic pickup with an incredible 595 hp and 590 ft-lbs of torque. On the autocross course, though, it’s not all about power. Rather, it’s the balance between power and handling, and of course, a great driver. The Phillips also equipped the truck with a gamut of Afco performance suspension components, a Detroit Speed rack-and- pinion and front clip, Currie Enterprises axles and stout six-piston Baer brakes. Sitting atop Boze forged three-piece mesh wheels wrapped in BFG rubber, this little truck is unstoppable on and off the race course.

While Brandy continues to crush it behind the wheel of her performance-built C10-R, the Phillips have decided it’s not the end of the story for this truck. In fact, the couple will be taking the C-10 on a tour of schools for their Automotivation Campaign, which focuses on getting kids excited about the automotive industry, as well as sending the truck to SEMA with hopes of competing in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and taking on some land speed records in 2016. Whatever the next chapter is for Brandy and Rob, one thing is certain, the journey and possible truck builds will blow everyone away yet again.

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BUILD SPECS

BODY & PAINT

• Munssey Speed & Design carbon fiber extractor hood
• Eddie Motorsports billet hinges and hood pins
• Goodmark Industries grille
• Goodmark Industries front and rear roll pans
• Sparco Racing remote fill gas filler
• Brother’s Trucks one-piece window conversion
• Goodmark Industries fenders
• PCHRODS two-piece tonneau cover
• Brothers Trucks door handles
• Marquez Designs taillights
• J.W. Speaker Evolution 2 LED headlights
• Ciro Racing carbon fiber rear wing
• Munssey Speed & Design carbon fiber cowl panel and headlight bezels
• PCHRODS air dam and front splitter
• APR performance Formula GT3 mirrors
• Performed by Rob and Brandy Phillips of PCHRODS
• 3M vinyl Charcoal Metallic Matte Finish wrap
• Custom graphics and pinstriping
• Performed by John Meehan and Devin Doty of Sticky Fingers Designs in Huntington Beach, CA

INTERIOR & STEREO

• Cloth and leather upholstery
• Cobra Suzuka Pro Carbon Kevlar fixed- back race seats
• PCHRODS carbon fiber dash panel
• Auto Meter PROCOMP Street Dash display
• Woodward Steering NASCAR-style collapsible steering column
• Sparco steering wheel
• Joe’s Racing Products ignition and switch panels
• Schroth Racing six-point race harnesses
• Restomod Air air conditioning
• Bill Dunn Interior custom aluminum- wrapped center console
• Eight-point custom roll cage
• Apple iPod head unit
• Arc Audio 6.5-inch component speakers, 8-inch subwoofers, fourchannel amplifiers and processors
• Dual Optima Red Top batteries secured in Eddie Motorsports billet battery trays
• Dynamat sound deadening material
• Performed by Rob and Brandy Phillips of PCHRODS

SPECIAL THANKS FROM OWNER: “This list could go on forever, but we’d like to thank all of our family and friends who helped with the build and donated parts, especially Mike Morrow, Ryan Morrow, Matthew Briggs and Lisa Morrow for watching our son endless hours while we finished this build. To all of our sponsors throughout Brandy’s and my past careers, we have built relationships with many great companies and continue to form new relationships throughout the C10-R build. Our goal for the C10-R was to build an awesome competitive truck, but also focus on those who helped us build the C10-R and without these great sponsors this truck would have taken a lot longer to build. Also to all of the C10-R fans out there, we were honestly surprised with the online response from those that liked and supported the build throughout. It’s simple things like when someone comes up to us at a race event and says they follow our Instagram page or post that they just spotted the C10-R during a photo shoot, etc. It’s pretty cool to see the following that we’ve created with this build. We hope to continue building that following as we start new ventures with the C10-R throughout the next couple of years. For all those that have liked, commented or followed our build, a sincere ‘Thank you.’”

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