Never Second Best

When 30-year-old Adam Campbell of Tennessee was growing up he wanted to build a truck worthy of the pages of Street Trucks. When Adam found his diamond in the rough he knew he would build a nice truck, but never imagined that he would build anything this extreme.

Adam bought the wrecked ’98 Chevrolet S-10 beginning his adventure. He and his friend Justin French started by working to get the body straight and painted a green similar to a stock Honda Del Sol.

WHEN ADAM FOUND HIS DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH HE KNEW HE WOULD BUILD A NICE TRUCK, BUT NEVER IMAGINED THAT HE WOULD BUILD ANYTHING THIS EXTREME.”

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Soon after getting those initial mods finished, he was introduced to Ronnie Brown through a mutual friend, and then Ronnie introduced him to Jerry Lewis of Relaxed Atmosphere. Adam immediately went into petition mode to join the club, during which time he was schooled by fellow members who were watching out for his best interests, stuff about the truck’s height and more.

After a while Adam agreed that the truck was too high so he did what everybody else does in his club: He bought some control arms and pulled out the bulky heater and air box. Since he was already at the point of no return, he decided to go for broke and get really low, so he did a stock floor body drop.

Things were going well, so Adam decided to do more, like sheet metal work to the bed with help from Justin. When that was finished he decided that it would be a good idea to clean up under the hood, like painting and hiding the wiring.

That part of the build didn’t go as planned, so he tore down the truck in his carport, but at the end of the day, he’d bitten off a little more than he could chew. He reached out for some help, and his friend Bubba Sullivan picked up the truck.

Now that he had help and a general plan, Adam knew what he wanted to do: finish the truck by the Relaxed Atmosphere All Star event 2013. Short on time, he asked for help from three good friends: Todd Faulkner, Franklin Hawks and Brian Nelson. These guys definitely pulled their weight and then some, including new taillights and color. Frank had paint he was going to use for another project, but changed his mind and donated it to Adam. With everything shaved, Adam sprayed the House of Kolor Solar Gold on the mini-truck.

The whole truck received House of Kolor accents from the four-cylinder engine to the engine bay, which features grafted metal fender well tubs. The interior also received a dose of paint. The cluster was molded to Adam’s personal taste, and the cluster bezel features billet controls and a molded JVC double-DIN radio. Topping it off, gray vinyl and brown alligator seats flow with the interior. Other interior upgrades include billet window cranks, rearview mirror, shifter and miscellaneous billet pieces for the dash, as well as a Billet Specialties Stiletto steering wheel.

With help from friends and fellow club members, Adam was able to make an “All-Star” finish. ST

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TRUCK SPECS

OWNERS

1998 Chevrolet S-10
Humboldt, TN
Relaxed Atmosphere

ENGINE

• 1998 Chevrolet 2.2L four cylinder
• Five-speed manual S-10
• Spectre Performance air cleaner
• Pacesetter header
• Dual electric cooling fans
• Magnaflow exhaust system
• Custom fuel cell
• Custom metal fender well
• Two Kinetic batteries in the bed

SUSPENSION

• Stock floor body drop
• Custom built firewall back 2×3 frame with rear notch and bridge
• Custom 3-link wishbone setup
• Frame notched and bridged
• Tubular control arms
• Dropped spindles
• Air Lift airbags
• Geo Metro brake booster
• Viair 444C compressors

WHEELS & TIRES

• 20×8.5 Raceline Deceptive 5
• Kumho Ecsta 245/35ZR20

BODY & PAINT

• Davis Autobody in Union City, TN
• House of Kolor Solar Gold Shimrin BC-01
• Shaved antenna, third brake light, door handles and mirrors
• Grant Kustoms rear combo skin and metal step shavers
• Cowl hood
• Sonoma bumper, grille and headlights
• Billet grille
• Smooth bed floor with spray-on liner
• Colorado taillights molded to bed

INTERIOR

• Bucket seats where redone in gray vinyl with alligator inserts
• New gray carpet
• Black suede headliner
• Billet Specialties Stiletto steering wheel, billet window cranks, rearview mirror and shifter
• AccuAir speed switch air ride controller
• JVC head unit and PowerBass sound system installed by Sound Impressions of Union City, TN

Special Thanks From Owner: First off I’d like to thank my wife Jessica and kids Addison and Jackson for always standing behind the build and never letting me give up. I’d also like to thank Todd Faulkner, Franklin Hawks, Brian Nelson, Justin French and everyone else who has touched it.

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