ABOMINABLE

Squarebodies have always been my favorite classic trucks. At one point in my life, I owned a Hummer. I needed a change, and one day told my wife, “I am going to sell the Hummer and I want to buy a squarebody and build it for our son Kobe. I ended up selling the Hummer and found a C10 for sale here locally in Arizona. 

The seller gave me the typical, “The truck needs nothing – you can get in it and go.” I ended up buying it, and drove it home, only to find about 2 quarts of oil on the floor the next morning. Since I had never owned an older vehicle, I was upset that this truck was leaking oil from every possible place. After putting a bunch of money into it to get all the leaks to stop, it still wasn’t running the best. A friend stopped by and did a compression test, only to find that a few cylinders had zero compression. The build started that very day.

I picked up a 5.3 LS motor and a 4L60E, dropped it in place, and got it running. At the time, the truck was just lowered and rocking a set of cheesy wheels. We hit the Goodguys Scottsdale event and Dino’s Git Down for the first time that year, and I was so inspired that I immediately started saving money for paint and interior. At Goodguys, I absolutely fell in love with my buddy Michael’s 1986 C10 that was laid out on Porterbuilt  suspension and big wheels. I started doing research on what was needed to lay out our C10 like his. I knew if I just got the truck painted and had the interior done and called it “finished”, I wouldn’t be happy with it. I had to have it bagged and lay frame! 

I started saving even more money. In the mean time, I took the whole truck apart at home, with pieces and parts all over our three car garage. I had finally saved up for the Porterbuilt Dropmember kits and thought I was going to be able to do it myself. But I quickly realized I was wrong. I didn’t know how to weld, and if this was going to be a family cruiser, I didn’t want this to be something I learned how to weld on. I reached out to Jeremy Rice at Tre 5 Customs and asked if he could help me out. I told him I had all the pieces and parts, but that I just wanted a professional to put it back together. 

The truck went back and forth to his shop a few times before I was finally able to drive it home. Man what an exciting experience that was. After about 3-4 years of the saving/build process to finally be able to drive the truck home from Jeremy’s shop, I will never forget that day. 

On that actual day of me driving it home for the very first time, my high school friend Scott from Unique Upholstery saw me driving home and sent me message telling me to bring it by his shop. I cruised over and he gave me a tour of the facility. I knew right then and there that this was where my truck would be going for its new interior. Working with these two companies has been the best experience, and I can’t thank them enough!

Shortly after getting the truck back from Tre 5, I told my wife that I wanted to drive the truck to the Brothers show in California. She laughed. I laughed. Then she said, “If we go, then we are going to Disneyland after the show.” Deal! We drove the truck in the middle of the scorching summer heat with just a dash pad, a busted bench seat, and no carpet in the cab. We had the AC on full blast going 75-80 MPH with zero problems! We hit the show, spent a few days at Disneyland, and headed to San Diego to finish off our vacation. Many people couldn’t believe that I drove it that distance shortly after the build, but I built it to be driven. We love this truck!