Blitz

Scott Luscombe, owner/operator of Slick’s Fab Shop, has been grinding hard for the last 6 years. In that time, he’s filled his days with non-stop one-off fabrication work, suspension and air ride design, and a whole bunch of other custom hot rod stuff that he’s gotten quite good at. Scott’s outfit in Houston, Texas is small. It’s pretty much a a two-man operation, except when he’s lucky enough to have some friends hanging out who are willing to pitch in, but what his staff is lacking in numbers is definitely made up for in the quality of show-stopping vehicles they have been cranking out lately. 

C10 builds have been keeping Scott busy, which he doesn’t mind at all. He’s become rather familiar with these trucks and has since figured out how to build them better with each one he gets his hands on. One such Chevy pickup in question is a cool blue 1967 that he just finished for a very high-profile client – Mr. Fletcher Cox, defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from being a Super Bowl champ and a six-time Pro Bowl star, #91 is also known for spending his downtime cruising around in cool classic cars. In fact, this is how Fletcher first became familiar with Scott’s handiwork in the first place. 

“I had built a pretty cool ’68 C10 for my good friend Justin Curry”, Scott says. “Justin would spend some time at the drag races with this truck, and it just so happens that Fletcher Cox was at one of those races and he offered to buy Justin’s truck there.” Surprisingly, Justin was able to turn down the pro football player’s offer, but he did mention to him who built the truck and that there would be a great possibility of Scott working him into his schedule. 

Some time had passed before Scott was approached about building a truck for Fletcher. “Apparently, he had purchased a pretty big ranch, and the ’67 was actually parked inside of the garage”, Scott adds. “The truck was in pretty awesome condition as-is and was a great foundation for a full build, but what was found sitting next to the truck was even better.” Aside from a few other items that were brand new in box just waiting to be installed, was a complete Roadster Shop chassis that was untouched and ready to go underneath the C10. Scott couldn’t agree quickly enough to taking on the project, which seemed like it was already off to a good start before any real work had begun. 

Scott wasn’t given much of a guideline to follow or a checklist to go by as far as how Fletcher wished to see the truck built. In the end, all he wanted was a badass classic Chevy, and Scott was more than happy to oblige. Since Slick’s Fab Shop is truly a one-stop shop, with the exception of interior work, a good bulk of the project would be handled in-house. With the chassis system already an automatic go, the time had come to start assembling some individual components to bring it all together. C6 spindles were bolted into place, as were Penske shocks at all four corners. Upgraded braking power was also thrown into the mix in the way of Baer Pro 6-piston calipers, 14-inch rotors, and a Wilwood master cylinder. 

Next, a set of wheels had to be ordered. Scott preferred to run with Budnik wheels but wasn’t too keen on going for a regular polished finish. What he decided to run with was a 20×10 and 22×12 Gasser wheel combo, but in a custom Titanium Cerakote finish that would ultimately give the truck a much more unique appearance, while serve as inspiration for some upcoming modifications. To cover the wheels, 275/35/20 and 315/30/22 Pirelli P Zero tires proved to be the ideal set of rubber to go with. 

With rolling gear that good, Scott felt it necessary to drop in an engine worthy of spinning those wheels and roasting that rubber. A fresh 2019 LT4 6.2L unit was sourced, and a harness was ordered from Speartech to help get the install done with the quickness. With having to fabricate a custom mount for the heat exchanger, the job was rather quick work for Scott, who has grown to prefer the LT platform to its LS counterpart. Both offer great reliability and tons of power, so there’s really no losing either way, as it’s all just a matter of preference at this point. With the new engine in place, Scott began filling in the bay with some custom sheet metal fab work to class things up a touch under the hood. 

Since fabrication is something that Scott has damn near perfected, he then began creating a killer bed that features a center floor section that lifts to access the rear suspension components. The bed space has been completely transformed for the better, and even has a stealthy built-in ice chest that guarantees there’s always a cold one nearby. To further clean up the appearance, Scott shaved up the front bumpers, and did the same for the rear, while creating a notch for the center exit single exhaust.  

When it came time to settle on a color, in-house paint and bodyman, Mark Endersbee chose a special PPG shade of blue was selected to cover the entire truck, but as stated earlier, the titanium coated Budnik wheels did influence other regions of build. The same process that is used to coat the wheels was also used to cover the chassis and certain components, as well as the bumpers. Keeping the color break right at bumper level, the titanium hue was paint matched underneath the chrome molding.

Since interior work is something that Scott doesn’t offer at Slick’s (yet), the job was outsourced to Houston local, Charlie Powell, who created a custom set of seats before covering them in Bayou Blue and Malibu Blue ultra leather and suede material. Custom door panels and center console were also whipped up from scratch and covered to match the seats. Dakota Digital gauges were soon added, as was a Vintage Air A/C system to combat the upcoming summer heat. A full custom sound system featuring Focal speakers and JL Audio amps and subs were skillfully wired up by Danny Walters to give the truck all the necessary modern in-cab amenities. 

It took 18 months to transform this ’67 C10 to greatness from nothing more than a parked tired old truck and a pile of parts still in boxes. Scott was given the task of creating a truly killer truck out of what he was given, and he’s once again proven that he is always ready to rise to the occasion. Building a custom vehicle for a high-profile client could potentially pose a unique set of stress and anxieties to get things done right, but Scott just took on the job and handled it, as he would like any other before it. The man has his touch, which is something you will be seeing more of here, so stay tuned for more adventures with Slick’s Fab Shop in the very near future.