BOSS MODE

Finding the right builder for your truck is hard, particularly if you’ve never done it before. You hear all these horrible stories about shops that keep your vehicle for over a year and get very little done — or even the infamous “paint jail” that seems to affect every build. But when you make the right connection, something pretty magical happens. And that’s exactly the story behind Billy Sisson’s 1997 GMC Sierra. 

Billy runs Sisson Scales, a company that makes, well, scales both large and small, and he’s a big fan of custom cars and trucks. A few years back he met Jason Mode at New Creations in Lattimore, NC and they connected on a build. See, New Creations does everything in house, from interior to paint and everything in between. There is no “paint jail” at Jason’s company, so customers feel pretty good about trusting them with their rides. 

Since the previous project that Jason and Billy paired up on worked out well, they did another one. And after a series of builds that turned out great, Billy came to Jason with an OBS and one statement: “I want an LT4 and a 10-speed. Everything else is up to you.” 

OK, that wasn’t all he said. Jason previously built Billy an older Bel Air, and it was such a nice car that he never wanted to drive it. The GMC had to be different. After a few test spins in other vehicles, Billy loved the way the LT4/10 speed combo made for a reliable drivetrain, and the OBS was the perfect place to put it. But the truck had to be a good driver and not too nice. With that edict and a lot of freedom, Jason went to work. 

Believe it or not, this kind of request isn’t uncommon for Jason. A sizable portion of his customer base trusts him and his judgment, so they drop off the keys and let him go to work, just like Billy did. In this case, the GMC was red with a burgundy interior, and while that was a good color combo in its day, Jason wanted to do something different. But before they dove into the paint, they had to first set up the stance and do some mods. 

Since the command was to build a good driver, Jason and his crew went to work making a solid coilover suspension. The rear four link was built in house by the crew, and the Ridetech coil-overs and Stone Fab control arms set in place such that the truck would handle perfectly on the twisties. That, and the 22-inch Billet Specialties with P-Zero tires were a pretty good addition, too. 

Just because you want to build a good driver doesn’t mean you have to skimp on the mods. This is where Jason and the team really went off and took the truck to another level. Take the bumpers, for example. The front was narrowed, sectioned, and tucked — so much so that the stock plastic valance under the grille was removed and then integrated into the upper section. Since there is no noticeable gap between the front end and the bumper, there’s no reason for that trim piece to exist. It all required a lot of plastic work, but the resulting front clip looks great. 

The rear bumper is even cooler. It was cut down so much it was almost just a pile of metal on the floor, but the crew got to work building a sectioned, narrowed, and tucked bumper that even has little recesses in the bed to fit. It was a stellar amount of work to accomplish, but the results do speak for themselves. 

There’s a lot of other things to note on the build as well. You may have seen someone relocate their gas filler neck behind their taillight, but the way it was done on Billy’s truck required a ton of extra work and turned out perfect. The interior has a custom bench seat and modified door panels, and everything is wrapped in Moore & Giles leather, which is an extremely high-end material. Oh, and that LT4? It sits in a beautiful, smoothed engine bay that’s painted orange.  

At the end of the day, Billy loves his new truck. It handles great, runs awesome, and looks amazing. Is it the perfect driver? Maybe not for everyday use, but if he wants to go out and have some fun, there’s no better truck to do it in.