Jonathan Cox has a Fever and the Only Cure is more Squarebody Trucks
Our buddy Jason Mode of New Creations down in Lattimore, North Carolina, sent me an email a few weeks ago and caught me up to speed on a few trucks he had been working on. He sent me pics of a lifted gray 4×4 square and proceeded to tell me, “Y’all need to check this one out.” I could hear that southern syllabification in Jason’s voice as I read through his email. “I built this truck for my man, Jonathan Cox, over in Burnsville, North Carolina. It’s pretty special to his family. His son, Barrett, loves this truck.” He loves it so much, if fact, that Jonathan’s wife proclaimed that her husband and son have “Square Body Fever.”
If you’ve been on this CK Truck Mag journey with us, you know we cover a lot of low, hammered, fast two-wheel drive iron. Occasionally we run across a clean 4×4 that grabs our attention, and Jonathan’s truck happens to be one of those examples. It’s a straight-shooting, what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of truck. Simple, clean, classic good looks with performance to match.
Big block power plants make for a refreshing surprise in a sea of LS and LT swaps, and this truck is packing heat. 402 cubic inches of Chevy rat power with a modern Holley Sniper EFI sitting on top of an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake feeding air and fuel while ceramic coated Hooker headers scavenge the spent gases. Black Widow Race Venom mufflers sound mean and give this truck a presence, even at idle. The factory 4-speed with granny creeper first gear pushes power along to the limited slip rear end. A CVF front accessory drive package handles AC, power steering, and electrical charging duties.
Outside, you won’t find any fancy tricks or graphics. Instead, tastefully modern 20×12 XD Wheels and Nitto Ridge Grappler tires give an aggressive look while a Rough Country 4” lift provides clearance and helps add to the larger-than-life feeling this truck exudes. For ease of entry, Jason added a set of trick AMP Research Powerstep retracting running boards. Since these steps are geared toward modern applications, a squarebody fitment did not exist. Jason and the New Creations team didn’t let that stop them. They put on their thinking caps and fabbed up some mounts to make it happen.
This was a really clean North Carolina truck to begin with, so the body required only minimal attention to get it up to par. Once Jason’s team got all of the panels whipped into shape, a batch of Fever Gray Metallic was formulated in the New Creations mixing laboratory and expertly applied to the truck.
Things get a bit serious inside the cab. All of the surfaces that are normally covered in paint at the assembly plant are now skillfully covered in black Ultra Leather. It’s a detail that’s not immediately apparent, but once you notice, you can’t deny the level of plush that has been achieved. A Snowden seat foam has been added to the stock GM bench seat frame which has been covered in the same rich black Ultra Leather stitched a diamond pattern. All of the interior work and upholstery was created in-house by the New Creations team. Dakota Digital HDX gauges look the part and provide Jonathan with the essentials of the big block.
Once paint and assembly were complete, the truck made its way to Premier Window Tint in Shelby, North Carolina, for fresh window tint and a dose of spray-in bed liner.
On a scale of 1-10, Jonathan’s truck rates a strong two thumbs up and definitely pushes it to the top of our “we would drive it” list.