Never Love a Wild Thing

I already know what you’re saying. “That truck is old news. I saw it on TV years ago.” News flash: I saw it on TV back then, too. And I’ve seen it floating around social media or the internet practically every day since. Funny how fine art stands the test of time. This truck was incredible five years ago and it’s still incredible today.

Let’s flash back about half a decade. Noah Alexander and Charles Crews of Classic Car Studio had been talking about building an attention whore of a shop truck. The metal wizard and creative genius at CCS, Scott France, had an ace up his sleeve. He’d been sitting on a clean ‘66 C10 and decided that the time was right to pass the truck along to the shop for the epic build they had in mind.

The truck was wheeled into their shop in St Louis, and disassembly of the was quick and deliberate. The guys were careful to not disturb the decades of stories buried in the weathered paint as they took things down to the bare essentials. They all agreed that the paint was staying exactly as it was and the turquoise hue even inspired the truck’s name, Tiffany. They planned to create a work of art that would become the crowning touch in the shop’s jewelry box, so what better reason to make such an iconic connection? 

The stock frame was improved with a Porterbuilt air ride rear section incorporating adjustable trailing arms and Ford 9” rear axle with 3.73 gears. Up front, the guys fabricated their own front crossmember with rack and pinion steering and air suspension setup to let the truck lay out. 22” transport wheels with era-correct hub caps and Pirelli tires round out the package quite nicely. A truck like this doesn’t need a set of crazy billet wheels to prove its relevance.

Between the front frame rails, an LS1 block is topped with LS6 heads and a host of Holley goodies including a Sniper intake and 105mm throttle body, billet fuel rails, and 120 lb/hr injectors fed by a Holley VR2 brushless fuel pump in a custom stainless tank. A TCI TH400 trans connects the power to the rear end via a custom-spec torque converter. But they didn’t stop there. That would have been much too mundane. The icing, sprinkles, and airbrushing on this cake comes in the form of twin, mirror image 64mm Nelson Racing Engine turbos. Scratch-built stainless boost pipes feed the boosted cold side air through the intercooler and into the engine, while a crazy, stainless steel exhaust and dump tube setup produces cacophonous ruckus of inexplicable noises from the hot side. Dual blow off valves provides the psshh, while 50mm wastegates breathe fire. All in all, this thing is good for 750 HP to the wheels with an extremely modest 7psi of boost. 

The panels surrounding this monster LS were methodically designed and created in-house by the former owner, Scott. The mix of steam punk, rat rod, and race car inspirations all come together to form an unforgettable, cohesive package that continues into the bed. Secret compartments, trap doors, and a multitude of medieval, Houdini-esque latches and levers adorn the cargo and underhood areas. The radiator and cooling fans were even moved to the bed to give more space up front for the Goliath twin turbo setup. Was that necessary? Probably not, but they did it and it is freakin’ fantastic.

Moving to the living room. I’m not gonna lie, I want my living room to look like the interior in this truck. Or maybe my smoking parlor. Nevertheless, it’s swanky. Diamond stitched hides from Relicate, matching door panels and trans hump cover, one-off billet dash insert and gauges, lush hand-fitted carpets, and leather-wrapped steering wheel make for an experience second to none. It’s a space so memorable that I can smell the leather as I’m typing these words. A big back window replaces the original small window just because it looks cooler.

Considering this project was completed in spare time before and after shop hours and during lunch breaks, it represents a masterfully executed build. 

As wild as this truck is, always remember what Holly Golightly said to Doc in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, “If you let yourself love a wild thing, you’ll end up looking at the sky.”