When it comes to building a cool custom truck, there are two options to make it happen. Either find a shop to handle the heavy lifting and pay them to do it or do it yourself and save the money. For most people, the skill to do flawless modifications to suspension, the skill to lay down a perfect paint job or the ability to rebuild an engine is not in the cards, so taking the truck to a shop is the best option. Fortunately for Nathan Coker from Winchester, Tennessee, he has the skills to build vehicles to a magazine caliber. Nathan has been modifying vehicles for most of his life. He even had his own shop, Coker’s Rod Shop, for a while but recently decided to go back to work for a shop and not run one. Not having to deal with the day-to-day stresses of owning and running a shop yet still work on and modify vehicles allows him to have a small bit of free time for his own projects. Over the years, Nathan has built a few top-notch trucks of his own, on top of what he has built for customers. And all those trucks have been timeless looking builds.
Back in 2018, Nathan, his uncle and a few other sets of hands built a 1956 Chevy 3100 for SEMA, which as we all know, took a ton of long hours and late nights to get a SEMA build done in time. Once they got back home and the dust settled, it was time to figure out what the next build was going to me. Well, after a much-needed break from the long nights. Nathan was noticing how strong the GM OBS trucks were becoming in the truck world, it just so happened that his uncle, Tim Coker, had a 1988 Silverado that he had not touched in a while. Nathan worked out a deal with his uncle and was the proud owner of said 88 Silverado. As soon as he had the title in his hand, his goal was to turn it into a clean, lowered restored looking build. We all have plans from the beginning that snowball quickly and that’s exactly what happened with this project. In early 2020, Nathan and Tim started the build planning process with full intentions of getting the truck done quickly. Unfortunately, we all know how that year turned out, so plans kind of sat on the back burner while the world was a tad bit crazy. Fast forward to 2021, the year was started off by ordering parts and materials to get the truck where they had planned the year before. This was still the time in our life where getting parts was still hard due to low inventories or indefinite back orders. The first parts they could get were the 24×9 and 24×12 Raceline Billet Wheels, so they built the truck around those and did what they could as the parts slowly started to show up. Nathan knew he wanted a factory style color combo for the truck and got together with Tammy and Shawn over at Revolt Paint to see what browns they had that would work for his layout. Knowing Nathan’s background, they knew if he was building a vehicle, it would be a standout for sure, so they designed a custom brown for him and now have it in their standard color palette. This color is called Coker’s Brown Pearl and wound up pairing well with a Dodge caramel color for the center stripe and accents.
With parts in hand and the colors figured out, it was time to get to work and get the chassis where Nathan wanted it. With Nathan’s current home shop, he’s not set up to do frame fabrication, so he contacted his buddy Mike Howe at Howes It Doin Garage to lend a hand. They put the truck on Mike’s frame table and cut it apart. In the front, they used a Phat Phabz front kit and Belltech spindles. Moving back, they used 2×4 box tubing to replace the frame rails and added Stone Fab cab mounts and gussets. Out back, an Nfamous 3-link was used while Ridetech shocks keep all corners to make sure the ride would be good. Air Lift air bags handle the height adjustment on all corners and is controlled by an Air Lift 3P controller and Viair 444 compressors. The stock rear end was narrowed and resplined with 31 spline axles. The brakes were all upgraded with Little Shop MFG disc brakes and a Wilwood master cylinder to make sure it would stop correctly.
With the stance figured out and done, it was time to nail down what kind of power plant would be best under the hood. For this, Nathan opted for a 2003 5.3 LS with a BTR Stage 2 cam flowing Speed Engineering headers then through 2.5” stainless piping and Flow FX mufflers. Nathan knew just an engine sitting in the bay wouldn’t be good enough, so a ton of sheet metal work was added under the hood to clean it up and give it a nice jewelry box look. All sheet metal and the engine received matching exterior paint to tie it all together. The bed also received a bunch of custom sheet metal work after the floor was raised 10.5” to try and make the bed still look stock but with a splash of custom. Once all the sheet metal work was done, it was time to spray that new Revolt paint and make it look like a finished truck.
The goal was to have the truck debut at the 2023 Minitruckin Nationals, but unfortunately, before they could get the truck done, his Uncle Tim passed away unexpectedly. Being Tim was such a huge part of Nathan’s life and was his right-hand man in his builds, this put the build at a standstill. This was a joint effort with Nathan and Tim, so it felt like the project was done. After sitting for a while unfinished, Nathan decided that Tim would be disappointed in him not finishing the truck, so that’s what Nathan did. The only thing left was to get the interior done, and for that, Nathan took it to Austin Blicharz at Cross’d Threds Upholstery down in New Market, Alabama. The door panels and all accent panels were CNC cut to get something custom yet clean that would fit the rest of the build. The stock bench seat was reformed with a Snowden foam kit and was wrapped, along with the rest of the interior, in high end vinyl while the floor got new square weave carpet. A new Vintage Air system was added as well as a Billet Specialties steering wheel and Nu Vintage gauges to modernize the interior a bit. Kicker Audio components and a JVC head unit make sure there are always cruising tunes available.
With the truck finished, Nathan knows it would make his uncle proud to see it looking as good as it does. Just like the struggle with building it, getting it shot for this feature was just as challenging. From a hurricane to the truck deciding it didn’t want to start, it’s like the world was against Nathan for this build. Fortunately for you the reader, we were able to link up with him and get the photos you see here. Since finishing the truck and getting it shot for the feature, it can be seen at a ton of shows all over the east coast drawing a crowd wherever he takes it. Thanks go out to Daniel Covington, Rick Cable, James Henley, Drew Newman, and Mike Howe for the long hours for getting Nathan’s truck to where you see here. Of course as we all know, none of the trucks would be possible without the support from the souses, and Nathans wife Amanda is a big supporter of the builds he does, including this family project truck. The build has been dedicated to the late Tim Coker.