When someone says their truck was a frame-up build, they're usually talking about a classic truck that was in need of restoration, but in Chase Shiver's case the frame-up rebuild was the only way his truck was ever going to get back on the road. Luckily, Chase owns Real Life Kustoms in Camilla, Georgia, where he spends his time when he's not working as an auto painter.
Like many guys who spend their working hours in a paint booth, Chase Shiver has had plenty of time to brainstorm on a paint scheme for his dream truck. Unfortunately for Chase, the opportunity to realize his dream came after his truck was totaled, just eight months before these photos were taken. Before the accident, Chase's Sierra had custom paint and a few body mods, but once he had a crumpled sheetmetal wreck looking back at him, Chase saw opportunity rather than adversity. Literally starting with a bare frame, Chase began the process of resurrecting his daily driver into yet another daily driver.According to Chase, somewhere along the way "it got a little out of hand."
Chase was able to salvage the truck's cab and bed, but a new front clip with an APC Cat-Eye grille shell was needed to replace the mangled originals. The Cat-Eye shell was filled with Matrix diamond clear-corner lenses and a billet grille. Before Chase could spray the Sherwin-Williams Prowler Orange paint and White Diamond Pearl stripe, Robbie Thomas at Powell's Paint and Body prepped and massaged the metal. The Stepside bed was smoothed by shaving the factory plastic trim, tailgate handle, and stake pockets, welding in a roll pan, and spraying the lights with a few coats of kandy paint. To cover the inside, Chase chose a matching spray-in bedliner with an Acrophobia logo.
Getting the GMC sheetmetal to frame the 20-inch Intro Pentia wheels are Chassis Tech 2-inch drop spindles mounted to color-matched factory control arms and 2,600lb Contitech 'bags that Chase installed himself. The rear gets its extra clearance thanks to a C-notch and raised factory gas tank. A two-link and Billy Bar locate the rear axle that rides on 3,600lb Contitech 'bags. After the frame was modified with a C-notch it was sprayed with bedliner to provide a tough finish that would stand up to the abuse of routine driving.
Under the hood is a 305ci V-8 with a throttle-body spacer, underdrive pulleys, and just the right amount of chrome and paint. You'll also find an Optima Yellow Top battery that was relocated to make room for the new front wheeltubs, which were given the same attention to detail as the exterior panels. Backing up the engine is the factory five-speed manual, so Chase can take advantage of the extra power and smoke his rear tires at the drop of a clutch.
Inside the cab is a smoothed and painted dash and door panels Chase liberated from a '98 GMC, while the seats are factory '95 GMC pieces minus the headrests. Front and center (at least for the driver) is a Billet Specialties Chicane half-wrap billet steering wheel. Upholstery comes courtesy of Chase's mom and his girlfriend. The two are responsible for wrapping the seats and headliner in Katzkin leather that matches the silver ACC carpet. For entertainment, a 5.6-inch Mobile Authority monitor is mounted in the passenger-side dash and can play DVDs or games via PlayStation 2. Audio duties fall on an Alpine 9831 head unit and Precision Power amps that power two 10-inch JL subs mounted in an enclosure, behind the seats, built by James Taylor at Extreme Audio.
We can't fault Chase for going overboard with his build. It happens all the time. We're just glad he still makes his GMC his daily driver. If you happen to see him and his clean GMC cruising to a show somewhere in the Southeast, give him some space, because we hope he never has to do a ground-up rebuild again...unless he wants to.