It takes a special type of enthusiast to take a brand-new truck and start cutting and grinding. Most people would consider a person who cuts up a brand-new truck crazy, but to a truck enthusiast, it's just plain awesome. Casey Scranton, owner and operator of CGS Motorsports, is known as an authority in the exhaust business and has spent the last several years helping custom truck owners find the perfect vocal tone for their rides. If Casey's name sounds familiar, it should. His name graces the title of the famous "Caddy Hack" truck that debuted on the cover of the March 2000 issue of Truckin'. Since Casey's chop-top '90 Chevy set the custom truck scene on fire back in 2000, a few more CGS creations have made it to the Truckin' pages. The '04 Ford F-150 shown here is Casey's latest 'bagged and smoothed promotional tool. Similar to most projects that roll out of the Scranton shop, Ballistic Blue Oval was built in a short 5 weeks for the '03 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
Old-school hot-rod pinstriping was applied to the tailgate by "Hot Dog" of West Coast Choppers.
Since the clock was ticking, Casey called up good friend Jeff Davey at Devious Customs in Ontario, California, to hammer the truck flat on the ground. Jeff delivered with custom front 'bag mounts holding Firestone 2600 airbags and a Devious Customs three-link system out back with Firestone F-9000 tapered air sleeve 'bags. A healthy rear step notch provided excess room for the rear differential to roam. Oxygen to the front and rear bellows comes courtesy of 1/2-inch Parker valves, 1/2-inch air lines, Devious fittings, and a Viair 380 compressor. Bilstein shocks damp the suspension forward and aft. To accept the bold 22-inch rollers Casey planned to tuck in the fenderwells, the factory rearend had to be narrowed 8 inches.
When the air bellows are collapsed, 22x8-inch front and 22x10-inch rear Boyd Coddington Genesis billet wheels mounted on Toyo Proxes P265/40ZR22 front and P305/40ZR22 rear rubber fit snuggly in the wheelwells. For a slightly different spin, Casey had Central Powder Coating in Brea, California, hook up the wheel centers with black powdercoating and stuffed SSBC performance brakes behind them for visual esthetics and quick stopping performance.
After the truck was successfully laid on the pavement, it was trailered back to CGS Motorsports for a bit of body massaging before the stunning black over red paint scheme was applied. The rearview was smoothed with a Street Scene roll pan and a shaved tailgate handle, while the bed was topped with a Gaylord's X-2000 tonneau cover. Casey and his father, Ron, grafted a pair of Cadillac Escalade door handles into the factory Ford landscape and shipped the truck to Bern's Restoration in Santa Maria, California, for the DuPont CGS red and black two-tone. A simple silver pinstripe was used to break up the opposing hues and some freestyle '50s artwork was applied to the tailgate by "Hot Dog" of West Coast Choppers.