Custom Classic Trucks - How Do I Get My Truck Featured?

People ask us all the time what it takes to get their truck featured in Truckin' magazine. Since our show coverage assignments take us all over the country almost on a weekly basis, we are constantly on the lookout for feature-worthy early and late-model custom trucks. This is what our covers are all about: wheels and tires, stance, paint, interior, and engine upgrades.

Wheels and Tires
When customizing a truck, two major items to consider are wheels and tires. The custom car and truck hobby is all about trends. What's hot now may not be so hot in six months, and some trends move at a very fast pace. It seems like wheels go out of style as fast as athletic shoes. Wheels are all about size and style. Lately it's been mostly about size, meaning bigger is better. The wheels just keep getting bigger, while unfortunately, trucks and SUVs are not. It's beginning to be a proportion issue - when is bigger going to be too big? There has to be a limit. A balloon can only get so big until it pops.

Wheel and tire fitment is very important in the overall presentation of the vehicle. A wheel's backspacing helps create its character - the deeper the offset the more dramatic. The tire must fit properly on the wheel, with a smooth transition from the tread to the sidewall and a slight sidewall bulge. The wheel and tire should just fill or tuck up inside the wheelwell.

Some wheels continue to be timeless. American's Torq-Thrust and Torq-Thrust IIs, Welds' Rod Lites, and steelies with beauty rims and smoothie caps are still very popular. So popular, in fact, that these wheels are beginning to be produced in larger diameters. The current large-diameter-style wheels are a great fit for some of the early model trucks, but are usually just ideal for later-model trucks and SUVs. The objective is to mate the wheel and tire combination up to the custom truck's personality. Unless you are going for the early model retro appearance, all other early and late-model custom trucks need to spin on 18-inch-plus wheels to be considered a Truckin' feature, with the exception of an off-road look.

However, we are still seeing 14- and 15-inch wheels on early model custom trucks. Larger diameter wheels will update a custom truck from yesterday's to today's current custom styling and beyond.

Stance
Another major contributor to the overall appearance of a custom vehicle is its stance. Stock ride height on a stock vehicle doesn't look right, and it definitely doesn't look right on a custom vehicle. Lowered or lifted suspension creates a better appearance than the stock height. Lowering a vehicle instantly improves the appearance and handling performance. Whether lowering is accomplished by means of a pair of 2-inch drop spindles, shorter coil springs up front, and a flip kit, or a complete pneumatic suspension, both techniques will accomplish that more aggressive appearance to the custom vehicle. Then there is the other alternative, lifting the truck, which is done by raised spindles, longer coil springs in the front, and re-arched leaves, or insertion of 4-, 6-, and 8-inch blocks between the leaf spring pack and axlehousing. Longer travel shock absorbers also need to be installed.

Body Mods
Body modifications performed on both the exterior and interior create the theme of a custom truck. Swapping front sheetmetal, beds, and other exterior components will change the original appearance of the truck. Smooth, shaved door and tailgate handles, frenched headlights, taillights, antennas, and rear roll pans all dramatically change the look of a truck. Body alterations, such as chopping, channeling (old school), body-dropping (new school), and sectioning are also effective modifications. When chopping, there is a fine line between a just-right chop and too much of a chop. This is a very critical change to consider. Pre-paint preparation is also a very important step to the final appearance of any custom truck.

Paint
The most critical contributor to a custom truck's overall appearance is the paint. The secret to obtaining a flawless show-quality paintjob is in the preparation, filling, sanding, block-sanding, and primer application. Block-sanding over and over again to get the body perfectly straight and smooth is very important in creating a feature truck. Body and paint preparation is magnified after the paint is applied, so it must be perfect. Remember, trendy, wild graphics tend to have a short shelf life, where as solid and two-tone pearls will stay in style for a longer period. The only graphics that seem to be timeless are flames, ghost flames, or simple pinstriping.

Interior
The interior material, fabric, and texture should be coordinated with the truck's exterior paint colors and graphics. The finished job needs to include the following work: dash, headliner, door panels, carpet, seats, center console, steering wheel, and instrumentation. A stock cloth interior doesn't cut it, and leather works better than other materials.

Engine
To complete the custom package, the engine and engine compartment must be clean and finished. The engine can be stock to complete the retro look, but if you are going for the custom or performance appearance, then you need to complete the package. The engine compartment is a reflection of the rest of the truck's effort. With all of the aftermarket billet, engine accessories, valve covers, pulleys, and air filter covers that are available, you should be able to dress up the engine and compartment to an impressive quality. A naturally aspirated engine needs to have a well-detailed carburetor or carburetors, intake manifold, and supercharger. A fuel-injected engine should sport a detailed throttle body as well as EFI, TPI, and DPI systems. The block must be painted and clean with new, clean, well-routed spark plug wires. The exhaust manifolds must be painted or ceramic-coated, and to reiterate this point again, clean. The same holds true of headers. Only painted, chromed, or ceramic-coated headers will do the job. The engine wires and compartment's wire loom must be either covered or completely hidden. Also, an uncluttered firewall really makes a difference.

The Real Difference
A feature-worthy truck must be complete in all categories; it's not fair to the owner and our readers to have it any other way. Over its 30-year history, Truckin' magazine has always kept high-quality standards for its feature trucks. We take pride in capturing the best-of-the-best custom feature trucks on the planet for you, the reader.