1985 Chevrolet C10 Custom - Red Rocker - The Finale

To make the interior appearance just right, the seats and door panels had to blend perfectly with the elaborate Corvette-style theme. Enter Mark Fisher and partner Lewis Estrada of Fisher Trim in Lubbock, who pulled off the desired look in street rod fashion. Using the '91 Suburban buckets, two shades of Katzkin leather were obtained to achieve a subtle contrast. The outer portion of the buckets received caramel-colored leather to match the dark-tan paint covering the rear cab framework, custom console, and lower dash panels. Moving to the center of the seats, a dark-cream leather was used for bold contrast and was incorporated with a tan snakeskin stripe placed square in the center of the seat bases and backs. Mounted at the top of each seat, custom billet inserts tie in perfectly with the polished '57 Chevy V symbol fixed to the top of the center console.

Jimmy Davis tended to the slightly reshaped door panels and dealt the panels a healthy serving of caramel-colored, leatherette material, matching them with the surroundings. A light-tan teardrop inset panel was crafted and applied to the door panels for visual spice, while a matching teardrop was built out of fiberglass and coated in red to give the panels even more character. Shifting focus toward the front of the cab, the hand-fabricated gauge panel with Auto Meter Arctic White instruments was dressed in red for contrast with the center console. The dash center panel, custom speaker crossbar, and steering column were also coated in bright-red liquid to break up the sea of earth tones inside. Polished billet pedals and vents, a column dress-up kit, and a split-grip, Classic-style billet steering wheel from Billet Specialties wrapped in tan leather round out the cockpit's comfort and style points.

With the asphalt-punishing stance, smooth body and paintwork, and off-the-chart interior in check, the reassembly party began and the build team at Hill's Hot Rods was amped to see the truck in its finished state. Fresh replacement glass, door seals, window felts, weatherstripping, and a host of odds and ends from LMC Truck made putting Red Rocker back together a pleasure. Popping the shaved doors open flawlessly is a shaved door handle kit from Autoloc featuring 75-pound solenoids. After turning the final screws on Red Rocker, dropping the engine and transmission back in, and putting the puzzle back together, the truck was hauled to A&B Muffler in Lubbock, where Joe Flynn worked his exhaust magic. Since the '91 Suburban 350ci V-8 that was originally in the truck was reinstalled, a bit of rumble was needed once the key was clicked. Joe delivered with a 2-1/2-inch pipe that feeds into a Flowmaster Delta Flow 50-series muffler. When the go pedal is nudged, Red Rocker lets out an impressive roar that provides some additional cruising music to go along with the jams wailing in the cab.

Since its debut at SEMA, Red Rocker has been popping up on the West Coast show scene and making jaws hit the pavement with all of its smooth style. When the project began, I spent a lot of time dreaming up names to campaign the truck under. I originally settled on The Blazing Brick, however, once the team at Hill's saw my CD collection, that all changed, and Red Rocker became the truck's new moniker. So, if you are at a show this summer and spot Red Rocker, odds are some '80s heavy metal will be cranked up inside the cab and accompanied by a few vocal-cord-punishing glam-rock screams in the background. Rock on!