Dad, can I have the keys to the truck? No, son, I've told you no a hundred times. But, Dad, please, I'll wax it for you and change the oil. Oh, all right, but take really good care of it, and make sure you fill the gas tank. Sweet, thanks, Dad. I'll be careful.
Conversations like this are what make our hobby so great. The bonding of a father and son, the passing on of one's knowledge, and the working together side-by-side on a project makes every trip to the garage a Kodak moment. For Ricky Holly of Houston, he had a similar relationship with his father and their custom van. While his dad showed the van, Ricky came up with ideas of his own to trick out every ride he had a set of keys to.
His chance to build a truck finally came when he picked up this '99 Chevy Extended Cab in 2001. Ricky wasted little time dilly-dallying and got straight to the heart of a custom truck. Also calling Houston home is custom truck builder extraordinaire Bill Carlton who owns Ekstensive Metal Works. Handing the truck over to Bill for a full air-ride system using nitrogen was a no-brainer. Up front, the Belltech spindles drop the C1500 2 inches, and the Slam Specialties 'bags handle the remaining drop. Out back, Bill and his team C-notched the rear frame and installed a two-link while adding Firestone 2600 'bags to bring the rear rockers close to the ground. Shoved under each fender are beautiful Billet Specialties SLX 46 wheels, measuring 22x10 inches. Dunlop 285/30R22 tires prevent wheel dings and provide the contact patch. Now it was time to make the freshly dumped truck turn heads.
For some exterior upgrades, Ricky turned to Raul's Customs in Houston. Raul's crew added a billet grille, an HD hood, molded a Street Scene roll pan onto the rear, secured a SnugTop lid to the bed, and shaved the tailgate handle and the third brake light. With everything nice and smooth, Chaotic Kustoms, in Tomball, Texas, took over from there, applying the PPG Diamond White over the entire truck and then laying down the PPG Pearl Silver ghost flames. Now, Ricky found himself riding in style, but, still felt the interior was lacking if he was going to place at shows.
Concept Racing for the upholstery and Underground Connections for the audio, both from Houston, teamed up to build a classy dwelling for all of Ricky's passengers. Saddle carpet was installed under the vinyl and saddle-wrapped stock seats, while a flamed-stitched vinyl headliner looks down on the goods. An Alpine head unit sends signals to the two Audiobahn amps powering four Audiobahn 10-inch subs. Also, Chris from Underground installed four monitors-two in the headrests, one flip-down, and one in the slick fiberglass center console. A Colorado Custom steering wheel rounds out the interior that sports billet goodies as far as the eye can see.
Getting to and from shows is much easier thanks to the AEM Brute Force intake, Hypertech Power Programmer, and dual Flowmaster exhaust.
It is only a matter of time before the expression on Ricky's face turns to worry as his children ask for the keys to this awesome ride. Funny how that works. But, hey, boys will be boys.