People like free stuff. Free clothes, free food, and free trucks. That's right-free trucks. Sure, everyone has spontaneously entered the shopping mall giveaways, where a new luxury car, truck, or sport utility is handed out to one lucky winner through a box drawing-most folks fill out the paper work and forget all about it. Sure, gripping onto a set of keys to a stock ride that was completely free is certainly cool, but imagine getting your hands on an off-the-shelf custom ride with paramount performance and eye-popping appeal, without peeling even one dollar out of that wallet. The customizing gurus at Stylin' Concepts and Goodmark Industries built the slightly dropped, supercharged, and flamed '05 Tahoe radiating off these pages, and one lucky Truckin' reader will be presented the keys at the '05 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. To begin the customizing journey, Goodmark and Stylin' Concepts started by dropping the stance and planting custom wheels and rubber at all four corners.
When crafting a custom vehicle, the stance sets the direction for the rest of the buildup, and this project had to have the low-slung hot rod attitude before any other modifications were made. For superb driveability, an ultra smooth ride, and trick looks, a DJM Suspension 3/3 drop kit was installed under the Tahoe, and 22x9-inch Billet Specialties Mag Mile wheels wrapped by Nitto NT 404 P305/40R22 tires were placed inside the fenderwells. Slowing the Tahoe to a crawl when lucky pilots get a bit throttle happy with the supercharged mill is a Baer Brake Systems EradiSpeed big brake upgrade featuring 14-inch cross-drilled and slotted rotors. With the stance, handling, and on-a-dime stopping characteristics in check, the restyling pros at Stylin' Concepts and Goodmark went under the hood and added some throttle-hammering, tire-frying performance to the factory powerplant.
In order to match the intimidating hot rod looks rocking the exterior, the factory V-8 was topped with a polished Magnuson supercharger. A Borla stainless steel exhaust completes the engine's operating cycle and shouts with authority when the hammer is dropped. A peek under the Goodmark cowl-induction bonnet shows this Bow Tie's power source is not only a performer but a looker, too. Polished billet aluminum dress-up components from Billet Specialties surround the force-fed V-8 and brighten up the doghouse. Once the powerplant was enhanced with more go power and fitted with a bit of detail styling, the exterior was treated to some custom attitude.