2001 GMC Sierra - Eskullayed

On his tech sheet, Hector "Whopper" Garza Jr. wrote he built this truck to be cover material for Truckin' magazine. Funny how fate works. He builds it; we come out to see it, and here it is gracing our pages.

Whopper, as he is known throughout his Ground Zero truck club community, used the unfortunate collision with a drunk driver to start over and really get crazy with his '01 GMC Sierra. A couple of skulls here, some bright pigment there, and two years later, the truck has rehabilitated into a whole new being described as Eskullayed.

Whopper started out like most of us, some 20s, monochromatic Lime Time Green paint, and a little bump inside the cab. Whereas this was fine at the time, after the insurance money came and the front clip needed replacing, Whopper delivered the truck to Diaz Custom Auto in Pasadena, Texas. There, the GMC received an '02 Escalade front bumper, fenders, grille, and hood. The team at Diaz also shaved the door handles, the gas door, welded in a rollpan, and welded the tailgate shut. Out back, LED brake lights were flushed into the tailgate, and a SnugTop lid was added. For a show-winning skin, Whopper contacted Pat Maxwell of Maxwell Designs in Spring, Texas, where Pat applied the House of Kolor Lime Time Green, Sunset and Sunrise Orange, Passion Purple, and Orion Silver pigments. Pat went off the chain inside the Passion Purple with angry skulls airbrushed throughout the truck.

Lowering the truck to a respectable height was the responsibility of Mando's Drop Shop in Houston, who added DJM 2-inch drop spindles and Firestone 'bags up front and a two-link with 'bags in the rear. Stuffed under each fender are 22x10-inch Boyd Coddington Slayer billet wheels. Out back, the 3-inch backspacing gives Whopper some whopper-sized lips and the 295/30R22 Pirellis provide the perfect contact patch. Bolting on those huge back wheels required narrowing the axle shafts, but the stock gears were retained. Under the Caddy hood, the 5.3L V-8 benefits from a Hypertech Power Programmer, a K&N intake, and a Borla 3-inch exhaust. Adding eye candy to the engine compartment, several pieces were painted green and billet caps were added. Pleased with his truck's progress thus far, Whopper didn't stop there, but rather dropped the truck off with custom interior extraordinaire Rivera Services of Kemah, Texas.

The crew at Rivera proved its worth in gold by adding the smoothed and painted dash, building the sick floating sub enclosure, and covering the cut-down stock seats with gray leather and silver suede with matching fiberglass emblems. Rivera also fabricated the trick center console housing the Pioneer DVD player's face and air pressure gauge. Audio entertainment is supplied by two JL Audio amps, two DB Drive component sets and two JL 10-inch W7 subwoofers. For visual excitement, the 10-inch monitor was flush-mounted in the dash and the A/C controls were relocated. Keeping directional chores at hand, an NRC billet steering wheel keeps things on lock down.

In the bed, an axle bridge was embossed with Whopper's Eskullayed logo, and the nitrogen bottle keeps things aired up. It only took two years, some great friends, and a bunch of issues of Truckin' to keep Whopper motivated and working on his pride and joy. Next time you see him, be sure to give him his well-earned props and see if you can have things your way.