It's a vicious cycle when things begin to get a little out of control and then snowball into a full-blown custom build. This never-ending cycle of driving something stock and then doing one small thing to it is the story of Stacy D'Erasmo of Bronx, New York. Her husband, Louis, owns Valanca Auto Concepts, also in the Bronx, and when she drives home a new truck or SUV, it's only a matter of time before it ends up on a lift, being customized. The funny thing about the D'Erasmo family is, every time a new vehicle is purchased, an agreement is made that the new one was bought to replace the previously customized truck. Rules are made to be broken and the end result is always a sweet ride to cruise around New York in.
Having had two of their previous custom trucks featured in our publications, it was a no-brainer when we met up with them at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. The latest creation was a beautiful example of something everyone thought GM was going to build, an aggressive-looking Tahoe with a Silverado front end. To make such a drastic change in appearance, Stacy's new Tahoe was delivered to the family shop. While at Valanca, Louis and Larry D'Erasmo removed the original front body parts and added the fenders, grille, and lights from a 2004 Silverado. A Keystone Good Hood was bolted on, along with the Valanca fiberglass front bumper cover. A billet grille and clear foglights complete the front-end treatment. Before any pigments were applied, Louis and Larry also added a full Valanca body kit including side skirts and rear bumper cover. With the body in order, the Tahoe was rolled into the paint booth, where over 500 hours were spent perfecting the tear-away, snake, and two-tone graphics. ICI Auto Color paint was used, with the palette ranging from orange pearl to white - with silver, red, yellow, gray, and blue also used. After seven coats of clear and a thorough wet-sanding, the Tahoe was rolled out of the Valanca paint booth and rolled onto the lift.
While up in the air, a McGaughys 2/4 lowering kit was installed using front drop spindles and rear coils. With the air tools out, the Valanca crew added Baer EradiSpeed 14-inch rotors, front and rear. Before the Tahoe was placed back on the ground, Boze 22x10-inch six-speed wheels were bolted up, with 305/40R22 Toyo Proxes tires mounted to each hoop.
Looking killer on the outside, the Valanca team knew it was now time to make the inside look just as custom. After the dash bezel was sanded smooth and painted orange a custom fiberglass center console was built and painted to match. Valanca then installed the Eclipse navigation and DVD player head unit in the stock location and filled the stock speaker locations with JL Audio separates. Moving to the rear, two JL Audio amps power four 8-inch JL Audio W7 subwoofers that are mounted in a 1-inch-thick plexiglass enclosure. Six Icon monitors sprinkled throughout provide visual entertainment, while a PlayStation 2 and an Xbox give the passengers some gaming options. Godfrey and Son, in the Bronx, wrapped the factory seats in two-tone gray leather with orange suede inserts and also added the gray suede headliner. B&I Trim painted the steering wheel orange to finish off the interior.
Powering this customized Tahoe is a 5.3L V-8 equipped with a MagnaCharger supercharger pushing 7 psi of atmosphere into the cylinders. Gibson headers and a Gibson 3-inch exhaust help expel the burnt fuel and provide the 425hp powerplant with a rumble. On the underside of the Keystone hood lies a Valanca-applied painted mural that goes to show the amount of detail each vehicle receives.
The only question left is, what vehicle will the D'Erasmo family build next? I guess we'll have to wait until this year's SEMA show to find out.