Mickey Thompson Ford F150 - Nu Street

A reality in sports, work, and even trends, time waits for no one, and as the old adage says, "out with the old, and in with the new." In regards to trends, many seem to be on a cycle with things we saw in the '70s and '80s coming back in full force. Mickey Thompson might be single-handily bringing back the phantom dualie look and pro-street at the same time. Launching its cool, new Sportsman S/R radial last year, with two lines of wheels to accommodate the huge tires, Mickey Thompson built a truck for 2007 to showcase how great a late-model truck can look with this new style. Calling it "Nu Street," the F-150 just might be on the leading edge of trucks that look more like a toy than a real-life hauler.

The concept was basic: build a clean, low-riding performance machine that looked every bit as street rod as it did sport truck. One shop was recruited to pull off this admirable task, Sin City Kustomz in Las Vegas. Shop owners, Tom Mayer and Wes Adkins, went to work on the Mickey Thompson F-150 by first tackling the suspension. The guys knew the truck would have to tuck super-wide wheels out back, and worked accordingly. It was as easy as contacting Chris Alston's Chassisworks for the rear suspension and rearend housing setup. A completely new Chris Alston Chassisworks back-half was welded into place, along with a Chris Alton Chassisworks Fab9 rearend with shortened Strange Axles and US Gear 4.56 gears bolted to a Detroit Locker. A Chris Alton Chassisworks four-link kit with spherical rod ends was added for surefire launches and incredible strength. The typical gas shocks were scrapped in favor of Air Ride Technologies Shockwave struts, which allowed the Ford to lie nice and low. Next, Sin City Kustomz bolted on the huge 20x16-inch Mickey Thompson HR-1 forged wheels. Wrapped around these incredible hoops are equally massive 33x22R20 Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R radial tires. This unmistakable wheel and tire package left one problem to attend to, bed clearance. And so, Sin City Kustomz went to work creating large wheel tubs and a bed bridge to clear the tires and suspension. A nice show touch, the tubs and bridge are on SPAL actuators and lift up the cover to reveal the tires and FAB9 rearend. Line-X coatings were applied to protect all of the hard work.

Up front, Sin City Kustomz removed the factory coil springs, then added Air Ride Technologies Shockwave struts along with DJM lower control arms. Controlling the Air Ride setup is its newest Level Pro setup. Rolling stock up front consists of 18x8-inch Mickey Thompson HR-1 wheels with 28x8R18 tires. Mickey Thompson only makes five-lug wheels in the special Mustang size, so the six-lug Ford truck configuration was re-drilled and swapped, in favor of wheel friendly five-lugs. Brakes, both front and rear, are the Stainless Steel Brake Corporation (SSBC) discs with black powdercoated calipers.