Trendsetting and custom cues can be found interspersed between different breeds of vehicles. Hot styles know no boundaries and, therefore, can jump to a car or a truck, street rod or a motorcycle. To reflect such popularized components of design, the GM design team spent some time with the Teutuls at Orange County Choppers to garner ideas in turning an '07 Silverado into the ultimate shop hauler.
To say this truck was new when it started is a gross understatement. This hapless victim was plucked right off of the assembly line and sent straight to the shop where GM's Design, Engineering, and Powertrain divisions melded minds with Roush Engineering. The truck was torn down to a bare cab on a naked frame and placed in the middle of a stark work chamber. Air Ride Technologies' StongArms replaced the front stock components, and the suspension is now handled with ShockWaves set into modified strut towers. Out back, the factory 3.23-equipped rear axle was narrowed 7 inches, per side, for a total of 14 inches. It was hung on the frame with an Air Ride Technologies parallel four-link kit and additional ShockWaves. In preparation of the upcoming drivetrain swap of Baer brakes, both front and rear were fitted with Baer Extreme six-piston brake calipers, which grab the front 15-inch rotors and cinch down the 14-inch rotors in the rear. A one-off quartet of wheels-mimicking those found on an Orange County Chopper-were whittled from virgin aluminum stock, with a center cap on the deep-dish rear wheels designed to simulate a chopper's rear drive sprocket. The final tally is 22x10-inch front wheels and 20x17-inch rear wheels that are rolling on 285/35ZR22 BFGoodrich g-Force T/As and 31x18.00R20 Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/Rs, for the proper big and little street-rod look.
If GM's Powertrain division had any say in the go-fast department, then the amazing 7.0L LS7 engine is it. Displacing 427 cubic-inches and built from lightweight materials, the bad-to-the-bone beast levels the competition to the tune of 505 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. Super horsepower numbers, titanium connecting rods, and a dry-sump oiling system weren't enough, though. The LS7's eight individual coils were relocated to a custom mount, which was perched over the engine's intake manifold, so that a one-off carbon-fiber engine cover with machined aluminum trim would fit cleanly. Without the ignition coils, there was no need to keep the purpose-built factory valve covers. So, a trip through GM's Performance Parts Division caught a much more visually appropriate pair of covers. Now, intake duties are handled by a Roush Engineering-designed twin 4-inch polished aluminum snorkel configuration with two K&N filters. Edelbrock 1-5/8-inch Ti-Tech-coated shorty headers expel the exhaust through factory catalytic converters and out through more chopper-inspired trickery. Three-inch chromed dual-side pipes emit a thunderous roar off each side of the Silverado, especially when the gas pedal is mashed to the floor. It is all with an appearance of something that Orange County Choppers would have built for one of their own machines. Finally, all of the modified power routes through an '07 GM 4L70E automatic transmission.
With the chopper-inspired enthusiasm at full steam, attention to the Silverado's body was necessary. As previously stated, the truck's sheetmetal was entirely removed, which left an empty shell of a cab to begin work on. After working with the Teutuls, GM Design's John Cafaro and Jeff Puppos designed a bed treatment to mimic the look and feel of a motorcycle's fuel tank. By adding a pair of outer bed skins to the inside of the truck's bedsides, then welding them into place, along with a completely smoothed bed floor their vision became true to life. The original area where the factory fuel door resided was shaved smooth, and the new fuel filler position moved to the top of the bedside and is accessible through the use of a motorcycle filler cap. Smooth was the game plan, and so the door handles, third brake light, and roof moldings were ditched, and the removed rear bumper made way for a louvered roll pan. Each lower corner of the bed was slightly reworked for better visual flow, a one-off front bumper fascia was created, and after the third iteration, a carbon-fiber hood was handmade with a huge by large hot-rod-inspired "power dome" hoodscoop.
Although it was not yet in final production, these Air Ride Technologies' struts were mounted into place with some additional modifications to the Silverado's mounts. | 
Air Ride Technologies was also utilized to fill the needs of the rear suspension. A parallel four-link was mounted to the frame with a Panhard bar and Shockwaves. You get a good feel for what the 14-inch narrowed rear axle looks like in this image. With such a high step built into the Silverado's stock frame, a C- or step-notch was not required to get the truck onto the ground. |
A 505hp LS7 427ci crate engine was called upon to power the OCC Silverado. Here, an ATI balancer, which was custom-built to Roush specs, was installed. | 
GM's design team laid out a hand-drawn representation of what the seat coverings would look like, based upon a digital rendering. Uruguay-spec leather was used in Reno and Cherokee Black, and as you can see, the lower portion of the seat had already been completed. |
The actual headlight and taillight enclosures were CNC-machined from 250lb blocks of 6061-T6 aluminum. Two-story tall Roush CNC machines with cutting tools over 1/2-inch in diameter were used to cut the enclosures. In the end, these pieces weighed just about 8 lbs. | 
These tables held the interior components before being installed on the vehicle. Basically, everything that wasn't chrome plated was painted black-after it had been sanded smooth. |