1954 Chevy Truck - An Old Skool Truck Rod

The cab's lid was lowered 3-1/2 inches, then the cab was channeled 4 inches. The cab's rear window was not chopped, but lowered to the beltline. The hood center seam was filled, welded, then ground smooth. The cab driprails and the door handles were removed, then shaved for that smooth look. The factory dash was smoothed to be painted red. The bed floor was raised 6 inches to accommodate the 4-inch body-drop, the bed tube rail ends were filled, and the tailgate latches were removed, then relocated inboard. The front fender headlights and rear fender taillights were frenched. Next, the firewall holes were welded up and ground smooth. To keep that hot-rod look, Brian opted to keep the stock chrome grille and front and rear bumpers to maintain a truck-rod look. The guys at Eight Ball Rods & Custom straightened, smoothed, and prepped the body before applying PPG Red gloss to the front and rear fenders and running boards. The cab, hood, bedsides, and tailgate were sprayed with PPG Black Satin. Expert pinstriping by Bob Iverson added to the old-skool look and gave the satin colors some real curb appeal.

Afterward, Tom Sweere and the team at Beach Auto Sound of H.B. installed Michele's rockin' vibe system that enables them to cruise to tunes deployed from an Alpine head unit powered by an Alpine amp. Alpine 6-inch mid and high speakers are located in the kick panels and rear cab quarter panels. A pair of custom subwoofer enclosures house the 10-inch subs and were neatly hidden behind the bench seat. The Alpine touch-screen DVD head unit and Air Ride Technologies control panel were hidden away in the glovebox.

The final stage of Michele's cool custom cruiser was the interior, which was done by Pete Ingles at Westminster Upholstery in Anaheim. The bench seat was borrowed from a Chevy S-10 pickup then refurbished and covered in high quality black and timeless white leather tuck-'n'-roll with red piping. This treatment was carried over to the door panels with the stock armrests reversed for a different look. After applying Dynamat soundproofing, some low-pile black carpet was laid down. The stock '54 Chevy window cranks activate the power windows vertical actions. To capture the stock interior, Kevin Francis at KA Custom installed a set of white faced Classic Instruments Gauges.

Whether Michele is cruisin' Main Street in Huntington Beach with hubby Brian, or the two K-9s Spec and Kiwi, you know people take notice of her cool old-skool ride.

We can't feel too bad for Brian, he just recently purchased a '62 Bel Air bubble top; the same "Storkmobile" his dad Harold drove his mom to the hospital to deliver Brian. He is anxious to begin restoring it real soon. We're sure it will turn out great.