Carroll Smith from Pasadena, Texas, has been rollin' in hot rods, customs, and muscle cars, since his teenage glory days. However, he never had a pickup, let alone a custom one. The challenge intrigued him, so he set out on a quest to discover a '48 Chevy 3100 five-window pickup. You would think in Texas there would be an ample supply of '48 five-windows, either abandoned in some barn, field, or out on the open range. This was not the case. Carroll had to rely on the internet.
While surfing on eBay.com, Carroll came across a '48 Chevy five-window located in California, and the description sounded like it was what he was looking for. So, Carroll bid on it, and his bid won. After it was delivered, it was seriously scanned and appeared in pretty good shape. However, it had ailing brakes, suspension, fuel delivery, and starting issues. It needed some serious work to make it a reliable daily driver.
The open-mouth apron was filled with a 1/8-inch aluminum dimple-drilled plate and a horizontal bar and ball grille retainer. The front fenders were re-configured and shaped to house the '02-'06 Jeep Liberty crystalline headlights.
Then, Carroll decided to build a dream truck. He had direct access to any GM parts for the project, because he owns Monument Chevrolet in Pasadena. As an ex-custom freak, Carroll had a vision in his mind of what the '48 would look like. Contacting Rodney Hutcherson, Carroll and Rodney threw design ideas at each other and the fragments agreed upon were compiled from Rodney's creative visionary mind onto paper. The rendering was a unique piece of line art, like no other on the planet. Carroll and his son, Brandon, were fired up.
The rendering was blown up life-size and pinned up on the wall of Roy Pigford's shop in Baytown, Texas, where the chassis would be designed and fabricated. The frame was constructed from 2x4-inch rectangular tubing, it was tack-welded, then welded into a jig to eliminate any movement.
Gabe's Upholstery custom-built the low-back bucket seats, then covered them in pond-scum yellow and chocolate brown leather. The center console locates a custom-brushed aluminum insert and spherical swiss-cheese Corvette C5 shifter with a chocolate brown leather boot.
An 18-gallon stainless steel fuel tank was fitted between the rear framerails. The suspension pickup points were also figured. Brackets were made, located, then welded into place. The front suspension spindles and upper and lower control arms are C5 components with the appropriate brakes calipers and rotors. The '00 C5 Z06 six-speed transaxle rearend is minus the torque tube (to obtain the proper wheelbase). Also, there are C5 independent rear (IRS) suspension upper and lower control arms, hubs with multiple-piston calipers and rotors.
To allow the suspension to be more flexible, Air Ride Technologies Air Ride Shock Wave pneumatic shocks were installed at all four corners of the suspension. A set of one-off Boyd Coddington's 18-inch wheels up front and 20s in the rear were wrapped with BFGoodrich g-Force T/A rubber, 225/40ZR18 front, and 295/40ZR20 rear.