Michael and Susan Ludwig's '96 Dodge Ram is one-of-a-kind now, but even before all of the customizations, it was one of only 1,250. The truck is an Indianapolis 500 Edition, which is not something you see every day, but that designation alone was not going to win much recognition at shows, so the inevitable happened. The truck was static-dropped and painted.
As many of you know, that's often how things start, but whether it's the need to one-up the competition, or to see how far a build can go, truck builds can easily snowball from mild to wild. In the case of this Dodge, the mild build lasted until the end of the 2006 show season, when John Williams, owner of Vehicle Designs and Accessories in Ionia, Michigan, took over. Gone are the unnecessary distractions such as taillights, antenna, bed pockets, door handles, and the gas filler door, replaced by smooth metal.
A roll pan replaced the bumper and an AAR fiberglass hood took the place of the boring factory piece. With all of the body smoothed and primed, PPG Purple was sprayed as a base, followed by Ocean Blue. That's when things got wild. Blue realistic flames frame a black and gray biomechanical framework that appears to lie below the sheetmetal of the truck. Both sides are virtually identical, and the graphics continue across the tailgate and hood.