2006 GMC Sierra - Gold Rush

When we asked Justin Veit, owner of this gorgeous GMC, what was the reason for building such a wild truck, he simply said: "I've lost my mind." The way this fullsize soaks up the 26-inch wheels, glistens in the sunshine, and makes eardrums bleed mercilessly, a mind seems to be a beautiful thing to waste. After building six custom trucks, all of which Truckin' has featured, Justin dropped in his lucky coin, pulled down the slot machine lever, and struck the jackpot with one of the most head-turning trucks we've seen in years. Going for broke, all bets were off as the two-year adventure of building a first-class truck finally culminated with his first cover.

With a history of building sky-high custom creations, Justin's shop Insane Kustoms, in Phoenix, was used to going up, but when we challenged him in '07 to build something airbagged, he took our request to heart. Picking up an '06 GMC Sierra extended cab, Insane Kustoms quickly got to work cutting it up. Gutting the entire truck to where it was basically in two pieces: a bare frame and bare body, the first order of business was to get the body looking insane. In each of us there is a need to be different, which is one of the great things about customizing a truck- it's yours and you can do whatever you want with it. Desiring to have a truck that would look different and have people confused, Justin delivered the truck to Lucky Luciano, also in Phoenix, for a unique paint and body experience. Devising a game plan, Lucky began with the bodywork, where he shaved the usual pieces but also ended up shaving the taillights, tubbing the firewall, cutting open the roof, and raising the bed floor. Lucky then added an '01 Chevy HD hood, welded in a full Grant Kustoms tailgate skin, and began to mix the PPG paint. Test panel after test panel, Justin and Lucky couldn't come to a mutual love of the color until one day when a little dab of this and that and the color was discovered. Calling it PPG DW Kandy Gold Special, Lucky says the color "is not for sale, so please don't ask." With the mixture set in stone, Lucky applied the pigment to every piece of the Sierra. Having an affinity with angry, demented, and often times down-right scary-looking clowns, Justin went straight to airbrush artist Matt Andrews who works with Lucky. Giving him free reign to go crazy on the freshly-painted surfaces, Matt added the freaky clowns that include a twisted version of the "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" theme, one clown that was shot with a shotgun, and several who lost their eyes due to greedy and mischievous clowns. The overall look is one you will not soon forget.