Chris Sheldon of Henderson, Nevada, fell in love with the '55-'57 Chevrolet pickups when he was 11 years old. After several years of saving his money and finally buying one, life caught up with him and he and his wife wanted to buy a house and start a family. Making the tough decision to sell the truck he loved, in the back of his mind, Chris knew he would eventually build another one. This time around, Chris picked up a 1955 Chevy Cameo and spared nothing in building it exactly how he wanted it.

We asked Jarod Andrews, the owner of this deadly Dodge, why he built it. He simply told us, “It was something to do for the shop.” That shop, Pensacola Autoworks in, wait for it, Pensacola, Florida, helped Jarod do something many custom Ram owners don’t do—lay the frame on the ground over 26-inch wheels. Something sinister this way comes.

Halfway through 2007, GM unveiled their newest body style dubbed GMT900. It was a radical improvement over the previous body style, but some people still liked the look of the ’03 to ’07 Sierras and Silverados. This is the case with Hugo Vela of La Joya, Texas. He preferred the classic body style to the new, revamped one, so when he was looking to buy a new truck in 2007, he bought a 2007 GMC Sierra classic. Not one to leave his trucks stock, Hugo decided to turn this one into a driveable, cover quality ride. He also wanted to prove that with hard work anything is possible.

As a successful design, print, and clothing company owner, Graphic Disorder’s Brandt Fuqua is enveloped in all things customs, all the time. Only problem with that daily exposure to cool stuff was every time he looked out in the parking lot, his own ride wasn’t unique enough. Having owned several magazine-quality trucks in the past, Brandt wanted to return back to his roots of cruising to shows and hanging out with friends in a ride worthy of his mini-truck heritage. When he got word that a really trick 2007 Nissan Titan was up for sale, rather than feel guilty for not building something of his own, he pulled out the old checkbook and drove home in one sweet ride.

I picked up my 2000 Chevy Silverado extended cab in late 2010 and shortly after decided that I needed to make it less stock and more custom. I wanted to 'bag it and build it into a show truck that I could still use to drive to and from work, without breaking the bank, of course. To do this I needed to make sure to pick high-quality parts and have it built just right. After several months of stock piling parts for my first lowered project, I finally had everything together to get started on it. That's when I took the truck to Adam and Andy Diaz at Master Image Customs in Montclair, California.

Bill Montgomery had been in the custom auto scene for a few years when he decided that he needed to show everyone what he was all about. This is when he came up with the idea to do something no one had done before. He wanted to take a new body-style Chevy and cut it up to make it a roadster. To do so, he would need to surround himself with talented fabricators who shared his vision for a jaw-dropping custom. With a rendering in hand, Bill bought a 2007 Silverado 1500 extended cab and started the grueling process of making his dream come true.

One of the first steps many manufacturers take when starting a fresh company and releasing new aftermarket products is to build a vehicle befitting of the parts created. Marco Najarro is no different and created a line of industrial sized and strength towhooks to suit the lifted fullsize truck community. Born from the necessity of getting large and heavy vehicles unstuck in the sand dunes, Monster Hooks was born. With colors ranging from basic black to chrome, and even candy chrome, the Monster Hooks line has already sprouted additional products in the form of billet fender grilles and custom exhaust tips. To suit the gigantic hooks, a fairly burly truck would need to be built. What better truck than the aptly named Ford Super Duty.

Eeverybody remembers the story of the ugly duckling. An odd duck is hatched and not well received from the other animals, until one day he turns into a graceful swan and shows them all his true colors. In a sense, the Ford F-1 pickups from ’48-’52 seemed to fall into that category. Being the first generation of “real” trucks not designed off the earlier car platform, the design has failed to capture the hearts of classic truck enthusiasts like its better looking ’53-’56 brothers. As is the case with many customs, the right truck comes along and shows off the beauty of an odd duck, immediately setting off a chain reaction of similar models being built. To say Ray Corn’s ’51 F-1 follows the story of the ugly duckling’s transformation is a major understatement.

Establishing goals in life is a proven equation for success. Creating a goal for a custom truck project is also vital to helping you not give up when times get tough. Eddie Gonzalez, of Houston, bought his 1997 Tahoe in 2004 and spent the following six painstaking years with the goal that at the end, he would have it the way he wanted. Everybody has their favorite trucks, and everybody has their favorite parts of trucks. Sometimes we wish that truck manufacturers had used different lights on a vehicle, or a different interior to fit your individual style. So it comes as no surprise when people swap lights, upgrade interiors, or even change the whole front end of a vehicle. Eddie loves two-door Tahoes, but he also loves the mean look of the ’03-’07 Chevy Silverado front end. Eddie made the commitment to combine them and do what he thinks GM should have done—enter his iWey.

We all have our dream vehicle. Some of us want a vehicle straight from the factory, but for some of us, no factory makes the vehicle we want, so it must be built. For Todd Spivey, his dream vehicle was a ’99 -’02 Silverado that made heads turn so fast, people would get vertigo when it drove by. After purchasing this 2001 Silverado regular cab, Todd embarked on making his dream a reality.

Maybe your first look at Kevin Russell’s ’03 H2 had you scratching your head. It does sort of look like the body has been shrunk because the wheels and tires just look massive by comparison. It’s not trick photography, and it’s not the perspective of the monster 3rd Coast Suspension lift, those really are 54-inch tall Super Swamper Boggers mounted to 20x12-inch Weld wheels.

Everything in the truck world is a contest. It’s always about the lowest, loudest, fastest, tallest, tucking the biggest wheels, or clearing the biggest tires. But, what happens when you just build a truck that you want instead of one that everyone else wants you to? Do you still ’bag it, lift it, shave it, or paint it a hundred crazy colors? If you’re Julio Trevino, you simply build a red truck with a clean interior and some power under the hood. A static drop and billet wheels are about as exciting as it gets. Well, maybe it’s not quite that simple.

Having owned and built several other custom vehicles, Shaun Freilich thought it best to open the doors to his own business. With the American Dream looming over his head, his next move would be crucial. How could he get the masses of Dallas, Texas, to drive to his shiny new front door? Building a calling card was in order, and the bigger, the better. Shaun had not completed situating his new shop and was in no shape to get anything done in a timely fashion, and with SEMA just weeks off, he was stuck with a brand-new 2011 Chevy 2500HD Crew Cab 4X4. It was time to call in backup.

Killer instincts are one of the required assets to outlast inferior species in nature’s hierarchy. Whether it’s the speed of a cheetah, teeth of a great white shark, or venom from a king cobra, certain abilities and inherit instincts ensure survival of the fittest. What if there was a creature with all of these killer attributes in one pretty package? Without question, that freak of nature would send fear into the hearts of everything in its path. In the world of custom trucks, there is an unspoken hierarchy where builders who have been creating works of art for decades have developed abilities to fabricate one-off trucks we as bolt-on customizers see as freaks of nature. One such builder is Bill Carlton, owner of Ekstensive Metalworks in Houston. Working on customer’s trucks every day leaves little time to work on his own projects, and not since his amazing Hummer H2 named “Game Over” (Truckin’ Issue 13, Volume 32) has he rolled out a truck of his own. Get ready, here comes a freak.

Truckin's top 10 is reserved for the best of the best. As you will see, these are not trucks that have appeared on the covers from 2011, as the cover trucks were some of the best trucks we featured, hence their spot on the acclaimed cover. We decided to instead give the owners of the rest of the trucks a fighting chance. So here they are, the top ten trucks of 2011. Please vote here for your favorite truck! Think we forgot a truck or would you just like to express your opinion? Send your thoughts to maxwell.matthewson@sorc.com.

Joel "Grommit" Sandenwasser has been in the custom vehicle scene for a long time, so when it came time to build a daily driver that would be suitable enough to carry his family, he knew exactly what he wanted. Anybody who knows Joel will tell you that he isn’t a “follow the masses” kind of guy, which may be why he chose a 2004 Toyota Tundra Double Cab for his project, maybe not, but no matter the reason, Joel has finished it and is extremely proud of his accomplishment.

Thinking back to when we were 21 years old, none of us on staff had an awesome show truck that we could claim won any awards. In fact, most of us were struggling to barely pay our rent each month and eating mac 'n' cheese. Tony Laughlin, from Pasadena, Texas, is 21 years old and the proud owner of this massive rig. An insurance check from his previous custom truck’s theft allowed him to pull the trigger on this '09 GMC Sierra 2500HD, and Tony wasted no time in making the truck as custom as he could.

Creating a racer support vehicle usually means that vehicle is going to see some thrash time due to the constant loading and unloading of tools and gear. Rarely are the trucks designed for such missions adorned in many creature comforts because a dirty pit crew and broken parts will turn anything nice into a short-lived memory. Exceptions to the rule are always out there and this 2011 Ford F-350 dualie is just that exception. Designed by father and son team, Paul and Jason Hulst, the big crew cab was commissioned by Snap-On tools to serve as not only a showpiece, but also a team support vehicle to carry plenty of professional series tools and also provide entertainment during any downtime. A lofty goal to be sure, but the Hulst Customs boys are no strangers to Ford trucks, having built a number of vehicles shown in magazine pages and at SEMA, where we found this one all shined up under the show’s bright lights.

Not all trucks are created equal. Some trucks just look better than others. This is true for trucks from the factory and custom trucks alike. Sometimes over the top looks really good, while other times, excessively simple looking trucks are the ticket. Casey Heichberger of Santa Ynez, California, built this 1968 Chevy C10 himself in his boss’ welding shop. Casey’s dad bought the truck for him when he was thirteen and Casey began building it about five years ago. Through trials and tribulations, Casey taught himself how to weld, fabricate, and paint in order to build this truck exactly how he and his dad wanted it.

GMC Yukons are very popular among all types of people. Soccer moms love them because they have room for the kids and groceries, businessmen like the luxury-appointed interior, and custom truck enthusiasts love the fact they are relatively easy to make them look good by adding a few small touches. Steve Burkett bought this 2008 GMC Yukon brand-new, but that didn’t stop him from tearing into it. Being a council member of the Swift car club, Steve needed to make his ride stand out from everyone else’s in the club. In several tech articles, we’ve shown you the steps that it took to convert this Yukon into a show truck, and now we have the full feature for you to enjoy.

Why is it that when we buy a car or truck, we can’t leave well enough alone? We always say, “I’m not going to touch this one. It will be my daily driver so it’s staying stock.” Then a couple of months down the road the engine is out of it and the frame is chopped all to hell. Robbie King of Bentonia, Mississippi, said the same thing when he bought this 1981 C10 Stepside. It was just supposed to be a no frills, beat up, grocery getter. That was up until Robbie pulled the engine out of it. From that day forward the truck has never been the same and Robbie couldn’t be happier.

Hair metal, Atari, and the square-body Chevy pickup—you gotta love the ’80s. Chris Crain fell in love with that generation of Chevy trucks when he was growing up and even then, he always wanted to build one. Hailing from Bryan, Texas, Chris has built three of these trucks, but after spending nearly ten years creating this truck exactly how he wanted it, he’s happy with this red ’81. What he did to make this ’81 C10 a real looker boils down to passion and one simple obsession.

Jerry Valenzuela is a quiet man, who, if he were standing next to you probably would go unnoticed. He’s old school, doesn’t run his mouth about other shops or build quality, and he’s quick to congratulate someone else for taking home awards. It may surprise you then to see him walk up to this hot-rod-inspired Chevy, pop the doors open and ride off into the sunset. After talking with him for five minutes, you’ll quickly understand why this truck means so much to him, and why being humble is so important. He may not say it, but we will, it’s hard to stand out in the world of ’99-’07 fullsize Chevy trucks, however, this 2007 Silverado Classic is one of the nicest examples we’ve laid our eyes on.

When Ford began campaigning the 2011 Ford F-150, the truck community was a buzz about the new twin-turbo EcoBoost engine, which Ford claimed had the performance of a V-8 with the fuel mileage of a V-6. Much like a mythical creature, we all wondered, “Could the two really coexist?” Ford’s latest engine answered our questions and is an engineering marvel. Simply put, it’s the new benchmark in manufacturers thinking outside the box. Ford knew they had a hit on their hands, but they wanted to get the aftermarket world as excited about the EcoBoost as they were. To handle this huge task, they reached out to John Wargo, owner of The Custom Shop in Flanagan, Illinois. John was commissioned to build a show-winning EcoBoost F-150. Typically, this would be an easy task for a shop that’s built more than 148 magazine feature cars and trucks, but the team only had four weeks to transform the Ford. Welcome to Ecology 101—the custom truck version.

The fourth generation of the Chevy pickup is a favorite among many truck enthusiasts. The fat fenders, bold grille, and classic, five-window design lead you back to a generation that once was. Because of these reasons, they are becoming even more popular with custom truck builders who want a solid hot-rod foundation. Jorge Ledon of Miami, Florida, bought this classic Chevy in the summer of 2007. Since then he has been painstakingly disassembling the truck down to the last bolt and rebuilding it. He is currently in the process of getting the body ready to bolt onto the immaculate frame that he has built. Hoping to have to truck ready by SEMA, Jorge is about half way there and not looking back.