Truck shows, often with hundreds of vehicles on display, are one of the best ways to stir your imagination and find innovations that could be adapted to your truck. Every customizer wants a unique look for his vehicle. As it's difficult to come up with a brand-new, never-before-seen customizing idea, the best approach might be repackaging some existing ideas, and then tailoring them to enhance the rest of your theme. A blend of several ideas, each modified with your own spin, can create a look that is unique. If you haven't had a chance to spend much time on the truck show circuit and are looking for some inspiration, we've put together a group of bed ideas that might be just the ticket to trigger some fresh new innovations for your ride. Read along and see the twists that these East Coast customizers have used to make their beds, then get busy and make your own!
When you have a fully independent, 'bagged and chromed four-link Corvette suspension, supported by a new tube frame that showcases all the trick engineering, the last thing you want to do is hide it! Brad Speir's '97 S-10 has some of the most innovative bed work we've seen, helping to propel this minitruck to magazine-cover status. | 
An exercise in flowing fiberglass, the sculpted bed in Art Fuentes' '99 Ford F-150 draws attention to the artistry involved in creating a trophy-winning show truck. A central monitor in the bed entertains spectators and Plexiglas windows allow them to see the innovative engineering below. A welded tailgate and Cad taillights are the perfect finishing touch. |
Teddy Dixon's '35 Ford keeps the bed internals completely hidden, thanks to the handmade, fiberglass tonneau cover, accented with a modified surfboard. | 
The bright orange '94 Ranger of Brad Thomason has it all. Even with the bed floor raised for clearance, Thomason was able to squeeze a pair of subs, an amp, and a battery box up front, a pair of Viair compressors on the diamond-plate axle cover, a huge reserve tank for the air suspension system, as well as a custom fuel cell. Meanwhile, the reinforced tonneau cover keeps everything dry and secure. |
Mike Rusnak's '94 Isuzu combines the three elements in the bed with the first: a sheetmetal cover for the huge C-notch, the second is a painted-to-match reserve tank for the air suspension, and the third is an 11-gallon fuel tank. All of which combine to make the bed one of the most exciting parts on the truck. | 
Sometimes, the bed is so pretty it doesn't need anything; except for an elegant inlay of fine hardwood. Scott Powers' '39 Studebaker look-alike is actually a beautifully disguised Chevy S-10 underneath. |
The '32 Ford of Jack McHerron sports some Ferrari-styling cues, and it probably has enough power to intimidate that Italian super car. The hot 350ci under the hood negotiates the quarter-mile in the mid 11s, while looking cool doing it. The polished-aluminum bed fits in perfectly and includes a pair of spun aluminum fuel tanks, along with the battery, which was moved rearward for traction. | 
Chris Brown's body-dropped '98 Chevy is a regular lowest-of-the-low winner, thanks to its triangulated four-link and air suspension. The central portion of the bed was cut away to show off the innovative engineering, with the remaining sheetmetal acting as a platform for the twin compressors and chrome reserve tank. The fuel tank with a billet fuel-filler cap, resides in the rear. |
Charlie Dickinson's '41 Chevy pickup has a high-powered Vortec 350ci V-8 under the hood, cradled in a modern S-10 chassis. Charlie sprayed his own paint and constructed the beautiful stainless-steel bed. No stereo components are in this bed, rather just careful attention to details, creating a bed that is period-perfect and blends perfectly with the truck's silver paint. | |