Roadside – Hijacked A Classic Truck Is Reborn for a Patriarchal Tribute

Our love of custom cars, trucks and motorcycles likely stems from our fathers. Seeing them wrench on classic trucks, hot rods, muscle cars or even the family ride has influenced and guided us. Being able to return that favor later in life is something we all look towards doing with Steve Vasquez of Carlsbad, New Mexico being able to accomplish just that. Steve and his friends snuck onto their family land and ‘hijacked’ his dad’s classic Chevy pickup with the goal of fixing it up and building a truck fit for Carmen to enjoy with his family and friends.

The plan for Hijacked began to unfold just as another truck was being finished up at Tre5 Customs before SEMA. That truck being Primo’s square body, seen in the Roadside with Delmo episode here. Primo being friends with Steve knew that he was looking to have his father’s old 1951 Chevrolet AD pickup redone in time for his birthday party. However, current progress was stalling and with only a few months left, Primo primed and Steve called up Jeremy at Tre5 Customs to see if it could all be done in the less than 4 month timeline. Having just finished his own ’49 AD truck, Jeremy was confident he could get the job done by bringing in the best products and partners he could to ensure it was to be delivered by surprise to Steve’s father Carmen, who had been around town and to the police station holding a picture of his old truck, believing it was stolen from their property.

The truck made its way from a side yard in Carlsbad, New Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona at SEMA time and was quickly torn apart to see what Tre5 and nearby Ikandy Paintworks would be dealing with. Parts were ordered and when the SEMA rush was over, the project began. Jeremy knew that in order to meet the tight deadline, parts and components that would be more plug and play would be needed.A full chassis from The Roadster Shop was ordered to save time and provide a low, performance stance thanks to Ride Tech coil overs, Baer Brakes and Intro Wheels wrapped in Pirelli rubber. Under the hood, the old carb’d engine wouldn’t cut it, so a brand new LS3 engine built by Turnkey Engine Supply was dropped in and outfitted with Summit Racing cooling as well as a full billet front accessory drive from All-American Billet to finish off the powerful brand new engine package topped off with Royal Purple fluids. Out back, past the Black Widow Exhaust, the old ‘custom’ diamond plate tailgate was ditched and an all new bed from LMC Truck was installed along side Worm Maple Bed Wood & Parts bed floor. The rest of the rust was repaired and the truck made its journey just a few doors down to Frank Rechlin and the guys at Ikandy Paintworks.

ar-hijacked-22

Initially, Steve wanted the truck painted black and silver, matching his style. But the more that Frank and Jeremy talked and spoke with friends of the family, the decision was made to stick with a modernized version of the green that Carmen had sprayed on the truck decades before. Frank’s team smoothed the body and laid down the metallic green paint while Elevated Design installed a set of TMI Products seats and build a console and panels with the custom ordered leather from TMI with Lokar hardware. A mild Rockford Fosgate sound system as well as a set of Dakota Digital gauges were installed to help bring the classic truck up to modern standards complete with Vintage Air A/C system to help calm the desert heat.

ar-hijacked-23

Everything came together in the final weeks with the shops working round the clock before the truck was loaded up for the trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico where Frank and Jeremy would…well you’ll just have to watch Roadside: Hijacked! to find out!

Special Thanks to:
Tre5 Customs
Ikandy Paintworks
Elevated Design
Summit Racing
All-American Billet
LMC Truck
Intro Wheels
The Roadster Shop
Turnkey Engine Supply
Ridetech
K&N
Painless Performance
TMI Products
Dakota Digital
Rockford Fosgate
Black Widow Exhaust
Hanro Studios
Baer Brakes
Vintage Air
Royal Purple
Meguiar’s
Bed Wood & Parts
Pro Dyno
Trend Auto
Pirelli
Lokar