Owner: Kevin and Mike Hyde
Ride: '92 Mazda B2200
Hometown: Memphis
Club Affiliation: Negative Camber
There are many advantages to having a twin brother. You could easily swoop on your bro's hot girlfriend, have him sit in for you at class/court, charge up his credit cards, get traffic tickets using his license, and countless other things. For Kevin and Mike Hyde, though, there's nothing cooler than building trucks together. They've been in this lifestyle forever and had their slammed dualie on 24s featured in the Nov. '04 issue of our sister mag Sport Truck. Nevertheless, their dream has always been to build a full-blown mini-truck.
To satisfy the itch of building a mini, the twins picked up a '92 Mazda B2200 to go all-out on. Yet before they could really get going on the Mazda, they ended up selling it to their roommate. A few months went by, and the twins realized that they really wanted to build a badass mini-truck, so they bought the Mazda back from their roommate to quench their desire. They then brought the truck to their trusted friend and shop owner, Clyde Bynum of Silver Star Customs, to get the ball rolling. The three men decided that for the Mazdawg to have the look they were after, a full-custom airbag suspension and a 3-inch body drop were in order. So, Clyde and the SSC crew got down to business and built a crazy cantilever rear setup, working the truck over to lay the body flat to the ground.
After the twin's Mazda was grounded, the Silver Star team began to sculpt the interior. The twins wanted a painted interior with fully smoothed sheetmetal. Needless to say, that task was easier said then done. Clyde and his crew spent countless hours building a full one-off interior, consisting of a sheetmetal dash, a center console, door panels, a headliner, and the floorboard. Everything was hand-built and painted to match the exterior. After the interior matched the smooth appearance of the exterior, the entire truck was taken to Jay at Kutting Edge Kustomz for the paint and graphics. The paint scheme was so elaborate and time-consuming that it took longer to paint the truck than anything else. Still, the twins wanted the truck to stand out and be noticed, so Jay went all-out on the graphics.
With the truck slammed on 18s and 20s, sporting a full-sheetmetal interior and wild multicolored paintjob, the twins knew they had to detail the rest of the truck and get the engine and chassis as clean as the rest of the package. Mike and Kevin finally saw this project through and actually have more in store for this mini. The plan is to go the clean-and-simple route on the next build and really detail every nut and bolt on the Mazda, so we're sure we haven't seen the last of this bad boy. For all the dirty little details, check out the Lowdown.
the lowdown
Wheels/Tires
Front: 18x8-inch BAD Gunslingers wrapped with Toyo 225/35R18 rubber; rear: 20x8.5-inch BAD Gunslingers with Toyo 245/35R20 rubber
Suspension/Chassis
Modifications by Silver Star Customs (www.silverstarcustoms.com); front: Belltech drop spindles / Firestone airbags / SSC electric valves / SSC 'bag mounts; rear: 2x3-inch boxed tubing from the cab back / SSC four-link with custom cantilever setup / painted frame and suspension components / various detailed parts
Body Modifications
Modifications by Silver Star Customs / 3-inch body drop / 4x4 fenders / phantom billet grille / projection headlights / shaved door handles, antenna, emblems, and taillights / smoothed tailgate and roll pan / smoothed inside of bed / sprayed inside bed, undercarriage, engine compartment, and underneath the hood with a custom Vortex bedliner by Kustom Koatings in Memphis
Paint
House of Kolor's True Blue Pearl base, with too many other colors to list / paint and crazy graphic scheme by Jay Lee at Kutting Edge Kustomz
Interior/Stereo
Interior modifications by Silver Star / full-sheetmetal and painted interior / sheetmetal dash, center console, door panels, floorboard, headliner pillars, and subwoofer box / Acura Integra bucket seats wrapped in Katzkin Dove Gray leather by CWW
Engine/Performance
ViTech plug wires / custom fuel cell / chromed and painted most parts that could be unbolted
Miscellaneous
The twins originally bought the truck as a project, but had so much going on that they sold it to their roommate. They then got the itch to build a badass mini-truck, so they bought it back.
Special Thanks
Clyde at Silver Star Customs / Jeff / Jay Lee / Ed / Kevin / Dewayne / the entire NC family