When George Monroe decided to revamp his S-10, he decided the third time would be the charm for him. He has a built-in soft spot for S-series mini-trucks, so it's no wonder that he didn't exactly know what he wanted to do to the truck in detail before he finished it the first time. He has always been influenced by hot rods and wanted his mini-truck to contain the most important aspects of what he felt a true hot rod has. His goals were to build and drive a truck that could show with the best trucks, but be able to have an adjustable suspension and roast its rear hides with the hopped-up rides that were invading his hometown. George wanted the best of both worlds and didn't stop tuning the appearance and performance of his truck until he was satisfied. As it turned out, he got his wishes fulfilled on all fronts and today rolls one of the cleanest and quickest show rides you will find anywhere. This year, if you're rollin' to a Midwest show, you might want to double-check that rearview mirror before you change lanes. This quick S-10 can run your ass down in no time.
MT: Good morning, George. I bet you wish you could see how your photos turned out already, eh? Too bad this issue won't actually hit the newsstands for another two months.George: Man, but it's well worth waiting for. This is what most mini-truckers dream of.
MT: Despite what anyone says, I enjoy seeing people writhe in agony while they wait to see what we did to their trucks. Well, since you have to wait a while to see the feature, how do you think you'll feel when you get crowned as King Boofoo of the month?George: I'm going to stay real modest about this. I'm excited about it, but the mini is still a daily driven truck. I drive it to work and still take my wife out in it on the weekends.
MT: You told me before the way the truck looks now isn't the way it has always been, right? Can you tell us about it?George: The way it was before...this is the third paintjob. It was a different blue before with silver flames. As far as changes, the way it is now is really what I wanted to do from the beginning. I finally reached my main goal that I had with the truck all along. It just took me a while to get here.
MT: Why did you decide to rebuild your truck in the first place?George: I wanted to get it to the level I had always expected it to be. This time, I managed to get a lot of help from companies that wanted to sponsor the truck. That helped me out a lot, financially, and since it was featured in Truckin' before, companies wanted to get involved with me and with the truck.
MT: What did you do this time to make the truck totally different?George: The paint and the wheels were the first changes, and then we reworked the truck's engine compartment and installed the Vortec supercharger. Next, the stereo system was completely redone for a bolder show appearance. We increased the show-worthiness of the stereo to be able to serve up more competition shows and mobile sound events.
MT: What would you say is the most important thing you've learned from building and subsequently rebuilding your S-10?George: Building it the first time, I wish I had used better materials. The thickness of the steel we used could have been better. It made for more work when we had to go back in and reinforce and redo some of the suspension and other things later on. I also wish I would have installed the Envoy headlights a long time ago.
MT: If you could go back and do it again with this buildup, what would you change?George: I would swap the motor. It would get a blown small-block, and I would want to chop the top. I'm not really into body-dropping this truck. I wanted a more traditional hot rod look, but I also wanted one with a mini-truck aspect.