Owner: Ray Beasley
Ride: '01 Chevy S-10
Hometown: Harrells, NC
Club: No Regrets
Ray Beasley has been through the mill while attempting to build his own version of the perfect S-10. When he decided he wanted a truly custom minitruck, he went for it with gusto. Ray soon found himself a shop that said it could do all the work, and trusted the crew to build the truck he had in mind.
After a couple of months, Ray got a phone call from the shop letting him know that he could come and pick up his freshly 'bagged ride. When he arrived at the shop, he found that it wasn't quite the job that he had in mind. Nonetheless, he was happy to have his first 'bagged minitruck. For the first couple of months, everything went without a hitch and Ray was in seventh heaven.
But the happiness didn't last-and neither did the 'bag job on his truck. Then, the gremlins started to rear their ugly little heads. It started with air leaks, then moved into blown airbags. The final blow was when Stripe made a personal appearance to finish off Ray's truck. Underneath the black spray paint weld, cracking four-link tabs were breaking off and the step-notch was breaking away from the rest of the truck.
Instead of returning the truck to the shop, and possibly not seeing it for another couple of months, Ray decided he could probably do a better job himself. He started on the front end, where he modified the spring pockets the correct way, then gave the 'bags the clearance needed, so they wouldn't rub against the frame. The next task was to fix the breaking step-notch. He found that there wasn't very good penetration in the welds, so he cut off the frame from the firewall back and built a back-half for the truck, which equaled a stock-floor body-drop. Next, he welded in new tabs for the four-link to cycle properly, then finally replumbed the entire air system using DOT lines and fittings.
For the bodywork, all the normal entities that make a badass mini were added to form Ray's ride, including a complete shave job. The mods didn't stop there, either. A quick look inside shows Bravado bucket seats, wrapped in leather, along with the door panels. The dash has been dyed black, the Blazer center console was smoothed out, dyed to match the dash and door panels, and the top cap of the console was painted to match the truck. The results are clean yet not overwhelming, and it works very well with the overall look of the truck.
Ray has been toying with various aspects of his S-10 for a few years. We'd say the results of his labor are well worth the time he's spent. He has ensured every aspect of his ride looks and performs as well as the next. Then again, when you take matters into your own hands and do it all yourself, undoubtedly your efforts will be appreciated by those who wish they could perform most of their own work and come out with such clean results.