“With the frame coming together I set my sights on crafting a crazy interior. I always loved the look of smooth fiberglass and paint, so we went to town shaving and ’glassing everything inside the cab. With the help of Mike Wolfe, we proceeded to shave the vents, air-bag hole, speaker openings, headlight switch, and so on. With the need for tunes, I hit up my brother Jason, who was a serious audiophile, for help, and he diagrammed a system that I would love for years to come. When the audio goods arrived, James showed me another talent that he had mastered—box building. With grand visions of a functional, painted center console, he made one badass sounding setup that tied into it. Once everything was finished, the console was coated in high-build primer and worked to flawless perfection. Jamie then came in and painted everything in the same HOK paint as the exterior and buried it under layers of clear.
“The chassis was well taken care of, and the interior was just how I wanted it, so the time to start the bodywork and paint process was now upon us. My brother and I didn’t want to risk damaging or subjecting the immaculate chassis to overspray, so we devised a creation that would guard it from the next build phases. My brother, being a crafty woodworker, came over one weekend and whipped out a trick rolling wood stand to protect the body and bed. With the chassis safely tucked away, our gang went to town on the bodywork, and once the truck was straight as an arrow, Jamie with IIGW was called in to lay down more HOK hue.
“This is the point where an average build takes a sharp left turn. Anyone who knows me knows that I love bright, wild paintjobs. Jamie and I had been working on a rendering, and we were well on our way to bringing it to life. The truck was fully wet-sanded, we took a collective deep breath, and away we went. Over the course of a week, there were always three to five guys putting in 12-hour days of straight masking and taping. We’ve estimated that 250+ hours have been spent transforming the all-blue, monotone paint scheme to just solid graphics. Jamie then stepped up, grabbed his airbrush, and applied enough detail work to keep a pair of eyes busy for hours. With more time than he cares to count, Jamie wrapped up the airbrush work, which had me looking back in amazement thinking just how much Too Sloww was emerging into a truck beyond my wildest imaginations.
“With my personal deadline of debuting at West Coast Nationals ’10 nearing, the hours leading up to the show were evaporating fast. When it came time for the body and frame to be reintroduced, I called a few (12 or so) friends to help out. We enjoyed some pizza, knocked back a few cold ones, and eventually found time to get to lifting. Everything went on with minimal effort and no scratches were made in the immaculate paint—whew! The truck was shoved back into the garage, so I started laying out carpet and started the exciting task of wiring and plumbing. I had an idea of what kind of seats I wanted to complete the interior, so I called up my mother who worked her magic and stitched up her very first set of seats. They turned out perfect and I truly love the unique touches she gave to them. As with everything, we cut it close but the truck made its debut and took home Best of Show at WCN.
“It’s nice to enjoy the truck now that the it’s pretty much finished, and I look forward to showing it as much as I can over the next couple years. I want to thank John at Mini Truckin’ for his help making a dream come true. A big thank you goes to my brother Jason whom I lost to leukemia. You are my passenger for life as I always promised you over the years. Thank you to all of my friends who have helped over the years—without each and every one of you, Too Sloww would not be where it is today.”