It's funny how life can throw you a curveball every now and then. Take Sean Whitehead, for example. Back in high school, he picked up this '92 Mazda B2200 to cruise around in and enjoy. He knew right off the bat that he wanted to build it to be a cool truck, and it was going to be low and red; those two things would stay constant throughout the next 10 years of ownership. But somewhere along the way he decided two things: He was going to build custom trucks, and he was going to become a certified chef. As it turns out, one of those things would have to give. We're pretty sure you can guess which one.
2002 rolls around, and Sean decides that it's time to park the Mazda and get some work done on his own, hacking into the truck in his garage with his own tools. But that chef job kept getting in the way, never leaving him enough time to work on his real love—the truck. The next few years were a struggle in that respect. Sometimes he'd have time to work on the Mazda, sometimes it was working on his other projects, and other times it was just life itself getting in the way. Eventually, he realized that it wasn't fair to anyone to split his passion between trucks and cooking, so he gave up the certified chef gig, picked up a paint gun, and started working at Jetstream Custom Auto to learn how to do body and paint work.
That's quite the switch for anyone to make, and with his hands on custom cars every day of the week, the itch to get his Mazda done was getting harder and harder not to scratch. After learning the ins and outs of the autobody biz, it was time for him to strike out on his own and start his own company. That's when he began Punisher Paint, a shop that now specializes in custom paint and high-end restorations.
With room to breathe on his own, Sean decided it was time to get back to the Mazda and tore into it with a fever that most people don't see without catching the bird flu. This is when all of the real work was done, including those cool custom touches like the locking storage compartment built into the bed or the trick one-off bumper designed to mimic those found on the Toyota 4Runner. After block-sanding the truck to flat perfection, it was time to finally lay down that DuPont Inferno Red Crystal Effect paint that finishes off the truck in a way that makes all 10 years of waiting worth it.
In the time that Sean has owned the truck, he's graduated high school, changed careers, got married, and had a child, all while the image of a low and red Mazda danced in his head. Since it was completed, he's been putting the miles on like crazy (or kilometers, as they say up north), enjoying the truck for the perfect minitruck example that it is today. It really is a game-changing Mazda, and it turns out that like fine wine, sometimes it takes 10 years to become perfect.
Owner: Sean Whitehead
Ride: 1992 Mazda B2200
Hometown: Victoria, B.C., Canada
The Lowdown
Rolling Attire
Wheels: 18-inch chrome Incubus alloys
Tires: 215/35/ZR18 Nexen
Chassis Modifications
Suspension (front): 'Bags, relocated shocks, flipped ball joints
Suspension (rear): 'Bags mounted over the axle, triangulated four-link
Control Arms: Stock
Shocks: Nitro
Compressor(s): Two Firestone
Air/hydro Accessories: Three 3/8-inch SMC electric gauges, 8-gallon tank, SMC water trap, SMC check valves
Frame Mods: 7-inch step notch, custom tube notch bridge, driveshaft hoop crossmember with four-link mounts
Misc.: Frame cleaned and painted gloss black
Performed By: Owner
Body Modifications
Shaved: Door handles, locks, emblems, mirrors, tailgate, upper bodyline, wiper cowl, rain gutters, corner lights, taillights, antenna, bed and cab seams
Bodydrop: 2 3/4 inches
Body Mods: Custom front bumper based on a Toyota 4Runner, sectioned grille with Ford F-150 billet insert, Ford Ranger headlights, custom fiberglass cowl hood with smoothed underside, 4WD fenders, smooth tailgate skin, roll pan with angled French license plate box, sliding ragtop, 1/8-inch angled rockers, smoothed B-pillars, smoothed cab wall, smoothed firewall with capped trailer tubs, full sheetmetal bed with hidden storage compartment and hinged door, chopper gas cap, custom fiberglass bed flares, flush-mounted '92 Cadillac taillights, tapering lower bodyline
Performed By: Owner
Paint
Brand & Colors: DuPont Inferno Red Crystal Effect
Performed By: Owner
Interior
Seats: '92 Honda Civic Si wrapped in tan and cream vinyl
Dash: Shaved and wrapped in cream vinyl; paint-matched, custom-molded skull insert
Gauges: APC white face
Misc.: Custom armrests, speaker pods, and console/sub box, rear wall and door panels wrapped in cream vinyl, tan vinyl headliner
Performed By: Owner and Jay Stoch
Stereo
Head Unit: Kenwood
Mids & Highs: Kenwood Excelon
Subwoofers: 8-inch Alpine Type R
Amplifiers: Kenwood Excelon
Performed By: Owner
Engine/Performance
Engine: 2.2L ported and polished
Intake: Modified Acura Integra intake
Header/exhaust: Pacesetter header
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Detail Work: Motor painted gunmetal with silver block, hidden wires, rerouted lines
Performed By: Owner
Special Thanks From Owner
"Thanks to my mom for putting up with the noise, dust, and stink of building 80 percent of my truck 10 years ago in her garage, Jason Stoch for thrashing with me back in the day and presently, my wife Virginia for encouraging me to get out to the shop and putting up with a car-crazy husband, my baby girl Piper, who surely will be building customs with her dad one day."