OWNER: Kakishita Yoshiaki...
OWNER: Kakishita Yoshiaki
TRUCK NAME: Foreign X Change
PAINTERS: Doug Starbuck: Starside Design
MODEL: '93 Mazda B2600i
MAGAZINE: MT Cover December 2000
What Top 10 paint story would be complete without an insanely clean, single color paintjob, and of course, Doug Starbuck? Doug was enlisted by MIC to help build one of the world's cleanest, yet supper-modded minitrucks of its time.
The list of modifications is too extensive to list, but the truck made it into the paint hall of fame because of MIC's and Starbuck's ability to go above and beyond. The bodywork is flawless, and the House of Kolor's Purple Passion looks as smooth as glass. Not only is the exterior smoothed to perfection, but Doug also painted the entire bed-underneath-and gave the same three-stage treatment of purple to the smoothed chassis.
This history-making Mazda built a bridge between two countries, and not only took Best of Show at Cal Truck Jam, USA, but once it was shipped back to the owner in Japan, it made its way onto the cover of the first Truck Trends magazine which helped to shape a whole new truck scene in Japan.
OWNER: Robbie Kay TRUCK...
OWNER: Robbie Kay
TRUCK NAME: West Coast Deluxe
PAINTERS: Pete "Hot Dog" Finlan: Hot Dog Designs
MODEL: '94 Mitsubishi Mighty Max
MAGAZINE: MT Cover November 2001
This Brand-X built Mitsu might surprise some that it made it into the Top 10, because not many people actually got to see this immaculate Mitsu in person. Yes, it's beautiful in pictures, but the Pete Finlan paintjob is just something that needs to be seen to believe. Every square inch of this truck was cared for as if Brain Jendro, the builder and owner of Brand X Customs, was the truck's owner, himself. The four year build took time and patience between the long distance relationship of the owner and the builder, and the constant changes that made their way into the game plan. But hey, that's what minitruckin' is all about, right? Constantly pushing the limits so the mods that are done one year might just need to be redone the next.
The only sad thing about this Mitsu is that not long after it was delivered to Robbie, in North Carolina, it was taken to a couple shows and then seems like it fell off of the face of the earth. This truck would have made a much bigger splash in the scene, had it stuck around a little longer. If anyone knows of the whereabouts of this truck, please email us at mini.truckin@sourceinterlink.com. And, that goes for all of the trucks featured in this story, too.
OWNER: Mike Finnegan TRUCK...
OWNER: Mike Finnegan
TRUCK NAME: Burnt Taco
PAINTERS: Frank Rechlin at Platinum Konceptz
MODEL: '97 Toyota Tacoma
MAGAZINE: MT Cover January 2002
Burnt Taco is a truck to remember, not because of the bright Prosche Rivera Blue Paint, or Finnegan's die-hard minitrucker spirit; but because this truck set out to accomplish one goal and ended up doing so much more. Finnegan recalled the truck's build: "The paintjob started out as a simple repair job: to fix a spot on the hood where the heat from the turbocharged 4 banger had blistered the paint. Frank Rechlin offered to repair the damage with a simple tribal graphic scheme to cover up that spot. A couple of days after I delivered the truck to him, he asked if he could do something a little different to my truck. He wasn't real specific, but asked if I could scrape up some cash and a truck load of House of Kolor paint. Frank went completely insane with the paintjob. He actually painted one side of the truck twice because he wasn't happy with how it looked. He worked on my truck for months, and never told me exactly what he was up to, he only asked me if I was alright with his color selections. When I finally saw the completed paintjob I was floored. He put 72 different colors in the paint-job without it looking like HOK puked on my truck. The driver's side is ugly to some people-and I think that's why I like it so much. The passenger side makes the truck look fast, so of course, I love that side as well."
OWNER: Charles "The Kid"...
OWNER: Charles "The Kid" Armstrong
TRUCK NAME: Time Machine
PAINTERS: Auto Art by The Kid: Charles Armstrong, Chris Brankel, Shane Hill, and Brad Houk
MODEL: '92 Toyota
MAGAZINE: MT Cover January 2003
Charles Armstrong owns a reputable paint shop and built this truck himself, with the help from his crew, so what better way to learn about the truck and "The Kid's" inspiration than straight from the source? Charles told us that Wrapped With Envy was probably the first minitruck paintjob that he took notice of. He also mentioned that Kal Koncepts and Air Syndicate did a lot of badass paintjobs and inspired a lot of other airbrush artists.
Charles pretty much named many of our Top 10 paintjobs such as, "Bad to the Bone, I remember looking at that paintjob and drooling. Last Look, definitely was one of the best paintjobs ever. Side Show, the paintjob that was different on each side, was really badass too. So hard to choose a favorite."
As far as the Time Machine goes, Charles wanted to do a paintjob that was in your face, but different. Yes, it has wild tribal style stripes, but he went with colors that were unique. The Kid had almost 2 miles of tape and about 700 hours painting the Time Machine. When he did the 3-D work on the tonnaeu cover, there wasn't anything like it. None of the image sticks up above the surface of the tonnaeu. He used a sandblaster to achieve this, something he kept secret for a few years. Charles stated, "I have to say the best thing about my paintjob is how many people I have met because of it. It's an honor to have people come up to me at shows and tell me that my truck, and more importantly, my paintjob inspired them with their ride. I hope crazy, well executed, colorful paintjobs are always around. Thanks for including me in your Top 10 Paintjobs. It's an honor, and very much appreciated."
OWNER: Brian Hale TRUCK...
OWNER: Brian Hale
TRUCK NAME: Flakenstein
PAINTERS: Jared Crutchfield of Classic Traditions
MODEL: '00 Chevy S-10
Brian Hale, from sunny SoCal, always admired the old '50s and '60s customs. When he was building his version of the perfect minitruck, that's the route he took. As soon as he teamed up with Jared Crutchfield and his crew at Classic Traditions Kustom Paintshop, in Garden Grove, it was all downhill from there.
When they started laying out the amazing candy and flake paintjob, Jared began with a House of Kolor Kandy Apple Red over a Silver basecoat. Then, the flames were laid out by using Pagan Gold Kandy and a Zenith Gold base with a Yellow-Lime Chameleon metal flake. The late '50's style hot-rod flames were always pinstriped in white, and so the pinstripe on Brian's truck was done in the same fashion; a white hand stripe, courtesy of Bob Iverson. The cab's rear pillars were airbrushed by Dan Schultz, and feature 1950's style pinup girls.
The interior was also done with the same paint colors to match the outside. Classic Traditions did all of the paintwork on the interior by using the same colors, and they even stuck with the metal flake to finish it off perfectly. Being one of the first minitrucks to truly pull off an old-skool feel for his dime, Hale's truck brought back a popular style that can stick around for years to come.