Owner: Bobby Martins
Ride: '95 Toyota Pickup
Hometown: Hesperia, CA
Club: Severed Ties
When you hang around someone long enough, you begin to really get a feel for what that person is all about. Being friends with Bobby from Sadistic Iron Werks for a little under a decade has taught me a lot of things about trucks, life, and friendship. What started as a working relationship, soon turned into hate, and then eventually a bond of respect was formed, and ultimately a solid and unbreakable friendship. Over the years, I've learned that Bobby will do anything for his close friends. But after awhile, there comes a time when a person has to look out for Number One, and that time was now.
Bobby bought a '95 Toyota which he was going to just pre-run and mob the desert with, but after a quick look into shocks that were $1,200 a piece that idea quickly waned. For the cost of a "budget" pre-runner, he might as well just build a "budget" minitruck, right? Well, like all good projects, that's what this build started as, just a clean daily driver! But, being the owner of Sadistic Iron Werks, Bobby like the rest of us, couldn't just leave well enough alone. He began a frame-off restoration custom build that would occupy much of his free time over the course of two years. Every single bolt, rubber, line, bushing, and everything else was replaced. Being a fabricator by trade, the suspension and frame had to be tended to. Bobby laid the truck to the ground by using his usual uncommon approach, since he doesn't like to stick to the norm. So he got to work, and rather than Z-ing the frame up front, he built new control arm mounts, then redid the steering so he would have no trouble keeping his stock hood. He also 'dropped the cab mounts and channeled the floor for his body-drop, rather than do a regular stock-floor or traditional. And this was just the beginning.
After completely blowing apart the entire truck and building everything anew, Bobby figured he might as well powdercoat everything while it was apart already. Well, as soon as he got his badass frame and parts back from powdercoating, he began the slow and steady process of reassembly. Once everything was wired, plumbed, and driving, it was time to tear it all back down again for paint. A couple friends over at Image Collision soon turned a clean canvas into days of intense preparation for a show-winning paintjob that would surely get the attention of onlookers. And of course, it didn't stop there. Now that the exterior was smoothed, painted, and badass, well, Bobby would have been remiss if he hadn't tended to the interior in the same fashion.
Moving inside of the cab, Bobby still wanted to stick with that clean stock look he was after, but wanted an upgrade in sound and luxury. Working with Brandon from CFX, Bobby and I got down on the stereo system. Kicker was the drug of choice, so an arsenal of sound was put into a custom center console, speaker pods, and amp racks. They were built to fit flush around the Civic buckets. After all of the stereo was figured out, Jos from A Plus Upholstery came through big time. Having only a couple of days to debut the truck at Forbidden Fantasy, Jos had his work cut out for him. He sewed up and wrapped everything in a light- black leather and suede. Black Bentley carpet covered the floor in luxury, and the interior quickly looked like it was straight out of a high-class foreign car.
As you can see, this truck is the culmination of dedication and commitment that we minitruckers have to drive the cleanest rides around! Bobby stuck to his guns and even though he went a lot further on the build than originally anticipated, he still cruises the streets with his daily-driver-turned show vehicle. Here's positive proof that a cover truck can be built for under $15K. After debuting the Sadistic Toy at Forbidden and taking home Best Minitruck, Bobby was just glad that it all worked out. We wondered, will he ever do it again? "Absolutely! Over and over!"