Owner: Gilbert Fuentes
Ride: '02 Toyota Tacoma
Hometown: Fresno, Ca
When I first laid eyes on Gilbert's '02 Toyota Tacoma, I immediately knew I wanted to shoot his truck for the magazine. Everybody has different opinions on what they like and what they don't like. To me, this truck is what minitrucking is all about. It has clean body lines, nice wheels that are proportional to the truck, and it lays very nice-even without a body-drop. The interior is immaculate and so is the engine compartment-you get the feeling you could eat off of it. Another thing I noticed about this truck is it's accessorized very nicely. There's nothing over board, and it's just right in my opinion.
I don't know Gilbert, but he seems like a down-to-earth kind of guy. Every time I've seen Gilbert at a show, he's always in the company of his family. He seems like your average run- of-the-mill guy who's really into minitrucks. When I look at his truck, I think he nailed it right on the head with this one. It's the perfect show truck. We always get a lot of emails about the regular guy, who works a hard job, and then builds a minitruck to take to shows and enjoy the weekend. Well, to me, this is that truck and Gilbert is that guy. His truck is exceptional and Gilbert has to be one of the nicest guys I've met in this sport.
Gilbert didn't leave a corner of this truck untouched. A lot of the work on this truck was done by Gilbert, including the stereo system. We know he will continue to enjoy his truck as much as we'll continue to enjoy seeing it at shows. At press time, Gilbert was petitioning for the SoCal chapter of Relaxed Atmosphere and we know he'll fit in just fine.