Owner: Chad Cooper
Ride: '92 Toyota Mini
Hometown: Kelseyville, California
Club: Forbidden Fantasy
If you pick up the Dec. '07 issue of Mini Truckin' and flip towards the back of the magazine, you'll see my past column entitled, "Built Not Bought." Similarly, the owner of this truck not only felt just like I did about the subject, he even decided to show people up about it. Chad Cooper picked up his '92 Toyota a few years back, after the truck had already been a feature. Even though Chad enjoyed cruising around in his truck, he was definitely getting sick and tired of people making comments about the previous achievements of his truck. Instead of griping, he did something about it.
What he did was go buck-wild on the truck. Every nut and bolt of this truck has been gone through and redone. The truck obviously had a great start. All Chad did was finish it the way he thought it should be. Along with his good friend, Dan Green from Greenbilt Customs, they ripped into this truck as far as they could. The two started by tearing out the old suspension and completely redoing it. Next, new racks were built, including a rack to hold the solenoids and a Street Charger under the bed. Once this was accomplished, they moved on to the body. Things that had been shaved were touched up, while things that hadn't been shaved were. Also, they added a new Grant Kustoms bumper to bring a new flair to the front end.
The interior of the truck was no different; everything was changed, including the stereo system. Power windows were added, so the cranks and door handles were removed from the door panels. With the outside looking pimp and the inside matching, they moved on to the engine bay. The entire cooling system was redone; all new brakes and hardware were also added. What Chad now had was a truck he could call his own. Chad couldn't have done this without the help of people like Dan Green, Rudy Herrera, Dave Prater, and Dino Rocciola. When it came down to it, they were ready to help get Chad's truck out on the circuit again and ready to do some damage.