Owner: Ron Sino-Cruz
Ride: 1996 Toyota Tacoma X-Cab
Hometown: Walnut, CA
Club: Team Supastar
"This truck is presentable but far from complete," says its owner, Ron Sino-Cruz, a longtime builder of import cars and even longer follower of the custom-truck scene. "I’ve been into this since I was a kid. I read Truckin’ magazine before Mini Truckin’ was even around. Putting together a custom mini has always been a dream for me."
Since Ron’s interest lies in a completely different custom scene, he was subjected to endless offerings of criticism from those around him while building his Tacoma. "I come from the import tuner crowd, so minitrucks are way out of my circle. Throughout the build, all of my friends were putting their two cents in on what I 'needed’ to do." So to finally put his 20-year plan in motion, Ron started laying out his plans to the guys at iDesigns body and paint. "No matter how ridiculous my ideas were, they listened and were willing to make each one a reality."
Ron had first started the suspension work on his truck in his backyard, but he just couldn’t straighten out a few bugs in the air ride and electrical systems. With the truck in the care of trained professionals, its condition rapidly improved, and to Ron’s surprise the Toyota looked like it would be close to being presentable for an upcoming, special occasion. "I tried to have this truck ready to debut at a local show to commemorate me and my wife’s one-year wedding anniversary. I thought it would help before I asked permission to start on another project."
Ever wondered what the offspring of a tuner and a streamlined styled minitruck would look like? Well, Ron’s Toyota is pretty much what we’d expect. "Even though a lot of the design cues came from the past and were considered outdated to the naysayers, I stuck to the classic styles I saw when I was growing up."
Now that’s logic you just can’t argue with.