This is it; I finally have my own column. I guess I've finally proved I'm worth my while; or maybe it's just because I'm bigger than Mike. I know you're all very excited for me. Allow me to tell you what mini-truckin' means to me and about who I am as a mini-trucker. Anyone reading this that knows me also knows I'm about as long winded as Hurricane Katrina.
I started reading MT back in '92-'93, I don't know exactly when. My parents were anti-anything-automotive-that's-cool. My Mini Truckin's were not put in a shoe box for me to open 30 years later with a slew of priceless baseball cards. They were all thrown out as they started to take over the house-and not by me, of course. There was a truck club or two where I lived in La Verne, CA. The two clubs were Independent Illusions and Local Finesse. A couple of the members of these clubs went to my high school and owned badass custom rides for their day.
I met a guy named Steve Padilla, who was in Independent Illusions, that had a frenched and angled license plate box in his tailgate, which was actually installed at Sir Michael's. I had to explain to my friends that the box was crooked on purpose-they didn't understand. He had air shocks in the rear that you had to fill with an airtank that had no compressors, nor a CO2 bottle. You had to fill the bottle up at the gas station and had to release the air with a Shraeder valve in the cab-dopest thing ever at the time. It rolled on the sickest 15-inch polished and painted wheels. This was my first friend that was die-hard in the mini-truck scene. My friend Scott Sax was the first buddy I had to own a body dropped truck. The rear was shaved shut and he was wrecking shop in the local scene. My friend Mike Nittel was my first buddy to own a truck with cut rockers. His Hardbody's license plate was the CA vehicle code for too low (VC24008). It was also complete with the pimp daddy garden package (ball valves) setup, which he could flip faster than anyone.
I was living the life; I had my Isuzu p'up with 15-inch KMC Hammers, ground effects, and more lighting than Las Vegas Blvd. I had a lot to learn and these were the people to show me. For a year or two I got on the wrong path with a car (an Acura Integra), but it was built mini-truck style. After I crashed that, which I assume was fate, I started the quest for what would be my new mini. Through a lot of discussion with my mom, she convinced me to get an SUV due to the fact that extra cargo area for passengers would be a beneficial idea. I can't tell you how long that lasted, as the rear cargo area became chock full of batteries and hydraulics. After a while the itch got me even more-the non-frame laying stance didn't help either-and the decision was made to air bag and body drop it on 18-inch wheels. There were one or two body-dropped Hardbodies on 18's. This meant that you had to tub your firewall, which was practically unheard of at the time.
While at the open house of a rim company that my buddy Jason Woods invited me to, we were handed a flyer with prices of wheels on it. On the last page it said "blowout on blems." This got us curious, as the prices were beyond dirt cheap. We were led to what must have been a quarter mile of pallets stacked with wheels. We tried to find the imperfections on the wheels, but fifty percent of the wheels seemed to be flawless. So away we dug through chrome and silver. As always my buddy Jason looks at me and says, "Hey man, why don't you put twenties on the back?" Jason has a thing for pumping up people on doing crazy things on their ride when in fact he would never do it himself. There was maybe one body-dropped mini at the time with this combo that I had seen. A phone call was made to check out the rear door jam situation. The body guy we were talking to said he "may" be able to redo the door jams. Not knowing as many people as we know now, the decision was definitely difficult, as it took all of two minutes to say, "Screw it; grab those twenties." Away I went with my new wheels and $540 out of my pocket. So the rear door jams were cut out and the back half of the frame was redone. We used bungee cords to hold the rear door shut at the time. The motor stuck out of the hood a mere 5-inches, as lowering the motor and finding a new oil pan weren't even thoughts at the time. It was all about being low with the biggest wheels possible and then making it work later.
Being a mini trucker is a lifestyle that I live by. I couldn't be happier to work with someone that shares the exact same interest, style, views, and commitments. It's so bad between us that we actually have to check with each other on what we're wearing to make sure we aren't matching.
This is my life, and this is why I'm a mini-trucker. Now go ruin those rockers!