During the years, I have developed what some may call a fetish. While some people may get their kicks dressing pet monkeys in super-stretchy rubber clothes and others still might enjoy jumping out of perfectly good aircraft wearing nothing but a smile, I've always enjoyed the aspects of various types of custom suspensions. In fact, suspensions are what first hooked me into the pastime of mini-truckin' in the first place.
You see, I was the very first person that I knew of in 1989 to have an air-adjustable suspension on a mini-truck. Back then, if your truck's leaf-spring perches touched ground when you went over a speed bump, everyone freaked the hell out. I can still remember the night I brought my freshly airshock-eqipped Toyota home to show my mom and dad. They didn't think much of it until I brought them to the front door of our house in Alta Loma, California, and had them stand there while I got in my truck and ran up the street just out of their line of site. About a minute later, I had aired the truck down and came screaming down the street while shooting a huge 20-foot-long spark shower out the back of the truck. What did my parents do? Well, my mom, God rest her soul, just about had her lower jaw fall from her face onto the sidewalk. And my Dad? I'm almost positive that I saw him flinch towards the truck as it slid down the street as if to help me get it to stop. I think that he must have believed that the tranny in the truck had somehow fallen out and that was what was making all of those sparks.
When I dragged the Toyota back to the parking area in front of the house, they realized that the spark show I was gleefully creating was exactly what I was trying to show them. Were they impressed? Well, I honestly don't think so. But was I impressed? Hell yeah I was! From that point on, I've driven almost nothing but lowered vehicles and can't see myself driving anything else for a long time to come. These days, however, it takes a whole lot more than dragging your leaf-spring perches for anyone to even take their attention away from their daily routine to even notice you. And that's why we work our asses off here at Mini Truckin' to bring you the most cutting-edge tech and how-tos you've ever read in a custom truck magazine.
This month, we're going to pull the asphalt out from under your feet yet again with a special issue devoted to the art form know as custom-built adjustable suspension. We'll have the first in a series of buildup articles on our joint effort with Sport Truck and Nissan Motors that will show how to slam the living bejezzus out of a Nissan Frontier that came with a Desert Runner 4x4 chassis. We'll also clue you in on the ins and outs of air compressors and how to determine the right compressor for the truck you actually own. Further into this issue, you'll get to see the birth of a newly lowered Tacoma using a basic bolt-on system, and we'll top it all off with a healthy dose of the custom truck show scene with four heavy-hitting events from across the country. Now, if that's not enough for you, guess what? We have even more rollin' this month as we take a close look at Kevin Khuenzie's long-awaited, show-stealing Toyota, and other customs from all over that are sure to make you run at full speed to your garage and get your butt in gear on your own project. So, what are you waiting for? Start flipping pages. Until next month, be careful not to drag near accelerants of any kind. Only you can prevent forest fires! L8R!