At age 30, Alan Sensing can trace the beginnings of his automotive enthusiasm back more than half his life to middle school, which was when he first began noticing custom rides. A modified '96 Ranger got him started in the hobby, but the desire for a head-turning magazine-quality custom truck got stronger every year. Currently as the body shop manager for Quality Collision in Forest Park, Georgia, Alan decided to make his dream a reality. And it happened in an instant!

Dime Piece
Owner: Seth Prestidge
Ride: '99 GMC Sonoma
Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA
Club: Acrophobic Images

Off The Beaten Path
Gold Rush Car Show is located in what's known as the City of Gold. What started out as a small car show back in the '80s, and has turned into a huge success. The show is put on once a year, during the same weekend as the Oroville, California, Feather Fiesta days (May 10th). A huge parade and many events go on at the same time. All the money raised goes to a local non-profit organization to help with the community. Everyone involved happily donates his or her time to make this an event worth coming back to. More than 250 trophies were awarded to the judges' favorite picks.

Time to head back to the dirty, dirty. It's been a couple of years since I've been down to the good ol' dirty South, but man I miss it! Many of my closest friends from out of state reside in the few states surrounding the area, and having won Show of the Year, what better excuse to go out and stretch my legs, than check out one of Mississippi's biggest and best shows?

For the past few years in the world of minitruckin', there has been an ongoing battle between two (or possibly three, however you look at it) different groups: those who believe in building a truck yourself, and others who have no problem with paying for someone else to build their truck, or those who buy a completed truck. Each side slams the other side with insults and opinions, yet nobody's going anywhere.

Relaxed Atmosphere. Nothing else needs to be written, as this describes the type of show. The entire day went off without a hitch, except the mad riots that broke out when the 50-cent tacos sold out, but more on that later. From cover trucks to future cover trucks, the vehicles that lined the rows were exceptional, to say the least. The host club, Relaxed Atmosphere, is known for high quality rides; so delivering an average show just isn't in their cards. Not only were there top-quality trucks on hand, but also the host location, K&N Engineering, brought out its own array of sponsored vehicles, including full-blown dragsters and off-road trucks. Kinetic Batteries also didn't disappoint us, bringing out some impressive vehicles showcasing its products. Tons of vendors were on hand to sell clothing and hand out stickers.

Building a truck usually includes a suspension mod, whether in the form of a static-drop or with airbags, for a ground-scraping stance. When we decided to lower our '07 Chevy Colorado Crew Cab, we took the moderate approach to bring the truck closer to Earth. We contacted Belltech and told them we wanted our truck as low as possible but with a better than factory ride. We were told that this could be achieved rather easily by using Belltech suspension components. So, to bring the Colorado down a total of 5 inches in the front, Belltech's 2-inch drop ball joints were used with its 3-inch adjustable coilovers. In the rear, all that was needed was Belltech's 3-inch lowering leaf springs with a set of performance shocks-valved specifically for the Colorado.