Article and Photography by:
Bryan Fross
Model: Darlene Melendez

   Building a vehicle to showcase your business can begin as a simple task with only a few ideas to toss around. Most projects start out this way, but some projects take that large leap and turn into something that is much more than the original plan. Justin Bender from La Habra, California owns this 2004 GMC Sierra 1550 Extended Cab which began as a project truck for Diamond Liners, his families business. After going through a time when it was lifted in the air on big off-road tires, Justin decided to bring his truck a little lower to the concrete and add a lot more to it than originally planned. The transformation went from clean looking GMC truck, to an all around hooked up show vehicle with plenty of changes worth catching a glimpse of.

 

   Bringing it down from it's previous lifted position was a task that Justin left to B&D Alignment in Lakewood, California. They removed the old suspension, and began by lowering the truck using DJM suspension and shocks. Justin's truck was going to be carrying some extra weight in the near future, so he opted for Air Lift air bags that receive their air pressure from an Oasis air compressor. This gives his truck an adjustable but aggressive street stance which still allows it to ride nicely on SoCal roads. Filling the wheel wells and adding  is a set of 22-inch KMC Fargo wheels wrapped in Toyo Tires.

 

   The previous look on the body of Justin's Sierra was a simple-yet-effective vinyl graphic scheme to draw some attention to his truck and the family business. This current look screams "look at me" in a much larger fashion. Precision Grilles created a grille for the front of the GMC that makes it stand out from most others. An upper and lower grille insert really stylize the mostly stock front end. Behind the grille is a set of PIAA fog lamps to light up anything in front of Justin when the sun goes down. Then the Goodmark Industries Cowl Hood comes into focus with a cowl that either makes you think he has some power under the hood or that he is trying to fool you into believing his truck has some extra muscle. More on that subject later. Some other goodies on the exterior of Justin's truck include Street Scene mirrors, PIAA wiper blades, an A.R.E. tonneau cover, and Llumar UV Shield tint to darken all of the windows. The paint was sprayed at Merzees in Santa Fe Springs, California. They used ALSA paint for the base and graphics colors. They added orange tribal graphics and wispy style effects in the lower silver portion of the truck.

 

   On the road, Justin has a better entertainment system than most people have in their home. After getting the interior upgraded at Radi's custom upholstery, Justin took his truck over to Modern Audio in La Habra, California. First, the floor, doors, and other easily exposed sheet metal areas were covered in Dynamat to reduce vibrations that would have been caused by the audio system that Justin's ride was about to receive. Modern Audio created several pieces for the interior and bed of Justin's GMC to house audio/video equipment. There are three Cutting Edge 12-inch subwoofers in the cab, three more 12-inch subwoofers in the bed, and two 15-inch subwoofers in the bed. The subwoofers and components are powered by a total of eight amplifiers pushing out more than 12,000 watts. Optima Batteries were also installed to help handle the power load. There are six monitors in the cab including two in the visors, two in the headrests, an in dash monitor, and a 15-inch flip down. The dash and other interior pieces were painted by Merzees. In the bed, a 32-inch TV resides close to the cab and Justin uses a hitch mounted Freedom Grill to allow for great tailgate parties. Diamond Liners took what Modern Audio fabricated and finished the speaker boxes up by covering them with bed liner material making them completely air tight.

   Under the hood, Justin has made a few nice additions to make his truck more of a beast than it was from the factory. A Procharger supercharger gives it a major power upgrade along with a Magna Flow exhaust. A few pieces were removed and color-matched to the blue that covers the upper portion of the Sierra.