Most custom shop owners
wake up, get dressed, and go to their shop. These three things are the basic
beginnings of their work day. Bobby Martins from Hesperia, California is the
owner of Sadistic Iron Werks. He starts his day by getting up, getting dressed,
and going to work, at Toyota. He works as a Toyota technician by day and
fabricator at night and weekends. This choice of work allows him to know everything
there is about the mechanical aspects and custom potential of all types of
vehicles. Since he works at Toyota, he chose to build this 1995 Toyota pickup.
Bobby took the entire truck apart to swap every mechanical part
that wasn't going to be permanently removed with a factory Toyota replacement.
Bobby decided to do a
frame-off build so that he could have the entire truck built his way. Since he
could perform most of the modifications himself, Bobby began weighing his
options once the truck was pulled completely apart. He decided against the
common option of Z-ing the frame in the front and went with a full custom built
setup. He then heavily modified the stock frame by removing some and replacing
it with 2x3-inch box tubing. The rear end became home to a custom Sadistic Iron
Werks 4-link with Slam Specialties 2600 air bags on the bars. After the
fabrication was completed, Bobby had the frame fully powdercoated before
reassembly. The brakes were treated cross-drill and slotted rotors while the
rear was converted to disc brakes as well. The Volkswagen shocks, 20-gallon
aluminum fuel cell, Air Zenith compressors, and Mac valves were all installed to finish off the completed
frame. The truck rolls on 20x7.5-inch Foose Speedster wheels and Nitto NT 555
tires.
Given that the truck was a '95 model, the body had almost 10
years of wear and tear when Bobby started the major work on it. He began by
getting rid of many factory accessories and other items he no longer needed. The
body was channeled to the pinch molding instead of using the more common route
of raising the entire floor. He started to weld up the holes that were once
occupied by the antenna, gas door, bed guards, third brake light, and tailgate
handle. He even went as far as closing up the tailgate center indention, and cab
seams. A roll pan was welded in place of the rear bumper and the taillights were
replaced with clear versions. The front end consists of a 4Runner core support,
headlights, grille, and a Grant Kustoms one-off
bumper that screams custom. The flame separated, two-tone paint was laid down at
Image Collision Center in Barstow, California using DuPont 2005 Tacoma Blue, Infinity Pearl White, and Jolly
Rancher Apple Green were custom-mixed to match the candy. The paint was sprayed
inside and out including the firewall and wheel tubs. The bed floor and
underside of the bed received a coat of Line-X spray on bed liner from
Huntington Beach Line-X.
A fully custom interior is the only kind of interior that would
make sense with the attention to detail that Bobby paid the rest of his truck.
The dash was painted to match and the factory seat has been replaced with bucket
seats out of a Honda Civic. The rest of the interior was designed with a luxury
Lexus interior in mind so that it remained functional and clean. The headliner
was covered in black suede with leather and suede being applied to the center
console, seats, and all leather door panels. The floor was covered in
100-percent wool Bentley carpet for another luxury touch. All of this was
accomplished by José at A Plus Upholstery in Hesperia, California. The stock
head unit was tossed out and replaced with an Eclipse AVN unit that includes DVD
and Navigation. The audio system is all Kicker equipment including Kicker 6.5s
speakers, 4-inch center channel, ZX350 4-channel amplifier, Two 8-inch Comp VR subs,
and a ZX400 mono amplifier. Brandon from CFX, built custom-door pods and amp racks,
while Bobby custom-built a center console and subwoofer box, with the help of
his good friend Mike Alexander.
This Toyota is no slacker in the performance department. Stage 1 Toyota Racing Development
cams were installed along with a custom intake Bobby built and LC Engineering header.
Bobby also built his own Sadistic Iron Werks muffler.
Special thanks to his wife Sarah Martins for her support of his
love for trucks, his son Marciano, Mike Alexander, Chad Lucas, Severed Ties
G-Town, Jesse, Danny, Image Collision, Kicker, Marcel Venable and Tom McWeeney at Huntington Beach Line-X, Jose at A Plus Upholstery, Nitto Tire, Air Zenith, MHT wheels, LCE,
and Precision Powdercoating.