How does a late-model pickup turn into a blast from decades past with a style derived from the 1950's? That question is answered in this 1996 Chevy S-10 built by Tom McWeeney from Lakewood, California. His truck is a mix of new school curves and old school cool. His XXX Sled has a style all it's own.

   Riding low was a main part of 50's style. In this case, Tom's truck  is riding as low or lower than most vehicles of our era. It was body dropped 3-inches by the guys at GO EZ Customs. Art installed the air bags and 6-link by KP Components. Jeremy performed the body drop and all of the necessary framework. Jeremy also was tapped to reinforce the bed sides by welding steel strips from the back of the cab to the back of the bed. The suspension setup consists of parts including DJM 2-inch drop spindles, ViAir compressors, 15-gallon air tank, and Toxic shocks. The custom rear cross member was designed in order to coincide with the XXX theme of the truck.

   The body of Tom's "sled" has to be clean and clear of all factory annoyances that would be in the way of his trucks 50's flair.  Eric and Terry at Color Factor did the bodywork. They completed the uni-body that was started with the reinforcing that Jeremy at GO EZ had done. They also shaved the door handles, cab seams, tail lights, tailgate handle, third brake light and molded in the Sir Michaels roll pan. The roll pan is a one-off pan with chrome plates behind the flames. The front end received a makeover with a 2000 GMC Envoy front clip. Tom also used a '53 Chevy hood emblem for a 50’s style floating grill effect. The custom paint is House of Kolor planet green basecoat with heavy green pearl. The white scallop base is also House of Kolor paint with heavy abalone metal flake and lemon yellow pin striping by Steve Deman of Color Kings. The pin striping on the tailgate and the hood are done by the one and only T Mac of Kustoms Inc. That's Tom's alter ego. He actually had just completed a re-work of the pin striping the day before the shoot. The bed was fitted with 1/8-inch fine plywood and STS Performance wheel tubs. Jessie from Line-X sprayed the white Line-X coating. Tom then went over it with House of Kolor snow pearl white and then clear coated the whole bed to bring some 'bling' to the bed liner. The wheels are Colorado Custom Sugar City wheels with 18-inch in front and 20-inch in the rear. They are wrapped in Nitto NT555 225/35 front and 275/35 on the rear.

   The cab of this truck is definitely 50's style from top to bottom.  Except a few items that enthusiasts of our time cannot roll without. It starts with a '56 Chevy steering wheel color matched to the truck. A Bench seat out of a '94 Toyota to replicate the big bench seats that old cars all had. The interior was covered in Enduratex pearl white vinyl material with green piping. The door panels, seat, and gauge cover were accented with little chrome "trucker girls" Kustoms Inc smoothed out and painted the dash, door panels, and back wall panel. Then Blake Weaver of paint by Blake hooked up the Jenna Jameson pin up style airbrushing on the back wall and dash. The audio system is all Ultra Linear equipment with 1600 and 1200 watt amplifiers powering the two 12-inch subwoofers in a custom box by Steve Platt at Plattinum Audio with Line-X on the inside of the box for deeper bass. Steve then replaced all stock door and dash speakers with Ultra Linear products. The dash holds a JVC CD/DVD player and a 10-inch monitor. The monitor and amplifiers were also installed by Plattinum Audio.

   The engine was upgraded with parts from STS Performance including an air intake and power pulleys. Tom also made and pin striped some panels to accent the compartment.