Sheetmetal Sculpture

Vineyards in the Napa Valley and Sonoma County regions of Northern California produce varietal wines that rival the best France has to offer. A town nestled between Napa and Vallejo, American Canyon is home to a burgeoning street-rod shop called Pacific Coast Customs (PCC).

Pacific Coast Customs' founder is 21-year-young Robbie Azevedo. Robbie grew up in a car family. His parents' business is Pacific Auto Salvage, a well-respected "green" salvage yard in American Canyon that has been in business since 1957. As one could imagine, Robbie's love of all things automotive was instilled at a young age and has been nurtured along ever since. Over the years, he has learned metal fabrication and welding skills, and has apprenticed with notable professional metalworking maestros. He has also taken art classes, winning outstanding art awards along the way. Since he graduated Napa High School in 2002 with High Honors, his teachers expected he'd one day become a doctor or lawyer. Indeed, he's an accomplished surgeon, albeit with metal. He loves the creative process of working with his hands and being an automotive customizer, creator, and fabricator.

At age 19, Robbie began building a stunning streetrod from a '48 Suburban panel delivery. He dubbed the build Project Impression. Given the considerable amount of metal surgery and artistic wizardry Robbie has realized in the vehicle, the truck is aptly named. When you consider he first envisioned the project as a youngster, and all the work was done in the PCC shop, we were downright astonished. We decided we'd best convey the fabricating and creative expertise of PCC by featuring Project Impression in its bare metal form. Please remember that some of the technical details of the project may change upon its completion. Don't worry--we'll provide another article when the time comes.

Though the '48 Impression won't be fully ripe until it drives out of the upholstery shop, CUSTOM CLASSIC TRUCKS fans can readily see that Robbie's fabricating skills are already bearing fruit. In other words, Project Impression, when completed this summer, should be of a fine vintage and will make a lasting impression on automotive connoisseurs everywhere--even in France. We imagine there'll be many more custom vehicles emerging from Pacific Coast Customs' shop for years to come.