Years passed before SRC modified the Chevy's exterior, with the exception of stretching the cab for comfort. Rik did a massive amount of fabricating to get all the exterior panels exactly the way he wanted them. He built the tilt-forward hood and hood sides from scratch. His custom-crafted bed is double-walled, which moved the rear fenders out 2.5 inches on either side. This meant he had to fabricate custom running boards from 14-gauge sheetmetal and exhaust tubing to get the 'boards and the fenders fitting fine. When Rik was satisfied that all his fabricating was finished, he had his able painter Frank Reyes spray several coats of DuPont Hot Hues Satin Black on all the exterior panels. Once the paint had cured, Rik put the pickup back together and installed an all-new greenhouse from ulf Coast Glass in the Chevy's cab.
Fellow employee Philip Boykin wired the truck and installed Dakota Digital instruments in the custom dash. Rik didn't let the fact that he'd never done any upholstery work deter him from stitching the headliner and door panels using black ultraleather. When it came to covering the '93 Corvette bucket seats in the same faux hides, he had Shawn Cook of Cook's Upholstery in North Dallas, Texas, do the trimming.
We first saw Rik's Satin Chevy at the '05 Goodguys Lone Star Nationals. Considering how menacing the truck looks and how great it sounds, we gave the '46 a Custom Classic Trucks Top Ten award. While shooting the Chevy for a feature, Rik shared that the pickup was an off-and-on project in sync with the ebb and flow of his burgeoning street rod shop-totaling more than eight years of work. Without the help of his employees and friends-Philip Boykin, Chuck Johnson and Frank Reyes-the shop truck project would have taken much longer. Realizing this, Rik thanked his buddies almost as much as his wife, Nell, proving he's a very smart husband and custom classic truck builder.
To fabricate the velocity...
To fabricate the velocity stacks, the owner utilized eight exhaust tips and cut 'em short. The saucy Chevrolet shroud is comprised of a stainless steel salad bowl, electrical conduit and flat sheetmetal. We kid you not. The flat air filter underneath is a '76 Ford truck component. A Vintage Air Gen II A/C compressor enables the Chevy to cruise cool at will. For optimal air crossflow, a 36-inch-long aluminum Afco radiator was mounted as close to the Chevy's grille as possible. Accordingly, the '96 LT1 runs quite cool, too.
Cook's Upholstery concocted...
Cook's Upholstery concocted some sweet stitch work on the '98 Corvette bucket seats. Black ultraleather worked wonderfully.
Hoosier meats wrap the American...
Hoosier meats wrap the American Racing Hopsters. The front wheels have a 3.5-inch backspace and are 15x6 inches. In the back, the 15x15-inch wheels have a 7.5-inch backspace.
Despite the fact that the...
Despite the fact that the owner had never done upholstery work, he trimmed the door panels and the headliner with black ultraleather after borrowing his wife's Singer sewing machine. His Street Rod Concepts logo is emblazoned on the door panels. A little advertising never hurt any great pro hot rod shop.