Divine intervention is the best way to describe Jason Riner's situation. Being only 26, Jason grew up in the era of The Fast and The Furious mixed with papier-mach body kits and hand glider wings strapped to anything Japanese, and like so many others, that's where his interests in the automotive world started. However, as Jason got older, he followed the yellow brick road to all that is custom classic trucks.
When Jason decided to open up his own paint and body shop, he needed a trademark vehicle. But instead of going with something from the land of the rising sun, Jason figured he'd dive into the world of custom trucks. What he came up with is a 1966 Chevy C-10 longbed, the perfect vehicle to represent the Warm Springs, Virginia-based Jason's Paint and Body.
Instead of starting in one place and moving forward, Jason decided he'd just go for it, and just like in Monopoly, when he passed go, it was on. Jason blew the truck completely apart and worked here and there for almost two years. Mixing the '66 Chevy's old-skool design with his new-skool style, Jason has come up with a 50/50 blend of all that is cool.
As for the body, Jason wanted something that would pop. The first step in this process was to whip the Chevy's decrepit body back into shape. There wasn't a panel on the truck that didn't need some sort of dent fixed, rust hole patched, or just to be thrown away all together. Jason repaired what he could, and as for the rest, such as the cowl hood and LMC front bumper, he just replaced them. He decided to leave the body lines stock and finesse a few things here and there. From the front forward, the only thing missing from the Chevy is its trim, but from the bed back it's a different story.
Jason started by molding the roll pan to the bed for a smooth and modern look. Taking a page from the new-skool style of truck building, Jason ditched the O.G. taillights for late-model Cadillac taillights that he later molded into the bed's rear. Lastly, the conventional tailgate hinges were shaved clean, and Jason fabbed up some barn door-style hinges for the tailgate to open to the side, as opposed to folding down. On the bed's inside, new oak was laid down along with some cool wheelwells.
With the bodywork complete, it was time to cover it up with a paint scheme that is just as elegant. What Jason came up with is a '04 Chevy Sunburst Orange and Pearl White two-tone job. As if that wasn't enough, Jason added a hint of white to the lower belt line with some old-skool-style pinstripes running from front to back.
If there's one thing to be said about the import crowd, it's that more often than not it's all about speed, and somewhere down the line that motto rubbed off on Jason. He got his hands on a '70 400ci Chevy block to build his power around. The block was bored out to 406, and then came the ARP pistons with an Edelbrock intake manifold and COMP Cams camshaft. Along with that is an Edelbrock carburetor, Pete Jackson gear drive, MSD ignition, Hedman headers, and Flowmaster mufflers. The Red Line Performance-assembled engine weighs in at around 400 horsepower at 5,800 rpm. From there power is transferred into a Turbo 400 tranny and a '75 Lincoln Mark IV rearend.
As for the chassis, the stock front '66 suspension was left behind for a later-model '83 Chevy getup. Along with the '83 Chevy suspension, Jason also installed DJM dropped A-arms and spindles. In the spirit of keeping things on the cutting edge, a Firestone airbag was placed in each front corner as well. Out back, Firestone airbags isolate the Lincoln rearend from the chassis. Lastly, the stock steelies had to go, and once again Jason went with the new-skool style of bigger is better. Out back he bolted up 20x10-inch Boyd Coddington Magnetos wrapped in Nitto 555 275/35 rubber. Up front, he spared no expense by choosing a set of 20x8-inch Magnetos covered with Nitto 235/35 rubber. When laid out, the Magnetos tuck up into the fenders for a wicked-awesome stance.
Lastly, it was time to tackle the interior. The plan here was to leave the dash as stock as possible while bringing the rest of the interior into the future. Jason pirated an '83 Blazer seat that Lee's Upholstery stitched in gray tweed. Lee's then stitched up the door panels in tweed and laid down the matching gray carpet. As for the dash, it is two-toned sunburst orange and white with Auto Meter gauges blended in. All we can say is that Jason was saved by the grace of Chevy!