Diving deeper into the cab of Daroll's pickup reveals a stunning leather interior done by Ron Mangus of Rialto, California. Ron started with a pair of cut-down Pontiac bucket seats, and ended up with upholstery that not only looks good, but smells as aromatic as a fine Corinthian cow. Inside the bed, Phil and the Extreme crew finished off a Bruce Horkey Ash hardwood bed kit with a liberal application of clear fiberglass resin.
The body and paint work were done in-house by Extreme Automotive. After not much more than a good basic prep, every last panel of the '53's original sheetmetal was ready to be reunited with the chassis it left the factory with. Instead of re-spraying the original Chevrolet Commercial Red, Phil Leatherman squirted on almost a 55-gallon drum full of DuPont Dale Jarrett Red, and then buried it in DuPont clear. The finishing touch, after applying several more coats of clear with block-sanding done in between coats, was to color-sand and rub the '53 out to the super-slick finish that helped lead the truck to a first-in-class win at its 2008 debut at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona. Which is kind of neat really, since the GNRS is held within the very same Fairplex where some 20 years earlier Daroll and Dee first spotted the little red '53 at the Pomona Swap Meet. CCT