With the final say about what stays and goes, John had complete creative freedom and let his mind overflow with ideas. However, he started things off with the No. 1 thing he wanted to do back in the day: chop the top. Armed with tools and perseverance, John hacked 31/2 inches from the top. Next, he sectioned the roof 11/2 inch. The cab was then refined by smoothing all seams, holes, side vents, door handles, locks, tranny tunnel, and the firewall. Along with the shave, the doors also received a suicide job. Up front, the headlights were frenched and the turn signals were relocated inside the headlights. The front bumper and hood were smoothed as well. In the rear, the bed was raised 11/2 inch to accommodate the drop. Bridging the gap between the bed, cab, and fenders, John extended the running board aprons and molded them to the running boards. He also extended the running boards to fill the gap between them and the cab. The rear bumper is from a '55 Chevy. However, it has been smoothed and shortened 11 inches. One of the few jobs John didn't handle was painting the truck. Instead, James Dean Rebel Design, in Sacramento, California, handled the job of laying down the yellow base, along with the yellow-and-blue pearl flames and green-with-gold pearl flames on the GMC. JDRD also worked in 24 Candy Green skulls into the layout. Boyd Coddington 17-inch and 18-inch Shadow rims with Bridgestone rubber complement the exterior.
Inside is more shaved, smoothed metal with a ton of chrome and polished parts. However, what sets the interior apart from the exterior is the outlandish upholstery stitched up by Marshall's Custom Upholstery in Newcastle, California. Instead of going contemporary, John had Marshall's stitch up the 3-inch chopped Glide seat in a Pearly Gold with snakeskin inserts. The door panels also followed the same suit. Up top is a custom-polished aluminum console.
It's clear that when John got to build his '51 he pulled out all the stops. Then again, he's had some time to think about it!