At 69 years of age, customizing has been a way of life for Bill Stockstill and his wife of 49 years, Dorothy. His most recent build was not because it was cheaper to find an S-10 bed and frame in a wrecking yard, but because it was the look Bill was after. A quick glance at the quality of Bill's '98 Chevy S-10-based '53 Chevy Advance Design and it becomes quite clear doing a graft job was not about saving money. To the contrary, the couple's original goal of not spending more than $25,000 went well to the wayside shortly after Bill and his oldest grandson Zac hauled the '53 back from Kansas City, Missouri, only to discover the truck started its life out in Texas. Being originally from Texas meant that the body on the '53 was relatively rust-free, and that the crew at Mastercraft would be able to focus their talents on other details. Starting with a stock '98 S-10 chassis and then incorporating a few minor touches, the '53's frontend was dropped 3 inches with a pair of 2-inch drop spindles, and 1-inch dropped coil springs from Stylin' Concepts. To guide the '53, the S-10 power-steering box was left intact, but the actual pointing was left to a tilt column modified to fit (snagged from a 2000 Astro Van). For rolling stock in front a pair of 17x8 BC Stingrays are shod with 225/17/50 Nittos, and 17x11 BC Stingrays on 275/50/17 Nittos bring up the rear.
Under the '53's hood sits a '72 327-inch Chevy small-block built by Mastercraft running a mild RV cam with an Edelbrock intake manifold and Edelbrock AFB carburetor to produce an easy 300 hp. On the nose of the 327 motor there's a Frontrunner serpentine setup from Vintage Air to support Vintage Air Gen II Compac air-conditioning that flows through the cab. Inside the cab more room was made by tossing the original '53 unit housed behind the seat, and plugging in the '98 S-10 tank that holds around 19 gallons. With the exception of the tan leather interior stitched by Alfonso Camberos, the bulk of the work done inside the cab was handled by Mastercraft. The steering wheel is a Famosa from Budnik, while all of the detail items, such as pedals and window cranks, are from Billet Specialties. The armrests and rearview mirror are from Big Al Carponents.
Although the '53 was relatively rust-free, there was still a lot time spent on the '53's body, beginning with grafting the S-10 bed to fit right behind the cab. Once the bodywork was handled by the Mastercraft Bodyworks crew in Ovilla, Texas, they hosed on a virtual flood of 2006 Cadillac red, and then gave it a color sand and rub.
Bill stated that if it wasn't for the Chovanetz family (owners of Mastercraft) the '53 would have never come out so nice, and he really wanted to thank everyone for their support and help.