Custom Paint - Trucks - 2002 S-10

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2002 Chevy S-10 Pickup with tons of custom bodywork, including Lambo doors, shaved EVERYTHING, possible top chop, custom ground-effects, welded-in rollpan with LED taillights, airbrushed murals and more (most of the work is done, the truck is not yet painted).

The truck came in already painted black, but it was a very, very bad paint job. The customer had limited funds to spend since he already just finished paying another shop to paint the truck, so I tried to salvage the paint job. Polishing was not an option. I tried. After only a few seconds, the buffer cut completely through to the primer without producing the desired shine, so, the truck got sanded and re-painted. This caused other problems. The previous shop told the customer his truck was painted with urethane. Even though he had cans of left-over paint that said it was urethane, it was not. The cans were from another paint job... This problem was found only after the paint job was completed. After an overnight cure, the paint had lifted and blistered all over the truck. These shots show just some of the problem areas. They were ALL OVER. I tried to fix them, keeping in mind the owner's lack of funds for this, but it was not to be. They just simply wouldn't go away.

2002 Chevy S-10

Next step... Strip the truck to bare metal and start over. This time, there was no blistering, wrinkling or anything else except a nice paint job. I even added some glow-in-the-dark lightning bolts and a mural of Thor on the tonneau cover..

2002 Chevy S-10

The truck went to 1 show in black, then the customer decided to change directions (he no longer liked black after sitting all day at an outdoor show with his black oven as the only place to avoid the sun), plus at the time, I was not in control of purchasing materials, so the cheapo that was in control bought some cheap, crappy clear that started to crack from the heat of the sun, so it came back to the shop and got stripped back down to metal, to start over. He decided that his lack of funds problem was outweighed by his total dislike of the black paint, plus by now, he was getting a real big discount on the work, as I had moved from the shop with the cheap-ass partner who caused me more trouble than his fat ass was worth...

It was at this time that many of the current changes were made. The truck was shaved of nearly everything that stuck out of the body, including door handles, tailgate handle, gas door, taillights and more. The door edges were rounded, like a 50s custom. The rollpan was welded in, replacing the rear section of the ground effects kit, which replaced the original rear bumper. Next, an LED strip was Frenched into the rollpan and a power antenna was Frenched into the back of the cab, replacing the stock, non-moveable antenna that used to stick up off the front fender.

2002 Chevy S-10

The holes in the back of the cab and the front of the bed are for speaker tubes for the 12" subwoofers that the owner made himself by fiberglassing round heater vents into 4 foot long tubes for his massive 4000 watt subwoofers. Those are no longer with this truck. The owner of the truck ran out of money for this project (and lost interest in it, to be honest), as he bought a 2005 Chevy SSR, seen HERE. I painted the true flames on that truck for him as well. He, in turn, gave me this truck in lieu of payment for the work already done on it (I am still losing money even if I sell this truck for top dollar).

This truck is currently undergoing a complete transformation. Here's a short list of what's being done or already done...

Complete Xenon ground effects kit.
H.I.D headlights.
Power window conversion (regulators from a 2001 Blazer, not yet installed)
Shaved door handles and locks. Electronic poppers inside, remote controlled outside.
Shaved taillights and 3rd brake light. (3rd brake light moved to edge of tonneau cover).
Shaved tailgate with remote operated tonneau cover and tailgate (electronic actuators)
Rounded door and hood edges (50s style).
Shaved fuel filler neck (filler relocated to inside of bed).
Welded-in roll pan with LED taillight strip and hidden hitch (hitch currently not installed).
Frenched power antenna in rear of cab.
Radical custom paint job with airbrush work (plan is 2-tone with a custom tangerine over the original pewter color, plus graphics and murals).
Custom audio/video system with onscreen navigation and engine diagnostics (currently not installed).
Complete custom interior including digital dash with computer screen mentioned above (currently not installed)..