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Sometimes stories start out happy, with nothing but victory after victory. Sometimes, and in the case of this particular truck, the story doesn't always start out as well. The following is somewhat of a memoir of a little vehicle named Joan. Much like her namesake, Joan has undergone quite a bit of surgery and she has died a few times, but always seems to come back better than before. This build is a few years old now, so here is the most current picture of the truck...
Now, to get to the details of her life, we must begin at birth. Originally, Joan wasn't a mini truck. No, she was actually born as a full-size Chevrolet truck. A Maroon 1994 Silverado extra cab to be exact. My first ever truck. I spent my life saving on it. It was lowered with a 6-8 drop on 20" shitty chrome wheels, had the updated Tahoe style interior with leather seats and all, and even had a Dakota Digital gauge cluster in it, which happened to by by prized possession at the time. The truck was amazing and it was all I had ever wanted at the time.
One fateful day however, this all changed. A couple friends, my dad, and I went to pick up a cheap, bagged Nissan pickup truck that had never crossed my radar as something that could even be cool. Naturally, I instantly fell in love. I immediately began coming up with plans to make the little half premiered, piece of crap mine. After a little deliberation in my Dad's Tahoe on the way back to the then current owners house with the truck in tow, I had figured out a deal to bring it home.
She was all mine. Thinking back on it, I feel like its crazy that I traded a perfectly good running truck that I had spent every penny I had ever earned on for something that the previous owner just spent $500 to acquire. Especially considering the fact that the Silverado was my daily driver and only vehicle at the time, and this little pile didn't come with any air management or fuel delivery system with purchase. I mean, it didn't even have a gas tank. But none of that mattered. It was mine and I was happier than a small child on Christmas.
It had a terribly done bridge set up in the rear, but had really nice link bars and Can-Do upper and lower control arms up front. As soon as I could, I scored a gas tank with pump and harness from the junk yard, got some cheap cheap air management (I'm talking 6 half inch Asco valves and a DC5000 compressor with the largest 5 gallon air tank you've ever seen) and I was running.
Everywhere I looked, the truck needed work. Giant hole in the bed floor, messed up grille, mismatched wheels, terrible full skin with shaved tail lights combo, no tail lights (even though there were holes cut in the rollpan for LED strips) missing wiring, dirty as hell...the list goes on. But still, I was in love, and this was the beginning of what seems to be a life long journey with Joan.
Now, to get to the details of her life, we must begin at birth. Originally, Joan wasn't a mini truck. No, she was actually born as a full-size Chevrolet truck. A Maroon 1994 Silverado extra cab to be exact. My first ever truck. I spent my life saving on it. It was lowered with a 6-8 drop on 20" shitty chrome wheels, had the updated Tahoe style interior with leather seats and all, and even had a Dakota Digital gauge cluster in it, which happened to by by prized possession at the time. The truck was amazing and it was all I had ever wanted at the time.
One fateful day however, this all changed. A couple friends, my dad, and I went to pick up a cheap, bagged Nissan pickup truck that had never crossed my radar as something that could even be cool. Naturally, I instantly fell in love. I immediately began coming up with plans to make the little half premiered, piece of crap mine. After a little deliberation in my Dad's Tahoe on the way back to the then current owners house with the truck in tow, I had figured out a deal to bring it home.
She was all mine. Thinking back on it, I feel like its crazy that I traded a perfectly good running truck that I had spent every penny I had ever earned on for something that the previous owner just spent $500 to acquire. Especially considering the fact that the Silverado was my daily driver and only vehicle at the time, and this little pile didn't come with any air management or fuel delivery system with purchase. I mean, it didn't even have a gas tank. But none of that mattered. It was mine and I was happier than a small child on Christmas.
It had a terribly done bridge set up in the rear, but had really nice link bars and Can-Do upper and lower control arms up front. As soon as I could, I scored a gas tank with pump and harness from the junk yard, got some cheap cheap air management (I'm talking 6 half inch Asco valves and a DC5000 compressor with the largest 5 gallon air tank you've ever seen) and I was running.
Everywhere I looked, the truck needed work. Giant hole in the bed floor, messed up grille, mismatched wheels, terrible full skin with shaved tail lights combo, no tail lights (even though there were holes cut in the rollpan for LED strips) missing wiring, dirty as hell...the list goes on. But still, I was in love, and this was the beginning of what seems to be a life long journey with Joan.