Nightmare – Curt’s Chopped, Roofless, Denali-Clipped Silverado

Posted by Kevin Whipps on Jun 21, 2010 in Muscle & Style | 2 comments

Meet Curt Garrigus of Tempe, Arizona. His story starts with the purchase of a brand new, charcoal gray, 2001 Chevy Silverado a few years ago. Back then, the new-body Chevys were still pretty new, and yet, everyone seemed to have one. With so many trucks on the road that looked just like his, how was he going to stand out from the crowd?

Curt soon found out that the truck he was building didn’t stand out – not by going down the path he was planning on. In fact, with the mild shave job and drop, it looked just like any other Chevy on the road. Something had to be done. He was sitting at his house one night when it came to him. Curt made a quick call to his roommate at the time – “Bring me a sawzall!” – and the rest is history.

What you don’t notice about this truck is what really sets it apart from the others. Sure, it’s a fully shaved truck with a Denali clip and the roof cut off. Big deal, right? Well since it’s a Chevy, Curt had some work on his hands to put the GMC Denali clip on. It bolts onto the front end, but not without replacing a good portion of components first. Then, check out the windshield, or whatever’s left of it. The pillars were chopped 7” and so was the windshield to give it a lower profile. So yes, it’s a roofless wonder, but it’s also a chopped truck as well.

If you were to look at a factory Chevrolet truck, you’d notice that the stock window dips lower on the door than the top of the bedsides. To fix that problem, Barry Krans and Jeff Carmin at Motorsport Concepts took off a pair of bedsides from a donor truck, and welded them to the top of the doors and cab to fill in the gaps. Then they smoothed it all out, on both the inside and outside, and welded the pillars to the windshield post, so that when the doors open, it’s all straight and perfect.

Maybe you’re looking at the color and thinking, “What color is that?” Frankly, even Curt doesn’t know. It’s a custom combo of four different House of Kolor paints, mixed and sprayed by Jeff to give the roadster a real custom feel. There are so many little details on this truck, if you don’t look hard enough, you’re sure to miss a few. Take the flush motorcycle gas door mounted in the top of the bedside, which sits unannounced until its called for. Of course there’s the stance, which sits the front valance on the ground and puts the rest of the body level with terra firma via the air bags, tucking just a touch of the 22s.

The details don’t just end there. Pop the hood and you’ll see a ton of shiny orange laying down on custom sheetmetal panels that cover the fender wells and integrate into the air intake. Yes, that’s a 4.3l V6 under the hood, which may be a bit disappointing to some people. But fact is, this was a lowly work truck before Curt got his hands on it, and the 4.3 works just fine. Besides, as dressed up as this engine is, it’s hard to notice anything else.

Since this truck doesn’t even have a roof to put on it, everything on the inside had to be durable and clean. Curt is a bit of a stereo guy, so he decided that he needed to build a clean setup that sounded great but looked good as well. A pair of subs are mounted in a blow-through box going between the cab and the bed. Underneath the subs are a pair of monitors and everything is surrounded by fiberglass. This matches the custom center console, integrated switches, and relocated a/c controls. To offset the painted … everything, Todd at The Interior Shop wrapped some of the panels in suede and leather, giving the Silverado a comfortable feel.

It’s taken Curt a few good years to polish off this truck, and a lot of people have helped out in the process. Sponsors include Six Acre Paints, Roger Rowland Construction, Trans Glide, Motorsport Concepts, The Interior Shop, The Billet Shop, Sony, Honkook Tire, B.A.D., Optima Batteries, Meguiars, PIAA, Viair, and Trenz. Curt would like to thank Tony – a.k.a. Roadawg, Alysia Carlin, his club Pharcyde Customs, Mile High Motorsports, Jessica Johnson, his grandmother Nancy, and of course, his mother.