James is a custom car guy, and has been for years. Before the Lincoln, he owned an ’86 Prelude, ’88 Toyota truck, and a ’95 Accord wagon. That wagon was beyond amazing, featuring lots of chrome, lots of painted accessories, and it was way beyond its time. After he sold the Accord, he laid back for a bit and focused on his job as a Honda Technician. Then he stumbled upon his dream ride, a 1966 Lincoln Continental. His parents had bought one brand new and sold it in the 1980’s for way less than it was worth, and ever since then he knew he had to have one. After he found the ’66 for $4k, he snatched it up and got to work. The car was in excellent running condition, so that really wasn’t a problem. The real issue was that he wanted to get it painted and done up in a fairly short amount of time. Enter Adam Hartley, a custom car builder and good friend of James. Adam’s built a few SEMA cars in his time, and has quite a few features and sponsors to show...

Custom Truck: Nissan Frontier Sometimes you’ve got to go against the grain. Take Clint McDowell, for example. If you saw the 20 year old on the streets of Phoenix, you’d wonder how one person could get so many piercings in their face, and how they were able to dig up a set of Max Headroom style glasses out of the 1985 parts bin. To say Clint is unique is an understatement in its highest form. Seriously on his tech sheet under “other interests” he put: “Hockey and Monkeys.” It’s probably  no surprise then to know that this bright pink Frontier used to be a Desert Runner. Yes, Nissan’s factory pre-runner truck was in Clint’s driveway just a few years ago, really high off the ground with a funky blue color. It was neat for a while, but seriously, Clint doesn’t go for what regular people do. He couldn’t leave the truck stock, that’d be too… normal. He wanted to reduce the daylight underneath the truck, and knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. After searching far and wide, he came across Kevin Blysdale from Just Plain Trick...

There are a lot of famous street rod builders out there. Guys like  Chip Foose get a lot of the press, but out of one quiet shop in the corner of Phoenix, Arizona, Rick Dore has been building some of the cleanest rides in the country. It’s not like his name is unheard of. Rick is in 6 hall of fames, has won tons of awards at the prestigious Oakland Rod & Custom show, and has even been on TV a few times. The man is huge in the hot rod world, having built dozens of immaculate vehicles over the years, even before he opened his shop. For the past 10 years he’s been building head-turning rods, customs and trucks. For 9 months out of the year, Rick and his crew of customizers are building customs for customers. High profile people such as rock stars, athletes and others come to him when they require that one-off look. And then, for a three-month span, the shop shuts down to regular customers and becomes a factory for SEMA cars and trucks. Rick does a lot of image work for major manufacturers...

Let's introduce John Trevino of Glendale, Arizona. John’s one of those guys who really goes 110% on everything he does, and this truck is no exception. Just a few years ago, this truck was romping through the desert without a care in the world. Oh that’s right, John originally built this truck as a prerunner, designed to go 50 through the desert without a care in the world. Then, one day, something happened. Maybe it was something in the water, or meeting some buddies who were into mini truckin’, but whatever it was, John was hooked. He now had a new mission, and it was now just a matter of doing. Under the hood, John focused a good amount of attention. The 4.8l V8 has a host of bolt on mods, like an AEM intake, JBA headers, MSD plug wires, and a Flowmaster exhaust. The tranny was completely gone through by Cottman Transmissions, and while they were there, they installed a high output torque converter, a shift kit, and Corvette servos for good measure. The rear end now houses a set of 4:10 gears too. Most people cut out...

It was March 2004, and Ren Robinson of American Canyon, California was shopping around for a new custom truck to build. He did some research, and after a while realized that there weren’t many 2004 Ford F-150’s out there, so he decided he’d build one. Just a few days later, he picked up a bone stock burgundy crew-cab, and got going on it. Some 22’s, a 4/6 drop, a pair of billet grills and an exhaust later, Ren rolled into a show, expecting the trophies to come pouring in, trumpets playing in the background, hailing him as the new king of all things custom. Instead, he heard the loud sound of air evacuating from valves and the distinct sound of frames slamming down on concrete. This was not going to be the day he expected. A little setback like this wasn’t going to get him down. Instead he made a few phone calls and a few days later, he was ready to begin anew. The journey starts at SIC Motorsports in San Jose, California, beginning with an altitude adjustment. The control arms, springs and shocks were yanked out and tossed, and...

John Melvin of Laveen, Arizona is nothing if not a character. Standing 6’1 or so, with a slight accent and a positive attitude about trucks that’s infectious, he brings a fresh take to the scene. For example, when we met John at our shoot in Scottsdale, he brought the SS you see here in the back of a huge enclosed trailer, towed by a 2005 Silverado crew-cab dually all decked out in SS Trim and boasting 479 horses. Not two weeks later, when we setup to shoot some burnout shots, we found out that he had traded the truck in for a 2006 Crew-cab HD, and it was already lifted on 20’s. And of course, there's also his orange crew cab, featured here: True Flamed Silverado. See, John owns a bodyshop out in Laveen, named JM Collison Center. There he does all the usual things you’d expect from a guy who runs a shop: he repairs quarter panels, fixes dents, and sprays things all day long. The business was doing great, and he decided to expand a bit and add a new branch to the company, named JM Custom...

The name John Melvin may not quite be a household name, but that depends a little bit on what kind of circles you run in. Performance junkies know that John is famous for building a killer Supercharged Silverado SS; one that set records just a few years ago. But while he was building that black-and-silver supercharged terror, he also was working on this 2005 crew cab Chevrolet Silverado. This gave him a duo of amazing trucks, both featured here at MyRideisMe.com. Let's start with the crew cab, a truck that also isn't a slouch in the performance world. When we first found it, the truck needed only an interior to get to the upper level. The taillights were shaved, the true-fire flames on the front were painted, and from the outside, the truck was complete. At the time, John owned a crew cab dually, but he was losing interest in it, so he traded it off at the dealership for a crew cab 4X4. Now he had two crew cabs, and two different interior colors, so he decided to make the swap and give his orange one a little...

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...

Everyone gets into the truck scene differently. Some inherit the interest from their father, some get sucked in by their friends, and others, like Tony Saenz of Andrews, Texas, got into it by going into a convenience store to grab a tasty beverage. It was on that fateful day 3 years ago that he first saw a yellow Dodge in the parking lot of said store that was painted with ghost flames. A short conversation later, Tony had the number to the painter of that truck, Jamie Torrez, the owner of Demented Customs in Hobbs, New Mexico. Hobbs isn’t known for being a big town, but for a city with just over 31,000 people, there’s a surprising number of custom car and truck guys. One of those shops is Demented Customs, who have slowly been building a reputation for themselves as powerhouses in the industry. Over the past few years they’ve put quite a few customs out on the pages of various magazines, so when Tony decided to take his car to them, it turned out to be a very fortuitous decision. The first thing that Tony wanted to...

It’s funny how trucks work. No matter how many stories are written about trucks and their experiences, they all seem to have a common thread: Guy buys a ride with the pure intention of just doing a few things here or there to make it a little bit better, and next thing you know, the truck is getting painted, the suspension is rebuilt and it becomes as far away from stock as normal. This story is no different. Andrew Moreno, of Tucson, Arizona, bought this ’72 Chevy truck in 2004 with the intention of fixing it up a bit. His brother was about to turn 16, so Andrew and his father figured that they’d rebuild the motor, give the truck a blue paintjob and some chrome wheels and it’d be a perfect driver for his little brother. Andrew and his dad tore into the truck, taking out the drivetrain in the process, and they discovered that the suspension all needed to be rebuilt. Plus it really needed a quality restoration if they wanted it to be safe. No reason why not, right? A decision was made: Take the truck...

You've  probably met guys like Jerry before. He’s a good guy, always worked hard at his job, been around the local club scene for a while, and has built a few cool rides in his time. Then one day, he steps it up a notch and builds something really wicked. That’s just what happened to Jerry Taylor, of Glendale, Arizona and this Nissan Hardbody. Except Jerry doesn’t go by Jerry. Most know him as “Bear,” a nickname used by all of his fellow club members in Kastawayz. He’s built a little stable of rides over the past few years, including a pair of Hondas, a bodydropped Nissan Hardbody, and a Toyota mini. When Bear bought this particular Hardbody a few years back, the goal was to really go above and beyond what he had done in the past. Something that would get some attention, and really take the custom scene by storm. It started in Bear’s garage, a cozy little spot named “Bear’s Customs.” In that 20X20 space, he tore into his hardbody, starting with the suspension. The factory Nissan 6-lug had to go, so Bear did a spindle...

A lot of adjectives come to mind when describing Adam Hartley of Las Vegas, Nevada … Eclectic, unique, maybe even a bit odd. Not that this is anything new in the custom car world. Not only is he the father of three, but he's also a heavily tattooed car builder with quite the collection in his stable. He’s built quite a few rides in his past too including a ’94 Toyota pickup, a few VW’s, and an ’87 Astro van, which lead to the purchase of the ’63 Impala you see here. We do mean that literally too. Adam was cruising around a Tangelo Orange pearl Astro van around Vegas everyday with a little “For Sale” sign in the corner of the window. While cruising around town he ran into a dude with a ’63 Impala wagon, also Tangelo pearl, that was selling his car as well. The ’63 was juiced, laid on 14” wires, and even appeared in the pages of Lowrider back when the car was in Hawaii. A deal was struck and Adam traded his van for the Impala, straight across. Even though the car was...