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...

His accent says “West Texas”, which is only partially true. The tall guy with the all-American boy looks was born in Lubbock, Texas, but that’s only because his folks were in the area when he decided to break free. In reality, Chad Fincher is from Hobbs, New Mexico, a city famous for … well, nothing really. Chad spent his formative years growing up in this small town, and when he turned 18, his father bought him a 1998 GMC Sierra as a gift for graduating high school. That truck took him through college and came with him when he moved to Phoenix, Arizona in the summer of 2003 with his new wife, Shelly, to start their life together. This is all boring stuff really, I mean Chad’s life in small town New Mexico shouldn’t have a lot of bearing on the direction his truck went in, and in most cases, that would be correct. But here, with Chad and his ’98, however, the city of Hobbs actually plays a vital role in this build, because his dedication to his hometown is bordering on legendary. It was May of 2004,...

It all started with a phone call. Justin Higley of Phoenix, Arizona, had built a few trucks in his day, but nothing really crazy. He was barely getting into the scene, and little by little he dipped his toes into the water of customization. Soon he had a few trucks under his belt, but nothing that really made him satisfied. He needed more. Enter Kevin from BNC Offroad and Third Coast Customs. Kevin’s a master builder, and has been putting trucks in the sky for years. Third Coast Customs is the fabrication side of things, making custom suspension kits for mass production and sale, while BNC Offroad is the retail side of the puzzle, installing those same kits, as well as selling other miscellaneous accessories. From lifted to lowered, the BNC crew can do it all. Kevin was looking to build himself a truck for the new show season, so he needed something special. It was around the time that the first 2007 Chevrolet Silverados were rolling off the transports, so he bought himself a brand new crew cab. Third Coast specializes in independent suspension lifts, and Kevin wanted to...

For my 1 year anniversary and 100th blog post at MyRideisMe.com I share with you a classic Japanese land speed racecar, err... truck, a Datsun 620.  I spotted it on the Japanese Nostalgic Car blog/website HERE.  If you don't have this on your blog reader, go ahead and add it now.  The picture credit goes out to Stephen Rosinni, a professional photographer out of NY. According to JNC's blog post, the Datto truck belongs to Barry Brown of Riter Automotive and was run at the Maxton Mile recently.  It runs in the F/PMP class (F = 2.01 - 3.0 liter, PMP = Production mini/mid pickup) with a 2 liter that makes about 220hp equipped with Nissan 50mm race carbs and a Nissan 5 speed.  The #1620 truck broke the class record of 119mph by running 123 in the standing mile.  The Riter Automotive crew, out of Rochester, NY, plans on running at Bonneville this year.  Hopefully we can bring you all some more pics and details.  Of course, when it runs at B'ville, we'll hopefully bring you news of another broken record.  I was curious, so I checked out the BNI class record...

Story and Pictures by Andy's Pinstriping "I have a friend in Seattle that was doing some pre-Spring cleaning and needed to make some room for a new project so he called me. The offer was too good to pass up.  I was told that if I could find a way to pick up an old 1963 Chevy truck that i could have it. I had to fork out $350.00 to have it delivered from Seattle to my door step and after looking at the truck, I realized that was a great deal!   This is what I started with. A good original truck with a bad 90's Teal paint job...but I saw potential. I did some research as well and found out that this truck started life as a Forest Service truck, so sentimentality kicked in as I had a beloved uncle that was a Ranger all his life. All of a sudden, an idea was born... Obviously, it had a height issue that needed to be addressed ASAP!  This is after the front went down about six inches. This is what it looked like after the back went down...

At SEMA, it's easy to find a great car, they're in almost every booth!  But like the 70 Chevelle with a Duramax diesel motor, it's a the different and sometimes unique builds that really get my attention.  That's what I found in this "Painless" Roadster Pickup. This style of roadster pickup, also called a "Truckster" was penned by well known hot rod artist Thom Taylor back in August of 2007 for Rod and Custom Magazine. The concept  is simple, but you're gonna get to know a sawzall and grinder real, REAL well to get it done. You take 50-70's pickup, then chop up the cab and the bed until proportions of a hot rod. Easy for Thom to say! I saw a Thom Taylor sketch in the pickup bed of this truck, so I'm sure he had a hand in the proportions, color and stance that make this truck one of my favorites from SEMA. So what is it? It started as a 1978 Ford Pickup. Recognize it?  From there, the cab was narrowed 16 inches, then the top and A-pillars were chopped off and the remaining cab shortened...

She started out as a yellow, fairly stock, 1962 International Scout 80 2WD.  She was powered by the original slant 4-cylinder, producing a shattering 83 horsepower while sitting on the original frame and suspension which included leaf springs all around.  Seating was less than luxurious, sporting the stock bench seat with broken springs. By the time “Unbound” hit the streets, not a square inch was left untouched by the builder, Marty Schreiber of n2 Hot Rods (n2HotRods.com), and designer/owner, Chris Adams (SYTCN@cox.net). The stock chassis and suspension were replaced with a custom full Art Morrison chassis with independent front suspension and a 4-bar rear end with panhard bar.  The ride was smoothed out with adjustable coil-over springs on all four corners, and stopping power was updated with a host of Wilwood components including dual master cylinders, 13” 6-piston discs in the front and 12” 4-piston discs in the rear. The new power plant was put together by Turn Key Engine Supply and came in the form of a LS6 Corvette engine producing just over 400 ft. lbs. of torque.  The LS6 got mated up to a 4L60E transmission, controlled...