The Mini Truck Scene and the Warranty Killer Chevy Colorado

Ride along as Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr and John CustomCarNerd Meyer as they deep dive into John's history in the mini truck scene leading up to being reunited with one of his previous builds. A 3 time cover truck! 

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Transcript

Audio file 

GOND-WarrantyKiller-8122024.mp3 

Transcript 

Announcer 

You're listening to the get out and drive podcast with John CustomCarNerd Meyer and Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr. We'll be bringing you gear heads everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage. Are you ready to Get Out N Drive? 

Jason 

OK, you guys know who I am. You know Who my partner is. Today on the Get Out N Drive Podcast. We're taking a trip back in time. Recently I celebrated my 30th high school reunion. So before we go into this, I want to preface this entire episode by saying age. Is just a number. 

The year is 1994. Your boy Jason here is graduating high school. But John. John is making a name for himself in the mini Truckin world. He's building himself a bunch of hot rod mini trucks. So in this episode, we're going to bring to you a start to finish journey of John, his love affair with mini trucks and where that brings him today. With that love affair. In 2024, John. We talked before we started recording that you claim in 1986 is when your passion for mini trucks kind of first started. And my math isn't great, but that puts you like you can't even drive yet. 

John 

No. 

Jason 

So tell us a little bit about where this passion came from and how you kind of got to the point where I want to do this for a living. I want to make a name for myself. Where did? Where did it all start? 

John 

Well, the earth cooled then the dinosaur. No, wait. Being around hot rods and Hot Wheels and all sorts of things, my whole entire life, building model cars and things, I was just always drawn to everything custom cars and I was drawn to a specific place in Saint Louis Lindbergh and everybody's seen on Facebook. They have a cruise in Lindbergh. Facebook page and everybody used to do it in the 60s, seventies and it was kind of resurging in the 80s. And I met a guy out there that had a. Red S10. I think it was 82 or 84 real early 1st Gen. S10. His name was Dennis Verga and I talked to him and he said well, I think about lowering this truck and doing all this work and everything and well. Hell, I think it's a great idea. I've never heard of what a mini truck or a sport truck or anything was. And I said, hell, sure, I'll help you and. We. Got a convertible top kit, a radical convertible top kit. Cut the top off of that thing. You know, kid stuff lowered it on static springs. It had 15 by 10. I think they were Ronell wheels or western wheels or like some spoked wheels. And it had my favorite number 195-50-15. Tires. Which are not that wide, but when you blow them up on a 10 inch wide wheel, the side walls sit out. You know all these kids today talk about having, you know, yeah, camber or, you know, blown out side walls and stretch tires and everything we were doing that in the early 80s. 

Jason 

Camber. 

John 

And 195-50-15 and you'd take that to a tire guy. And he said, what the hell kind of idiot thing? What are you doing? And we said, well, you can just blow this up and stretch this tire out and makes it really short. And we were stupid kids, and we did it. And we all called the tires and wheels sticky outies. Because they weren't inside the track with they stuck out the fenders like huge and they bang and scrape and hit everything, and we were the coolest people on the planet cause you could hang your arm out the door. First of all, you're driving a convertible mini truck. You know in 85. First of all, and that's just immediately cool as hell. And then we put a tilt bed on it. So now we're hot stuff. We couldn't do paint work or anything. I think you put a. A tube grill in it, and when we could drive around and hang our arm out the door and play with the gravel on the ground. And that thing would drag absolutely everywhere and the like rear license plate was not even chained. It was not even attached to the truck. We had it on chains, it would drag. Behind. It. We were the coolest thing in the world. I was 15 and I was working on my own car, 65 VW bug. So Dennis had an absolutely one of the coolest trucks out in our cruise spot, you know Lindbergh and Saint Louis. And I even painted a tailgate. It said Flamingo kid on the back of it. And you can tell how, how young I was in the picture. It's absolutely amazing. But behind that picture you can see there's painted in my room a big giant picture of my VW bug in the background. So I was already doing pinstriping and artwork and everything. And other kids are still in high school. 

Jason 

So, John, what you talked you, you brought up a couple things that is also somewhat reminiscent in the low rider scene, the SoCal scene of you know The Big Lead sleds and whatnot, the Impalas and the Big Buicks and Cadillacs and stuff, the wheels, the 15 inch wheels. Blown up and dragging these things on the ground. 

John 

MHM. 

Jason 

Like that? Like the inspiration for low or for sport trucks or mini trucks, is that where this come from? This is like OK, you know, we want to take a little bit of this West. Coast. Style. But because we're redneck stuck in the middle of St. Louis, MO, we want to take it to a different level we can't afford. The great big cars, we can't afford the great big everything, so we're going to take these mini farm trucks and we're gonna cut them up and we're gonna. Make. Them cooler is that cause is that kind of the mindset between the mini truck and say the. 

John 

Low riders in the West Coast, I believe so it's just at the time there really was. A big following. If you had a mini truck, it was going to be a monster. It was going to be 4 wheel drive. It's gonna be big and I think mini truck and magazine actually came as a test magazine and I'm sure one of our listeners can tell me if this is wrong but I'm pretty sure it came from a test. Magazine from Truckin', cause Truckin' had Monster truck, 4 wheel drive, Toyotas. And they had Chevy luv's and all that stuff. And when the S 10s came in. It only been there for a few years and not very many people were lowering trucks that had that West Coast style. I don't remember seeing any of this in the truck magazines until the late 80s, early 90s. 

Jason 

Yeah, because in the 80s  Yeah, in the 80s, we were like when it came to four wheel drive trucks and big trucks on the scenes, what were we, what were we looking at? We were looking at the original Bigfoot. We were looking at Fall Guy. 

John 

Yes. 

Jason 

You know, those are the type of trucks that were making names on TV and people on the side were saying, oh, well, I think I can do. That I can make this. Happen, but almost virtually nobody in mainstream said, hey, we're going to take a 2 wheel drive truck slam on the ground. But, but that's where that's where the mini trucking scene started was our early 80s, mid 80s and with like you said with your S 10s, your Nissan had hardbodies. Your Toyota. They didn't call them Tacoma's back then. I don't believe. But your small Toyota pickups, Ford Courier vans, Chevy Luv you mentioned earlier. 

John 

Yep, yeah, all that stuff was really coming on the scene and I did not see any custom lowered many trucks in Saint Louis. I think there was 2. One was a full on crazy Chrome muffler bearings, you know and it's craziness show truck. I remember that guy's name was Mark. I can't remember his last name and it was yellow, but it had Chrome everything underneath it. It was a brand new then brand new S10 but it was. I didn't see very many mini trucks or anything on the scene when we were cutting this truck up, we were bringing the West Coast scene, which was really only a couple years old into Saint Louis in in ‘84, ‘85 and it was quite a shock to everyone. I'm not saying I started this trend, but it was. It was pretty early in the in the scene. 

Jason 

Yeah. And I mean you and I share a lot of the same passions when it comes to vehicles and vehicle styles and different things like that and. When I was, how old would I have been? We're going back to 1997 when I bought an S10. It was a 94. It was an extended cab, 2 wheel drive, V6 manual SLE. So it was loaded and. 

John 

That was a second gen. 

Jason 

It was a second gen and I fell in love with this truck because before I even paid my first payment on it, I had the wheels and tires swapped. I had a drop kit in the front with spindles. I had the lowering blocks in the back and this thing was cool as shit. I'm going to send that. Off to Paul. And I'm not sure at what point he can flash that up if he ever got it. Maybe he didn't, but at some point we'll make sure that we show a picture of this thing. We had, you know, racing wheels and the big 235-60-16 tires on it, which. 

John 

Which were huge then. 

Jason 

Were huge then. And again, we'll put, this puts us into the mid 90s, mid to late 90s when I was doing this and of course you started a whole probably 10 years before that. But let's jump ahead a little. Bit. Into you're a little bit older, you've got your career path kind of narrowed down. 

Speaker 

Hmm. 

Jason 

You're doing some body work. You're working some custom stuff. Tell us a little bit about how you got there before we jump into a specific build that we're about to bring up. So trade school body man, you're doing, you're doing your. Thing tell us. A little about what you started there. 

John 

Well, I did not go to trade school at all. I learned I learned with my mouth shut. One week out of high school, I was threw myself into a Body Shop that would hire me and I was sleeping on the floor and learning how to mix mud and do welding and things by staring at other people and the guys that would tell me to go away and they taught me how to build cars and how to paint and all that stuff. And it was, it was kind of fun. So built my own garage and back in my house. And just started building stuff, building my own cars. I had an 80 cutlass. That was a Pro Street car that I back halved in 1994. And driving a car around that was finished painted all one color. It was Pro Street car and 94 was a big deal. And. 

Jason 

Because pro street wasn't even a thing, really. 

John 

Pro Street kind of started earlier in the 80s. And it was evolving more and more and more high tech into the 90s. You know, Troy Trepanier and everybody that was Mark Grimes and a whole bunch of other different people were building Pro Street cars and they were absolutely unbelievable. Matt and Debbie Hayes. They built a 88 or 89 Thunderbird, and before that they built a 79 Mustang Pro Street. And these are all from brand new cars in the 80s. So those are people that I kind of looked up to going the street machine nationals and building my own Pro Street car. It kind of attracted attention from other people. In the area. So I got hooked up with a company called Showcase that was in Saint Louis and they started their place in, in on Lindbergh around 1994 and I went in there and started building things and shaving parts and customizing pieces and painting. Pieces for them over the counter starting in the mid 90s and they introduced me to. Hang on. I'll think of his. Name. And we can certainly. Cut this up. Good God, showcase Scott Bullock. He introduced me to Brett Vogel, which was a person that started air ride technologies. And showcase was one of the first places that was able to sell outright. Air Ride technologies parts and if you notice, I'm calling it air ride technology instead of ride tech. That's way back, way back when, before they started building springs. So as the things evolved. I was in with showcase and they were building sport trucks which that term didn't come until the new how old I am the then new OBS Chevy trucks that came after the square bodies. They were building the then brand new trucks, just like Boyd Coddington and a bunch of other companies were in in California. They were building and they coined the phrase sport truck. Body color grille shave bumpers, shaved door handles, chop tops, all that stuff, and we saw that stuff in magazines kind of emulated in the Midwest, along with ride the air ride technologies, we were able to install air ride, which I then did on my cutlass, and then that just snowballed into. Getting other work and building other mini trucks and. I've had my hand in several trucks that have been on the cover of magazines and things throughout the 90s. The very first the truck, I don't know. Whatever you want to call it, the truck that came after the OBS truck. Whatever the name of that is Jason, I can't remember. 

Jason 

Yes, if you're talking about Chevrolet. So the ovf trucks were at GM T400 and then after that with a GM T800, I believe. 

John 

Yes. 

Speaker 

OK. 

John 

OK. So yeah, the ones that are just after the OBS trucks showcase, we customized the very, very first one that anybody had ever seen and we put an HD. Turn on it. And people were like, wow, that's incredible. And we were on the cover of Sport Truck magazine. And it just as things go, you talk to more people and you get deeper in the scene and things evolve. And I was building many trucks and things at my house. All the way up till. 2003. I started my first shop. I built my first shop. That's where our next truck comes in. 

Jason 

So this is where this whole episode has been leading up to and I really wanted to make sure that we spent lots of time talking about this specific truck because there is a pre and a post story, 2 ownership of this particular truck. Earlier I had asked you off. Before we started recording, if you ever gave this truck an official name, you said. Know, but I want to talk a little bit about just for a second that I am officially going to coin the name of this truck, the warranty killer. And the reason for that is because this truck was not on dealerships lot yet this truck was new to the scene. Only journalists have really seen and touched and heard and felt this thing. And John managed to get his hands on one first thing he does is cut the hell out. Of. It So what we're talking about here when I refer to the warranty killer is we're talking about a brand new never be never seen before. 2004. Chevy Colorado these were new. They were talked about. They were written about. They were popping up in, you know, news magazines, automotive magazines, motor week. All these shows. We're talking about this truck. But they were so new in late 2003. That people couldn't even get their hands on one. So maybe John, you can tell us a little bit about, let's start this off by saying how the hell did you manage to get your hands on one of these? 

John 

Trucks. Well, my, my wife. My current wife was then customer. And she worked at a local Chevrolet dealership and she was warranty manager, and she was billing manager, and she was darn near God at the Feld Chevrolet in Saint Louis and she heard that these were coming out. She knew that I was wanting to get attention and she said, what would you like to build? And she was talking about these new Colorados. And she shows me pictures of them on paper. And I said, I've never seen one of those before. And I did a little bit of Internet digging and I said you can't get those. She said let me make a few calls and she called and there was a truck that was in Chicago and this is in September of 2003. She called and her dealership, not her. She didn't own it, but the dealership she worked. At. They did a dealer trade with something else and got this Colorado. From Chicago. And they did, they still had S 10s on the lot. Because this truck was the one that was supposed to replace the S10, absolutely, absolutely nothing on this truck. Bits and S10 S 10 have been running with the same suspension since 82. And the G body suspension on the S10 have been running since 78. So it's a little wore out. Technology wise, by the time 2003 rolls around, so the. 

Jason 

And it was much anticipated too. This is this is something that was built a lot of hype. The Chevy Colorado, the GMC Canyon came out together these things. Like I said the news magazines, the automotive magazines, the TV show like everybody was hyping the CRA. Up out of these things, and here you are able to pick one up due to a loophole in a relationship somewhere to dealership. 

John 

Yes. Yes, and it's the fact that it was I think they called this I50I-55. Is that what the name of it was the designation, I can't remember but. It had new front suspension, new rear suspension and in line 5. Region. What the hell is that? 

Jason 

European. 

John 

All new dashboard, all new chassis, the way the chassis was made hydroformed, no seams, everything. Everything. Everything was different. The front end, the headlights, the grill, the bumper. Everything was edgy and it immediately made. And S10 on the parking. Lot that was new in 94. 

Jason 

Looks super old. 

John 

Look ancient. Sitting next to this spaceship of a truck. So we buy one and we're going to work with I'm talking back when we were hanging out with Brett Vogel and everybody at Air Ride Technologies, they wanted their hands on a new Colorado as quickly as I did. So we formed a relationship to get them to use our truck as a test bed. Rip all the parts off it. Make a kit. To lower these trucks and they could take the design and use it to make more money in different. Parts. 

Speaker 

Look it up. 

John 

Market it exactly. So I'm doing the customizing and the paint work and all that type of stuff in my garage at home. I don't even have a shop yet. I'm still working out of my old shop at home. And we took this to ride tech. They ripped it all apart and they said what in the living hell is this? Thing made out of. They said this is nothing like a Silverado. This is nothing like a. An S10. It's nothing at all. Like what they've ever worked. On. Because if you know anything about control arms and front suspension, there's the frame and then outside of that is the pivot points for the control arms. You want to lower it. Super easy. Just raise it up. Not a Colorado, not a Canyon. The lower control arm is physically underneath the frame. And you try to lower it, the frame gets. In the way. And they looked at that and they said this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. And they called me up and they said, you need to pick your truck up. This is stupid. I'm not doing this anymore. And I said, well, well, what we had a we had a meeting and we're going to do a trade and everybody's going to be happy. And they said we can't. We. Can't do that. So our next thing was. Just stand there with our hands out. Going. Ohh God, this truck is in a million pieces. It doesn't have 100 miles on it and it's brand new. And I've got magazines that want to see. It very shortly. So what we did was we cut everything off the front suspension. That was Colorado. All the control arms at Colorado, everything is gone. We put an aftermarket heights Mustang 2 with a power steering rack and built a ride tech did it all. They built all New Cross member, they built everything to fit a Mustang, two street rod front suspension underneath this thing and it's Absolutely Fabulous. And then they got to the back of the truck. And they said what in the living hell is this? There's cross members and stuff everywhere in the way. Gas Tank Cross member hangs down below like an S10 transmission cross member hangs down 4 inches below the chassis. Not like an S10. So they had no idea what to do with that as well, and they put a notch in it and they made their four link and they raised the gas tank and we went through a whole bunch of different ideas to finalize what was going to happen on this truck. A tiny hurdle that we went through, the person that I got my wheels from. Is Billet specialties and they went through showcase. They were distributed for Billet specialties. This truck is so new nobody could tell me what the bolt pattern was on the truck. 

Jason 

There were 6 bolt pattern. Two were they not. 

John 

There are six. There are 6 lug. Now if you look. 

Jason 

Again, not like the not like the S 10s, which were A5 on five and a half I. Believe. Standard GM bolt pattern. 

Speaker 

M. 

Jason 

They went six. 

John 

Yeah. And everybody said, oh, it's going to be the same as a trailblazer. 

Jason 

Bolt. 

John 

I said, Are you sure? Well, we had to sign off on the wheels from Billet Specialties because they give you this form. They make your mother, you know, stamp it with her seal of approval and her kiss and her mother's maiden name. So if they can murder you whenever these. Aren't right. And we pay for the wheels, which aren't cheap. You know about $8000 for or more for wheels and tires on this truck that are built for this truck to our specs. We get them back and we try to put them on, ‘tink’. Hahaha, can't put them on. And we're all standing there again for the next second time going. What the hell are we going to do? We bought blank front Mustang 2 rotors. Drill the lug pattern to fit our wheel. We welded up the rear axles, pulled them all out, brand new truck. By the way, you remember. So drill that out. Made that fit. So this is a Chevy Colorado with a six lug, but the lug pattern is trailblazer. All by accident because someone did not do their homework, not me. And. So now we've got a truck and the rear axle. That the rear axle is too wide. The Ride tech did their best because the gas tanks right in the way. They put the control arms for the rear 4 link on the outside of the chassis. Now we've got a tire that's, you know. 12 inches wide. And if you look in the picture, that's up right now. The rear bedsides are bulged way out. And I had to do that to accommodate this. We couldn't even put the bed back on it to go from ride tech in Indianapolis or in in in Indiana to Saint Louis. I had to build this big rig to put the bed on the back. So we. Could trailer at home. And then I custom made the bed with a drop bed, floor raised, bed, floor, changed everything, cut a window in the bed floor so I could see all their. Products. And. Funny, Cool Story truck is all finished and done. Everything's done and it's red. Fully customized, it had remote air ride the biggest, baddest, best stuff we could have from ride tech and I got it finished. I had it at a car show on. Sunday. In early, early around Easter time 2004. And then I got finished with that show that night I went home, ripped it all apart, flamed it black. And had it buffed and polished and reassembled to put back together and had it at another show the next week. In the flame black paint. And I had some Turkey that came up to me and he. You wouldn't believe there's somebody's got a truck just like this. I saw it last week. It was all red. And I said, no, no, no, that's this one. He goes. No, there's no way. It was just all red. No, that's this one. And then he argued with me for a few minutes and. My. Friends all laughed, so they thought that was a hell of a lot of work for me to do in one week just to get somebody to, to laugh. Just. As a joke, so. 

Jason 

So this this truck that rolled off the assembly line as 100% GM in in a short period of time rolls. So with not one piece of the original suspension. 

John 

That is, that is correct. The rear axle is stock, everything else is handmade. Every cross member in the chassis, everything in the front suspension, everything's handmade. 

Jason 

And we we're talking about what we see when this thing is just standing there parked in front of you. We're not even talking about the interior because this thing. Has a fully custom interior. If you guys know these Chevy Colorados you know that they basically came with one single color for each year and that was grab charcoal type, grey door panels, dash seats. 

John 

They were Gray. 

Jason 

For everything but you, you took a step further and you decided it was, you know, not showy enough on the outside. Let's you know, let's spend, you know, thousands of more dollars because we haven't spent enough yet and make this interior one-of-a-kind as well. 

John 

Right. 

Jason 

So. Who? Who did the interior for you as far as the seats, I think you said they were ostrich. 

John 

They're we were sponsored by Katzkin and they are. They were very happy to get our seats stripped, send them the patterns they copied them and got them back to us like crazy fast. 

Speaker 

OK. 

John 

Because again, we're the 1st, so red and black. I did red leather, black ostrich in the center. The Katzkin seats went back together. Absolutely unbelievable. And I myself did the upholstery. The installation of the Katzkin’s. The only thing I outsourced. Was the carpeting my local street rod shop? Did the carpeting for. But I recovered the headliner. The headliner is leather, the inside of the doors, everything. Every piece of plastic you see is smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth hours and hours and hours of sanding and priming and painting. Even the steering wheel itself. The steering wheel is a custom piece. Go ahead. 

Jason 

I was. I was going to say this the, the, the steering wheel was custom, you know, and in 1994, we're talking, we're talking OBD2 is it's. 

John 

2004. 

Jason 

Sorry, sorry. Well, we need to airbags, ABS. All this stuff is all standards. And the first thing that John does is let's get rid of that great big hunk and you know, airbag steering wheel. Because we wanna go custom. We wanna make it look good. But for those of you who are not watching this on YouTube, you're we're looking at pictures of this thing right now. Absolutely amazing. The dash is no longer Gray, but like John said, painstaking hours of sanding that down smooth. Getting it so that it matches the complete interior and. Before we go too much further, I want to say that is an amazing job inside and out, John, you certainly outdid yourself and uh you. Know. Kudos to you for pulling off such an amazing truck and seemingly you know the start of something new for this generation of vehicle. 

John 

It thank you. It was. It was quite an endeavor. It was quite a feat, and it was something that I couldn't have done without help from my local Chevy dealership. Because if I needed a light turned off, I go to the Chevy dealership and they plug it in and go turn the light off. Because you remember it's got Mustang 2 front suspension, no ABS, cogs, nothing. The car does not recognize the front suspension at all. I put that. I handmade that steering wheel. It has. I cut the center out of another steering wheel and made it to this billet specialty steering wheel that matches the wheels. 

Speaker 

Yep. 

John 

Sanded and painted the airbag on the passenger side, the SRS airbag. And taking the dash out. This is all uncharted territory. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, and as I was putting things back together and I would get a check engine light, I drove it around one time and I did not have a seat. The drivers seat in it. The car got super angry and this is my first jump into. Computer controlled cars that get angry if you start them with parts. Thing. 

Jason 

Right. 

John 

And you know, we started this thing the very first time and every light imaginable, like a Christmas tree lit up on the dashboard. And we had. Disassembly. Pictures how to take this thing apart, how to get to this connector, how to take this connector apart. Everything on this truck was absolutely brand new and the folks at my local Chevrolet dealership which my wife worked at, she had the inside track. All this stuff. She goes, oh, hang on. We'll just print it out. And she'd print out everything that had to do with the dashboard and staple it and bring it to me. And without that, I don't think I would have been able to finish this trip. 

Jason 

Well, like I said, it's an amazing feat to do this in the short period of time that you had and trying to be the first one of the one of the first one of the firsts that you did with this truck was the first Colorado on airbag and. And so as they ran this. 

John 

Yes, that's correct. 

Jason 

Through and different people are starting to get their hands on these trucks. They're wanting to do the same things. That you did. To copy it, not just to copy it but copy it because they like what you've done. 

John 

Yes. 

Jason 

We see these. We see this truck on the cover of several magazines that we've been flashing up here on the screen. And you had mentioned that you had people waiting to get the information that you're giving us right now, only 30 years ago to find out or sorry, 20 years ago to find out what. 

John 

Yes. 20 years ago. 

Jason 

Is going on here and why is this thing looking so good? Like when you have people banging on your door like that, does that not give you anxiety at all? Because I know for me, I'm like, you know, you get that phone call. Somebody wants to put you on the spot and all of a sudden. Hey, but remember, guys, we're talking about John custom Carner Meyer, the man who loves to talk. He's got lots. To say like. When those phone calls? Kept coming. You know. How? How does that? What does that do to a? Fellow's ego. Like. How do you? How do you move on from that? 

John 

It's the ego. Part comes after you deliver what they're looking for. 

Jason 

OK. 

John 

Prior to that, it's terrifying. Because my evolution of being involved with Sport Truck, magazine, Street Trucks, Truckin magazine and many trucking all stemmed from other vehicles that I've built previous to this one and I'd already built several trucks and SUV's and things that have been all in the truck magazines. And the editors had seen those. And they said, hey, what else are you building? And I said. They're like Oh my God. 

Speaker 

Oh. 

John 

And I said it will be at this show my the first show that it was at Big National show was Show Fest, which was already been shut down. I think in 2003 years, four or something like that. It was shut down later, but we were we were at Show Fest 2004 in Greenville. Mississippi, with this truck, all the doors open. And the truck is running and it's got 100 miles on it. And you, you talk about ego and Mr. Cool, my wife Joanne she. Got a demo when she worked at the dealership, so she asked for a red, then brand new 2004 Silverado. And a friend of ours had a red trailer, so we showed up with this Colorado, this 2004 Colorado with a red trailer and a brand new Chevrolet Silverado truck. We were Ballers. Driving into that show, you know, with 100 and some $1000 in, in, in vehicles and we did not get from Greenville, Ms. we drove in and we did not get past the security guard where you sign in and we were just attacked by golf carts. And the magazine guys were calling my phone and saying, hey, I'm meeting you at this place. I'm meeting over these grandstands and I can tell the story. Now. It's funny. I'm sorry that my editor friends are watching this or listening. I'm sorry I screwed you over. I already talked to you about it. But it's. Still. Funny, one editor said. I'm going to put my sticker on the back window because they all want to and they don't want anybody else to do it. They want to scoop the first guy. 

Speaker 

Right. 

John 

So St. Trucks, it's like ohh, well, we're going to take pictures of this. They put their sticker on the back window and then the guys from sport truck come. Over and they're like. Did anybody get to shoot this yet? And I said no, no, nobody shot it yet. I'm lying my ass off because Street Trucks wanted to shoot it the next morning. And I said, well, you guys can shoot it Tonight. So they're like, alright, cool. And they set up. I said I was busy the next morning, so I got it shot for street trucks that night. And then sport truck shot it in the morning. That's the one that has the driving and rolling shots. We were in another that that truck that shot there, we were in another truck that I built and then the editor. Was hanging out of the Back Tailgate. Taking photos when we were driving around through the streets, taking that rolling shot and then there was another one. That's a Canadian magazine and they wanted to shoot it too. And I lied to everybody and I didn't say anything and nobody said anything else. Rearview and. When the magazines came out, all three came out the same month. The truck was on the cover of yes. The truck was on the cover of three different magazines in the same month. 

Jason 

Exclusive. 

John 

I got a couple phone calls. And you, you, you talk about ego and craziness. 

Jason 

I can imagine that's short. 

John 

Again. I can't tell you another truck. That has been on the cover of three magazines in the same month. Shot from the same show it's ridiculous and amazing. 

Jason 

And all claiming exclusivity. 

John 

All claiming exclusivity. Yes, I every time I talk to any of the editors and people that I know. And again, if you're listening to this Calin Head, I'm sorry. 

Jason 

So up to this point, we've talked about John's passion and how he started getting into the mini truck and era of customization. We've heard how we've gotten into this particular truck and where the build came from and where the sponsorships came from. Where those magazine covers came from. After a while the truck has gone through the scene, it becomes old news. John decides it's time to move on from this project and Fast forward to 2024. This truck is just gone in the wind. Nobody has heard or seen or smelled or looked at for a long time. And John, all of a. Bad coming out of Mississippi. 

John 

Yeah. Ohh yes, good friend of mine, John Collett. He's a he's man. I built a 94. Excuse me. If I got the year wrong, John. I built a 94. GMC Sonoma. Extra cab and you can't see it, but that's the truck that we were right. The editor was riding in. We were taking pictures of the rolling shots. And it was a body drop truck with. Tribal true fire, flames and everything on it. So John Collett is a real good friend of mine and he has since lost track of his truck that we built back then and now it has come back around he now he knows who owns it and has been reunited with that truck as well. So congratulations with him. He doesn't own it, but he knows who's taking care of it. On the East Coast in New York. So John Collett, in his infinite wisdom. He messaged me on Facebook. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Your trucks for sale. And I said I don't have any idea where it's at. It literally it for real. Just dropped off the face of the Earth and I'll give a little tidbit of information here when I'm done with this. So I looked and it had been posted that day that he called me so. I sent the pictures cause my son helped me work on it and he's now 20. 7. So he would have been around 7 years old at that time and he was helping me clean it and wash it. And he grew up with the truck and he loved. It. And he was sad when we sold it. But life goes on. We get on to another project, so I sent him pictures and I said hey, my old. Trucks for sale. And I showed him where it's at. It was in Mississippi, which is pretty close in relationship to Saint Louis. And. I thought that was no big deal. I certainly wasn't going to buy it. I don't need it. I got enough stuff. He texts me back and he says, when are we going to get it? I said, well, and I can't not. I can't get that. I got my hands in too many projects. He said. Give me a few minutes and real time. He called me back and he said I want to buy that dad. When are we going to go get it? I was about in tears. I'm like, are you kidding me? He goes ohh. No man. I grew up with this thing he said I wanted a mini truck anyway and he said why not have something that my dad built and something that's famous anyway? And sure enough, we got all of our ducks in a row and hits the trailer up, and a future episode of ours will be when we go rescue this thing, cause it didn't run air ride, didn't work, nothing worked on it didn't have any. Gas in it. It had been sitting for years, so that's a whole other story. So we got this thing together and we went down to Mississippi. Very nice family that owns it. The gentleman that had purchased it through the years, he had it for quite a while. He unfortunately died of COVID, I think in 21 or 22. 

Jason 

You. 

John 

So I'm I was sorry to hear that. So we spoke with his wife and his son. They helped us let us borrow tools and get everything fixed. We actually hitched the truck up and chucked it up to shop air and drove it up on the trailer with an air hose sticking out of it, going to his shop. So kudos to the roadside mechanics. Of the world. So it's now in my driveway and I have ordered a I guess you can call it Nos. Through a couple of different people. They turned me on to a guy who had one sitting on the shelf. I have a 2003 ERA ride Pro E2 set up. For ride tech that goes in this truck and that's what was in the truck when it was built. And I've purchased another one which you can't purchase this technology anymore because it doesn't. It is. Made so I was able to Hornswoggle a an Nos kit to put back in this truck to get the air ride back to where it was when it was built. 

Jason 

And just looking at this picture that we're seeing here now, most of you guys can't see it, but it's a picture of your son back to and the roof of the car comes about halfway down his bicep. And from what I can tell, he looks like he's probably 5. 

John 

He's about 6. He's 5-10, 5-11 near nearing 6 foot. So you know trucks about 5 and 1/2 foot tall. 

Jason 

Yeah, and like. What a machine and what a story to be able to bring yourself back to something that that a you built, but also something that from the conversation you and I are having here today, that you were completely 100% passionate about at the time and knowing that Austin has the same passion to want to preserve this. Like one thing that that we see in this industry of classic cars and hot rods and St. rods and whatever you want to call it, we we've even said before we don't even call them St. rods anymore. That was a that was a late 90s, early 2000s term but. It tends to come in cycles. I had mentioned to you a while back about, you know, maybe we update the wheels on that thing and you're like, Oh my God, those were those were custom wheels on that thing. Why would we do such a thing? And I'm like, you know what? You're right. Preserve the heritage. Leave it as is. Clean it up, give it some extra love that it needs. So that Austin and his family can enjoy this thing in the future and take it to car shows and show it off and be proud to say that my dad. Built this truck. What you have to say about that like to be able to raise, you know, raise your kids to have the same passion as you. And now here he is, the owner of this truck. 

John 

Yeah. Yeah, he was. He was pretty choked up when they raised the garage door and we saw this truck. Because other things have happened to other custom cars, they get crashed. They get changed, they get repainted a different color they get. Racked or cut up or something done to it, but someone respected the way this was built and they did almost nothing to it except for love it. 

Jason 

Yeah. And again, you know, we keep talking about the pictures that are being flashed up here on the screen, and unless you're watching us on YouTube, you're not going to see them, but we'll be, we'll be sure to post these pictures on Instagram as well as our Facebook page when this episode airs so that you guys can appreciate the work that went into this thing. And knowing that in 2004 this was it, this was the first truck. To be customized to be showcased to be highlighted again on three different magazine covers at one time. But the fact that even with this layer of garage dust on it in these pictures that you can still see the quality and the craftsmanship that went into that and. You know, the fact, like I said before, that Austin is now taking ownership of this thing. Chances are he may never let it go, you know, knowing the fact that it's something that was built by you, something that will stay in the family for a long time, maybe pass it down to his children. 

John 

Now you wanted me to talk to you about. Hot Rod power tour. 

Jason 

I did, yes. 

John 

Is that something you want to talk to now? 

Jason 

I think we should. We we're right on. We're right on topic with this. And so one of the things. Long when? When John and I first met, you know when you're talking about your history, you're talking about your past. You've got great stories and you got, you know, things that John has been around the block. He's seen a lot. He's done a lot. And sometimes, you know, you just you, I'll be honest with you. Sometimes you just want to call bullshit on a story. And when this truck came up, it was everything he said. It was in his stories. There was one particular one that stuck in my mind when you and I made that trip to Georgia last summer, we were talking about this truck and you were talking about an incident that took place while you were driving. I'm. I'm not going to run it, but go ahead and set this up for. Our listeners and tell us exactly what happened with this particular truck that keep in mind, folks, it's brand new, virtually 0 miles and John is driving this thing down the road. Go ahead, John, tell us, tell us what was going. 

John 

Hot Rod Power Tour 2005 we were long haulers. We went from Brewers field in Milwaukee, WI. To Kissimmee, FL in four days. First of all, that's. Cooking. And we were logoed up and I had. As usual, I talked to everyone. Everything is on is in promotions. I had sport truck uniform T-shirts, we logo the back of the truck, 2005. Hot Rod Power Tour sport truck cover, truck Rd. tour everything on the tailgate. You know as much stuff as we could, blah, blah, blah blah blah. And that way everybody knew and we showed up there. And by that time I was doing a lot of photography for sport truck magazine. My wife and I and. Our editor at the time was Kaelyn head. At sport truck, so we said, hey, we're going on Power tour. If you load us up with all the credentials and everything, we'll make sure that we get the inner workings of power to her and we can go anywhere we want with sport Truck magazine credentials and he's like, well, that's a match made in heaven. So we wrote a story that sport truck. Magazine cover truck does long haul ride power tour, so we're hauling *** down the road and at every stop you're supposed to park in the South 40 in the mud. At Power Tour, you know they put the people that are long haulers, they put them in the back and they treat them like hell. If you've ever been on Power Tour, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Get up at 7:00 in the morning, drive till 4:00 PM and it's brutal. So we pull in the power truck, Power tour stops and they tell me to go Park in the South 40 with all the mud. And I said no, that's not where I'm supposed to go. I need to go to the Chevrolet. Performance trailer. And they're like, well, I don't understand what you're supposed to go over there. I said no. No, you don't understand. And I just started my truck up and aired it up and started making a right turn going whatever the hell I wanted. And these people figured that I needed to or need to go there. So I parked in front of the Chevy performance booth at hot Rod Power Tour on every stop. There with the new LS powered SS Monte Carlo and they had all sorts of Chevy engineers and all sorts of everybody. And I came out, they knew who the hell I was. I dumped this brand new thing right out in the middle of their trailer and everybody piled out of the trailer. And they're like what these things are brand new and they couldn't believe what we did. So that was super fun. Met a lot of people. And we're rolling. I think it was second or third day and we're coming through Indiana. We're headed South through Indianapolis. So I'm listening to the radio loud windows are up 80 miles an hour, almost aired all the way out. Mr. Cool air conditioning's rolling. I'm driving with everybody cool as hell. We hit an expansion joint. For a bridge. 

Jason 

And we know we all know how beautiful the highways are in Indiana. Been there, done that. They're awesome. No, they're. 

John 

Not no. So we're rolling doing 80 and we go on this expansion joint and the truck compresses and I hear the loudest bang I've ever heard my entire life. And I turned the steering wheel and the truck still going straight and looked over at my wife. We're still doing 80. And she said what's wrong? And I took the steering wheel and I spun it and it went like a roller skate wheel. She said that's not good. So I put on the brakes and I started steering the thing to the side of the road with the chassis. I started lowering the air ride on the right front. To drag the right front off the road to steer it off the road because the. Expansion joint had rolled the cross member back and it rolled the. Steering rack back up into the oil pan broke. The steering rack, broke the oil pan and bent the cross member and pulled the rag joint out of the out of the steering shaft. At 80 miles an hour and. Needless to say, my wife wasn't happy. 

Jason 

I can imagine. 

John 

So we get off the side of the road like 13 people stop. They're like, Oh my God, that was the baddest thing ever because we were dragging sparks and she's flying everywhere and with duct tape. Rope. Zip ties. JB Weld. They the guys started ripping everything out of their truck and people stopped and helped me. I had no idea who these people were and they were enough to get the truck back up to going so it wouldn't would stop leaking oil. Where will they get it to the next rest stop, which was like a truck stop? And there's a semi truck with a multi car hauler and he's at the very end of the Power Tour picking up people that have died that have fallen off, you know, and stopped. So he picks us up and he's like the whole time we're riding in the cab, my wife and I are like, what the hell we going to do with this thing? It's now. A rock, I mean. And we're gonna have to get it going home. We're gonna tow it home. What are we going to do? I called the local Chevy dealer and I told them I had a Colorado. I need to get repaired. And they said. OK, bring it to us. I didn't tell him nothing about it. And I had looked underneath it. I called again my local Ford or my local Feld dealer in Saint Louis Feld Chevrolet, and Joann's connections with Feld Chevrolet. They were able to get an oil pan and they shipped it to me, and it was at the hotel. I had a friend of mine in Saint Louis. He went to a local salvage yard in Saint Louis and he got a new steering rack. Used steering rack for Colorado and he drove that that day because when this happened was early in the morning and he drove it from Saint Louis to Indianapolis and we went to the local Chevrolet dealer in Indianapolis and they were gracious enough to give us the shop. He said my guys are not going to work on this and I said, well, do you have? A welder and a saw. And I can use your tools and he said yes and we stayed absolutely overnight. Cut the front cross member out of this thing, but on a new rack. 

Speaker 

Link. 

John 

Bled everything, put it all back together. Put the oil pan on it, because with the new front, cross member of the Mustang 2 cross member, the oil pan sits. Right. Right on there. We have to pull the engine, get an oil pan on it. So we fix everything. And I think we slept for half an hour. We were able to make it back to the hotel. We left the Chevrolet dealer made it back to the hotel and caught up with Power Tour and left at 7:00 AM the next morning. Finished driving that thing down to Kissimmee, FL. Finished long Haul, finished power tour and drove it back home. And that repair that I made overnight is I checked it's still on that truck. It has never been changed in 20 years. 

Jason 

Wow. And how many miles does this thing have on it now? 

John 

27,000. 

Jason 

So somebody's gotten some use out of this thing over the years. Yes, you did Power tour. You probably put what, 12 hundred, 13 hundred miles? On that thing maybe. 

Speaker 

Something. 

John 

Like that, yeah. 

Jason 

And after that you're, you know, someone's gotten some use out of it. You don't, you know, you're driving a truck like that. Obviously not gonna drive in the winter time. You're gonna cruise in. You're gonna do cars and coffee type. Type things with it, but even then, this thing literally dropped off the face of the earth for a long period of time and wasn't seen by anybody. And now that it's back, you get to kind of go over it a little bit. You kind of coined the term earlier good parts in bad hands now, no. No disrespect to the previous owners, in some cases it's just a matter of people buying cars who don't know much about cars. But it's also about. You know, I buy this car and in order for me to preserve it, I'm going to park it and just never look at it again. Is what happens in some cases, so things get pitted. Things get a little bit rusted or corroded or things get just kind of. Dirty. How has the interior fared over these last 20 years? 

John 

Very, very well. The interior is great, the seats are not ripped up. Nothing is. Nothing's happened with the carpeting. The dashboard from the sun. I think it has a bubble in the top where it got painted. But there's no major issues. It had actually been owned by a person that was associated with the church. For a while, previous to the owner that we bought it from. Recently, and the truck actually that person wanted us to build a truck that looked like this. He called us at our shop when he saw this in the magazines and he wanted to build a truck. That was. It was called Gabriel's Horn. And some of the Catholics or Christians out there understand Gabriel's horn. You're going to hear the horn during the final days, and you're going to be judged. And which side do you want to sit on the side with the demons, which is red and flames or the side with Gabriel? Which is purple and gold. So half of this and we wanted to build the truck for him and at the time he said no. So when we sold the truck through channels of people, I think he was third or fourth owner. He actually wrapped the truck, half of it in purple vinyl. And it had note music notes down the sides. It has a picture of Gabriel St. Gabriel fighting the devil. It's still on the truck bed. You can kind of see it a little bit in the picture there. But the owner that we bought it from, he took the wrap off one side of it. So it was it's no longer half purple. 

Jason 

You know, looking at this, looking at this truck and looking at the flames down the side, the red and the black, I mean, as a Christian man myself, I look at that and I totally don't see, I don't see. Hell, I see a I see a beautiful custom paint job. You know, flames. 

John 

Are not. 

Jason 

Always or should they never always be associated with evil? I just think it's a cool thing to do to a classic hot rod. Is this a hot rod? Well, it is now. It might not have started out that way, but as we move into, you know, 20 years later, at some point, people are taking vehicles that were brand new. Months, right, John. And making them, making them their own, whether it's whether they're doing it when they're new or whether they're doing it 20 or 30 or 50 years. 

John 

Well, very much so. 

Jason 

Later, you know they're making it their own. And this one here certainly is a classic. I'm glad that it's been revived or rescued. And I'm, and I certainly hope that you and Austin get to work on together again and that we get to see this thing popping up. Never know, maybe it pops up on another. Any truck and magazine one day. 

John 

It's very possible. I've already been talking with several pages on Facebook and Instagram that they their content is comprised of then and now. Where are they now? Where is this truck now? And it's sad to see some of the trucks that we knew that were very, very famous in the 80s, nineties and 2000s. And they have the tops cut off of them, they have. All sorts of different things that are completely different than when you saw it, and they're always the chassis out from underneath it and the bodies off of it. And it's in the weeds behind some shop somewhere and either somebody went to jail, lost money or lost interest and a lot of times custom vehicles do not end up. In the same condition as ours was, I think we were very lucky. 

Speaker 

And I. 

Jason 

Think that's a good place to end this episode? Because we do have another rescue to talk about at some point in the near future, we'll be doing a podcast on that as well. Didn't turn out as good as this one as far as the condition of that vehicle, but nevertheless. 

Speaker 

Did. 

Jason 

If there's any topics that you guys like to hear and you want us to talk about, Converse, argue, whatever the case may be, make sure you head over to get out and dr.com hit the Lister hotline button way down at the bottom. Page send us a message. Let us know what you think. Tell us what you think about this truck. Tell us what you think about the fact that it's come back to its original owner and into the family and to be shown for more generations and people who may have never seen it the first time around. We encourage you guys to comment on that stuff. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with some more great content on the Get Out N Drive Podcast. We will see you guys next time. 

Announcer 

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John 

What drives you?