Pressure Cooker – James Bean’s Bagged Lincoln Continental

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 for it. He took James under his wing and said, “If you want to get this done for SEMA, you need to have $10g’s and a lot of time to spare, or I can’t help you.” James checked some things, and gave Adam the go-ahead. The build was on.

Six months before SEMA, phone calls were being made. Sponsors were being acquired, and parts were being shipped. The car was on its way to being ready for the show. The car needed some bodywork, and James wanted a few things shaved, so he went to his friend Tony Leveck of Las Vegas to help him out with the process. Tony shaved the side and front emblems on the car, and then they blocked it out to perfection. The car was blown apart to paint the jams and get it ready for paint. The interior was all gone, and the suspension wasn’t done. It was now just 2 ½ weeks before SEMA and the car was just a shell.

Things really flew by in the last two weeks. Adam, James and their mutual friend Anthony Pallan started to work on the suspension. Here’s an interesting stat that most people don’t know about the 1966 Lincoln Continental: It’s a unibody.  That made bagging the car a touch more difficult than a traditional frame-on-body vehicle, but they still installed Firestone airbags and a four link to get it done. The car still could go lower, but James wanted to keep the integrity of the unibody in place. The car also has factory disc brakes, which is pretty impressive for a ’66. Then they set the car down on a set of 20″ Colorado Custom billet wheels with 255/35 Pirelli PZero Rossos.

Next came the paint. In came Chris Haynes from Las Vegas to lay down the House of Kolor Tangelo Orange pearl, which he sprayed on the jams and various interior pieces to match the exterior. Around that same time, the custom roof was laid down, which is a brown vinyl phantom top with foam underneath. Once the car was painted, it was reassembled with freshly chromed bumpers, done by APC in Las Vegas.

While the car was being painted, the interior was off at Friends Upholstery in Henderson, Nevada. They wrapped the seats in a light brown ultraleather with orange piping. James then bolted up a Colorado Customs billet steering wheel and adapter, and the car was good to go.

The Lincoln was completed just hours before SEMA, and shortly after, he sold the car so that he could use the proceeds to help fund his new business. James went out on his own and started his own company, servicing cars of all makes and models. That doesn’t mean that he’s done with custom rides, though. What’s he planning on getting next? Believe it or not, another ’65-67 Lincoln. This time he’s going all out on it, as if this car wasn’t enough.

Makin’ You Sick – Clint’s Pepto Pink Frontier

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 in Mesa, Arizona. Kevin’s not a normal guy either, and he’s pretty handy with a plasma cutter and a welder. It was a match made in heaven.

The factory suspension is based off the 4X4 Frontier, so that had to go. Kevin cut off the front clip like it was nothing and in its place installed a front frame section from a ’94 Nissan Hardbody. After that, all of the crossmembers were raised up, and the rear end was swapped for a ’97 Hardbody axle. Now it was time to get this thing on the ground like it needed to be.

Up front, a set of 2-inch dropped spindles were paired with Slam Specialties bags to get the new front crossmember on the concrete. Kevin then built a custom 4-link to attach the new axle to the frame, then bridged and bagged the back half. Now the truck was laying frame and good to go, right? Nope. Clint wanted to go lower.

Out came the sawzall and the next few months were a blur. The truck was bodydropped 3.25 inches, the interior was done in black tweed and zebra print, and then the body was fully shaved and prepped for paint. Now the only question was, what color?

We asked Clint at our shoot that very question. “Dude, this is a sick color, but what made you pick pink?”

Clint turned to us, looked up from under his bowler hat and said, “Pink is my favorite color.”

Yeah, he’s different alright.

The resulting truck not only breaks stereotypes but also looks cool as well. Yes, the pink is a bit out there, but then again, so is Clint. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dragging 24/7 – John Trevino’s Bagged Chevrolet Silverado

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 the fenders on their truck and leave it as is, but not John. He took the truck to Grunion Fabrication in Phoenix, Arizona, and Kevin welded up some 33” fenders up front, and mounted the fuse box and overflow to the new tubs.

John gathered up some of the crew from his club, Perfect Poise, and they took on the big task of getting the truck from nosebleed status to dragging frame. Up front, they yanked the stock control arms and springs, and replaced them with DJM upper and lower control arms plus a pair of Slam Specialties airbags.

The stock rotors and calipers were replaced with a Baer Brakes Eradispeed plus 1 kit, which looks pretty sick behind the 22” Bonspeed Clutches and 255/30 Nitto 555’s. Out back, they yanked the axle and sent it off to be jet coated cobalt blue, and while they had some parts in the shop, they threw in the KP Components 6-link kit too and had it done in show chrome.

When everything got back, they bolted it all up and laid the truck on the newly notched frame. John hooked up the air system with a Viair 500 and a 6 gallon tank – but that’s just backup for the 50-pound nitrogen bottle held in the back of the bed. Eight SMC ½” valves are held together with ½” copper hardline, and the switches are housed in the custom center console with the Dakota Digital gauges – but more on that later.

On the outside, there’s the usual things like the shaved handles, taillights, tailgate, rollpan, and stake pockets, but there are a few killer tricks too. Like the custom wheel wells that are molded to the fender, or the Chevy HD hood, or the AMP billet gas door. John also has a Street Scene shaved cowl and cal-vu mirrors, plus a SnugTop tonneau cover.

Russel at H13 Kustoms in Phoenix, Arizona, took care of the body work that needed to be cleaned up, then he laid down the paint, which was all done with House of Kolor products. The paint scheme starts with a black upper half, then goes to Orion Silver on the bottom, and the two colors are separated by a Kandy Cobalt blue marbleized pinstripe. It took a while to get done, but now that it is, the truck looks sicker than ever.

John went to Todd Jubert at The Interior Shop for his interior, and as a result, has a sizeable collection of awards in his living room. Todd started by wrapping the headliner in suede and incorporating a killer flame pattern. Then the seats were wrapped in suede and BMW leather in a custom pattern. While Todd had the leather out, he wrapped the dash in it too, incorporating the same flame pattern. The door panels, were built by Todd, almost from scratch, using fiberglass, foam, and that same BMW black leather. If it’s billet, John has it. There’s the Trenz mirror, the vents, steering wheel and the numerous other accessories scattered around the inside of the truck.

The center console is really one of the cooler parts of the truck, and it was built by Aaron Ruddy from POE. Aaron built a custom fiberglass console that houses John’s A/C controls, airbag switches, and an Alpine DVD/CD player. That’s just one of the 5 monitors hidden in the truck, including a big one in the middle of the dash. The gauge surround and the console were painted in the same Kandy Cobalt blue that pinstripes the truck. Speaking of stereo stuff, the current setup was built by Tony at Noise Audio, and utilizes a MTX amp, and other components in the doors and pillars.

A truck like this isn’t built in a day, and John wouldn’t have been able to do it without a little bit of help from his friends. John would like to thank his club Perfect Poise, his family, Russel at H13 Kustoms, Tony at Noise Audio, AEM, Trenz, and Bill at Bonspeed. A lot of people doubted that John would ever get this truck done, but the important thing was that he never did.

Ren’s NorCal Ford F-150 – Bagged on Big Wheels

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 in their place went a set of AirRide Shockwaves, DJM lower control arms, and Total Chaotic heavy duty titanium upper control arms. Those upper arms have a uniball with a misalignment spacer instead of the balljoint, which allows them to kick back at some wicked angles without binding,letting the truck lay frame up front. All that work kicked the wheels into the engine bay, but to keep it all looking stock under the hood, they lifted the stock fenderwells three inches.

Out back, they bridged the frame and made mounts for AirRide 9100lb bags that were mounted on top of the axle. The whole system was done with ½-inch line, ½-inch AirRide valves, dual Viair compressors and a pair of chromed 6 gallon tanks. Keeping an eye on the system is a digital AirRide control panel, and a SIC Motorsports switch box. With all that work on the suspension, the booty 22” chromies had to go, so he ditched those and got a set of 22X8.5” Intro Twisted Vista 6’s, and mounted 265/40 Nitto’s on all four corners.

He had to be ready for the car shows now, right? Sure enough, Ren hit the scene and he was looking pretty tight, but wasn’t pulling any heavy jewelry home yet. What was the deal? Now he noticed people rolling around with custom paint, and he knew that graphics were next on his list. After getting a good referral from Dan at F.B.I., Ren decided to meet up with James Cashman of Cashman Customs in Concord, California. The two discussed ideas, and Ren showed James a few sketches of what he had in mind. After the meeting, it was time to go to work.

Ren wanted a clean look, but he didn’t want to move up a class because he had done too much. James kept it simple by shaving the tailgate handle and emblems, then smoothing out the stock door handles and painting them to match the graphics. Since the truck was still pretty new, and the stock toreador red looked clean, they decided to base the graphics on the stock color. The truck was painted using House of Kolor products, including Kandy Tangerine, Cinnamon Pearl, Candy Apple Red, and metallic silver. No detail was left untouched, even the bridge cover was decorated to match. By the time the truck was done, it was a whole new ride.

You should know by now what was next, another visit to a show, another new idea, and this time, his wife Rose brought it up. “You know, you might as well take it to the top,” she said. That woman is a keeper.

The interior was a whole new land for Ren, and it started by going back to Cashman Customs for some custom paint. James took the stock door panels, smoothed them flat and sprayed them the factory toreador red with some wicked tangerine pinstriping.Next, it was off to Larry’s Custom Upholstery in Napa, California to stitch in some red leather into the seat inserts. The whole family helps out with this truck too, as evidenced by the purchase of chromed interior pieces by Ren’s son Chris. Throw in some aluminum floor mats, and a Colorado Custom Climax steering wheel, and it’s a formula for a show winner, right?

Now it was time for the stereo, but it’s never just about the sound these days. Any cool truck has to have monitors everywhere, and Ren’s ride is no exception. It all starts with a double-din Kenwood DDX-7015 DVD Monitor head unit. The DVD portion feeds a video signal to a pair of Eiger Vision 5.6” monitors in the headrests, and a Microvision MTV-7SW mounted in a drop down off the headliner. For speakers, Bazooka mids and highs cover the front, while Eclipse’s run the rear doors. There’s also a JL Audio stealth box hidden under the seat, next to a pair of JL Audio amps; an e4300 for the mids & highs, and an e1800 for the sub. Motor Music of Concord, California hooked Ren up with the setup and the install for the Ford.

It took a long time, but Ren finally did make it to that show. That show was the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Now it’s time for the trophies.

Ren would like to thank his club Acrophobia, Clint & Nick at SIC Motorsports, Robert Espajo at Motor Music, and a special shout out to his parents, his son Christopher and his wife Rose.

Fastest SS In the West – John Melvin’s Supercharged Silverado SS

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 Concepts. There John uses his creative talents to bring out trucks with killer graphics, nutty paint jobs, and super straight lines. Along the way, John started collecting a small fleet of Chevrolet trucks, and decided to pick up a Silverado SS when they first came out to add to the stable.

This all came about when John first bought the truck, a few years ago, and took it to the track. It pulled a 15.3, which wasn’t real inspiring too him since his tow rig ’03 Duramax was running 14.7s. He had this 408 motor now that he was going to put into another truck – an ’02 Chevy – but since that wasn’t going anywhere, he figured he’d put the bottle on his SS. First time out, 12.88. Then at the Truckin’ Nats in 2003, he pulled a 12.65, putting it at the top of the list of the SilveradoSS.com forums, a spot it held for a long time.

With the need for speed now coursing through his veins, John needed to step up. It took a bit of time, but he got a Vortech supercharger kit for the truck, then pulled a few low 12 passes. After some tweaks and a belt change, it was high 11’s on the squeeze, and John was happy. Not everyone was, though.

This started a huge trash talking war between John and some of the guys with Ford Lightnings on their online forums. John ended up smoking one of the Ford crew members on the track, pulling a mid-11 pass. Between the smack talking and the other rule restrictions, John ended up getting put on probation by the NHRA. It’s all been worked out since, and John even started building a Lightning.

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make a truck this fast, and keep it looking this good. From the attention to detail under the hood, and the flawless black paint, this is one truck that looks amazing going down the track in the 11’s.

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