Season 2, Episode 85 - Have You Heard? The Modern Mini Truck is a Super Duty???

 

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Holman & Lightning (0s):

Hey, Holman Have You Heard. Nope. This truck is owned by our next guest. That my friend is a 22 Ford F two 50 with a Godzilla 7.3 and it is on the ground. And. I Heard that’s not on

Intro (18s):

The truck show. We’re gonna show you what we know. We’re gonna answer What? The truck. Because truck rides with The truck show. We have the lifted We have the lowered and everything in between. We’ll talk about trucks that run on diesel and the ones that run on gasoline. The truck show, The truck show. The truck show. Whoa Whoa.

Recording (50s):

It’s The truck show with your hosts Lightning and Holman.

Holman & Lightning (55s):

This episode of The Truck Show Podcast Have You Heard is proudly presented by Nissan with the Frontier Titan and Titan Xd. Nissan has a truck for every need, along with the legendary Nissan durability. Test Drive. your next truck at a local Nissan dealer today, Or point your browser to Nissan usa dot com where you can use the build and price tool to configure a Nissan truck that fits your lifestyle. And when you’re thinking about adding power or improving fuel economy, Banks has over 65 years of experience Whether. It’s cold air intakes or exhaust systems tuning, throttle control charge, air cooling, lubrication components, and much more. No one offers smarter, safer, 50 state emissions compliant performance parts than Gale Banks. You’ll find the best engineered parts for your truck at banks power dot com.

Holman & Lightning (1m 38s):

And when You’re looking for quality full synthetic lubrication for your truck, AMS oil has you covered with motor oil lubricants and protectants grease additives and more. AMS oil, synthetic lubricants deliver wear protection, engine cleanliness and fuel efficiency that conventional oils simply can’t match. Find out how AMS oil synthetic lubricants can save you money and time by helping your vehicles run better and last longer than with conventional oils at ams oil dot com. When it comes to lubrication, AMS oil is the leader in synthetics All, right? Let’s track down Mr. Tim Gilbert. He’s a member of negative Camber out there in Florida and he’s in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. His cell reception has been awful.

Holman & Lightning (2m 19s):

But I. Think he hauled butt back to the cabin to hop on the phone with us. So if you don’t mind, let’s dial up Tim Gilbert out of, well he’s currently in North Carolina.

Tim (2m 32s):

Hello.

Holman & Lightning (2m 33s):

Hey, is this Mr. Tim Gilbert? It’s Lightning and Home at Truck Show Podcast. What’s happening?

Tim (2m 37s):

It is. I

Holman & Lightning (2m 39s):

Now, why do you sound so beaten down, aren’t you at ville? At the mini truck in nationals?

Tim (2m 45s):

I am at the Mini Truck Nationals, the Super Bowl of mini trucks.

Holman & Lightning (2m 48s):

He found out that his truck was too giant to be considered a mini truck and well, Don’t spoil it. Don’t Spoil it. He feels Defeated now. No, no, no, no. No one knows what we’re talking about yet. Right. So here’s the deal. Tim And, I have been speaking for a really long time, what feels like three years, it’s probably only about a year or so when he divulged the news that he would be buying a either 22 or 23 Ford F two 50 with a 7.3 liter gas engine. He would be basically gutting it and bagging it and putting it on the ground with a new chassis. I thought, that’s kinda wild. You’re gonna make a full-size truck look like a mini and that’s exactly what he intended to do.

Holman & Lightning (3m 30s):

Sent him a couple parts and he’s been like leaking me photos and it looks amazing. And apparently you just drove this truck after like just days of being completed. You drove The truck from Orlando, Florida where you live, to Maggies, North Carolina to mini truck gnats All, right. Hold on. Help me out here. What makes it like a mini truck and not just a lower short and Super Duty,

Tim (3m 51s):

A single cab short bed. Okay. Which Ford does not make

Holman & Lightning (3m 55s):

Short and wide. I love that.

Tim (3m 56s):

So I had to, yeah, I got a crew cab bed ’cause they’re shorter and, and you, when You wanna order a single cab, you have to go bed or cab and chassis. So I just got the long bed so I’d have the taillights, the, the camera, the, you know, the tailgate and all that. So I bought a single cab long bed, which is the only way you could And I bought an xl, I upgraded with the Godzilla motor, the seven three gas And I got the best stereo I could get a bigger screen and just pretty much just, it’s still a work truck ’cause it’s got vinyl, everything, vinyl floors and all that. I haven’t had a chance to get to that yet. That’s Jimmy builds him really solid and he is a really good builder. So he is in high demand. So I was on a waiting list. So I bought, I decided to buy the bed before I even got The truck.

Holman & Lightning (4m 38s):

So you had this done at Jimmy’s Rod and Custom, where’s that? And how did you choose them Over some of the other guys that are known for making crazy custom chassis?

Tim (4m 50s):

He, his builds is, I’m not the first one to just jump a, after taking it and go across the country. I I just stayed on the, on the East Coast. But there’s been several guys that go to go to SEMA after picking it up. And guys that go to LST towing another truck after just picking it up. That’s their shakedown run. He’s close to me too. He is an hour away. He’s in Edgewater, Florida, which is, you know, kind of close to Daytona. And, I. I’m closer to Orlando.

Holman & Lightning (5m 13s):

So did you just shorten the frame or is there a different chassis underneath and what did you have to do?

Tim (5m 18s):

It’s all new and that’s funny. My dad, that blows his mind that I bought a brand new truck, lifted the body off, took the engine out and threw everything else away. But yeah, he, he builds some out of a, a plate steel. He cuts ’em on a plasma and then, then welds ’em all together.

Holman & Lightning (5m 32s):

So what’s the ion on that thing?

Tim (5m 34s):

We ditched the I-beams. He takes factory spindle at the end of the, I-Beam and modifies it to take a, I think it’s, i it’s a fancy ball joint, but it’s, it’s uni ball or hyper joinin or something like that. I forget what it’s called. But, but to, to really, they really flex and he makes it into a, you know, just a regular control arm set up.

Holman & Lightning (5m 53s):

So is it

Tim (5m 54s):

His own design,

Holman & Lightning (5m 55s):

Is it body dropped over the new chassis or is it just laying frame?

Tim (5m 59s):

No, it’s bo the body is on the ground. Absolutely. He, he doesn’t cut the floor of The truck though. It’s a stock, what’s called a stock floor body drop I guess. But the chassis’s built for that cab to stay under the cab and the body still lay on the ground.

Holman & Lightning (6m 11s):

It’s, it, no, it, it’s sick. You guys gotta see, it’s, so Tim, your Instagram it, it’s short for negative Camber Florida. But what is it NC what what’s your, what’s your gram

Tim (6m 22s):

NC Florida Original and the reason for that is I. I didn’t start the club but me and five guys started the, the Florida chapter and so I’m one of the Florida originals is is why I did that. But NC Florida Original Yep. Is my Instagram.

Holman & Lightning (6m 35s):

Gotcha. Now talk us through like the Wheel choice, things like that. You’re up, you’re on at least 20 twos, right? Oh, those are

Tim (6m 42s):

Way bigger. Yeah, they’re 20 sixes. Yeah, 26. Yeah, they’re sixes.

Holman & Lightning (6m 46s):

A lot of guys are put

Tim (6m 47s):

Thirties on them and a lot of guys are putting thirties on ’em now and they look killer. My only thing with that is you gotta lift it higher to turn and stuff like that on the big trucks. And I like to ride low, but also the tire selection, And I plan on driving it. I I drive it to the shows. This is the first one I’ve gone to. But, I’m gonna drive it everywhere. It will not be on a trailer unless it’s broken.

Holman & Lightning (7m 5s):

So what was, okay, so you, you have this commission, you have it done, he calls you, says come pick up the keys. What was your first drive like and then was there anything you had to do before you got prepped for your road trip? And is this the longest trip you’ve taken in it so far?

Tim (7m 20s):

Yeah, I, I’ve only owned The truck. I’ve only had The truck back a week. I got it back last Saturday.

Holman & Lightning (7m 25s):

Damn.

Tim (7m 27s):

When we go, no But I. but it gets better when we, when we go to Maggie Valley, we stayed for the whole week. So I got it back last Saturday. Took it to the tire store that I bought, that I bought the pressure sensors at, and he installed all the tires. They were not put on The truck at that time, so I had to get ’em all activated so they’d work. So I drove to the tire store and then back home, which is about an hour. Once I got done at the tire store, we, we packed up The truck, everything got ready and we left the next morning at five in the morning to come to Maggie Valley. So I I had a shakedown of one hour. Oh my

Holman & Lightning (7m 59s):

God. Locally, you know who one of drove for Tim’s prolific followers are? No, who’s that? Dirt head, Dave. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. All all of I’m looking through is feed and all of ’em are like liked by dirt head Dave. And he’s like sick. Cool. Right. So I was like All. right. That’s that’s a, that’s a good follow Right there. Yeah, that’s a good endorsement right there.

Tim (8m 13s):

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. He’s in, he’s in the club. He’s been in the club a long time too.

Holman & Lightning (8m 18s):

Good dude. And so the, the color scheme for those of you that haven’t gone to the Instagram yet. It is, it’s an all white truck except for all the chassis work. Is Lime, is it lime green? No, it’s not lime green, but it’s like a day glow green. It’s Like Kawasaki green Or something. Yeah, no, Kawasaki green is deeper. This is like day glow. Like, like a a a like a, a safety vest. Green

Tim (8m 38s):

Antifreeze. Like an antifreeze green is the way I describe it. The color on the wheels is different from the chassis though because that color is an illusion color from prismatic. It’s called Shock or yellow. but it turn, when it turns out it looks green to me. But And I chose it for that. ’cause I love Lime Green, but the one on the chassis as close, close as I could get it in a single stage because illusion colors you have to base in Chrome. And my powder coder didn’t think, doesn’t want to, didn’t want to do that ’cause she didn’t feel it would, it would stick and it would also look like a different color being that it wasn’t a based in a brush like the wheels are. If that makes sense. Yeah. Oh,

Holman & Lightning (9m 10s):

Got it. Yeah. Gotcha. Looking at the chassis right now, you’ve got of some photos of it, it looks pretty badass Or do you like the, the banks rear diff cover on there. Holman, I’ve Always liked the That’s But that has to be the worst marketing move lighting’s ever made because you can never see, nobody ever knows it’s back there. Honestly. No, here’s the thing is that no, no one will ever see it, you know, ’cause I don’t, you don’t have a, do you have a panel that comes up in the middle of the bed so you can put that in Free product contract? No, make make Banks part visible through plexiglass Sight window in bed.

Tim (9m 42s):

No, it’s on the back window though.

Holman & Lightning (9m 44s):

No I I didn’t do that. I I,

Tim (9m 46s):

And I. Tell everybody about it.

Holman & Lightning (9m 47s):

I just did it ’cause I thought it was super cool and it’s like one of those hidden kinda like Easter eggs, you know, under The truck. Oh, it’s Hidden. Yeah, it’s definitely hidden. It’s got all kinds of cross members in front of you can’t see the logo, but it’s going under there. Hey Tim, take us through the engine. Well hold, hold on. I I engine and Whoa Whoa. We, I wanna find out how it rode on his road trip. Like what, what that was about. Okay. Because he had it for a week. I, I’m, I’m curious. You, you hit the highway and you’re up to 70 miles an hour, 75, you realize your one Wheel shot all the Wheel weights off of it and now it feels like you’re rolling on eggs. And then the, the drive shaft was too long. So it plunged into itself and exploded and, and took the bet off with any carnage? Or was it just like dead nuts.

Holman & Lightning (10m 27s):

Perfect. The first

Tim (10m 28s):

All lies all lies. None of none

Holman & Lightning (10m 29s):

Of that

Tim (10m 30s):

Happened. All lies. No, it, it rode like it was on air.

Holman & Lightning (10m 33s):

It’s awesome man.

Tim (10m 34s):

Wait,

Holman & Lightning (10m 37s):

Whose air system is it Accu Air or What? are you running

Tim (10m 40s):

Accu Air is the, is the air management via air for compressors. Okay. And then I think the bags are airlift. That’s what, that’s what Jimmy likes. He’s used several of ’em and that’s the one he likes the best. Especially on the bigger trucks. Oh

Holman & Lightning (10m 51s):

My God. That you’ve just got like Aire works with everybody. But I can’t, how dare you put airlift and Accu Air together, like two competitors on the same build oil and water

Tim (11m 0s):

I. Don’t think Accu Air makes bags themselves.

Holman & Lightning (11m 3s):

No they don’t. Right. But

Tim (11m 4s):

We could have gone with slams. He’s used those before. But for the bigger trucks, I I think the, the the bag sidewalls a little stiffer and it seems to work better.

Holman & Lightning (11m 13s):

Do you, in his experience now did he do, did he do hard lines or is it all soft line?

Tim (11m 18s):

No, everything is stainless steel. Hard lines great.

Holman & Lightning (11m 20s):

Yeah. ’cause when you’re carrying that much weight, you don’t want something to fail.

Tim (11m 24s):

And he wants Yeah, he he runs a minimum amount of connections like You know just because it’s more leak points.

Holman & Lightning (11m 33s):

How does he get the engine? Like where does he have to reposition the engine in order to slam The truck that far? Because typically with that seven three, it’s, it’s out the bottom un between the frame rails. Right. I mean, so you lay, you lay the engine out on the ground, but You gotta remember he’s doing a different chassis number one. And number two they have the engine rides higher in the chassis, the stock chassis anyway ’cause there’s a solid axle it needs up travell. Oh. And same with the i-beam. So solid axle. So I think you can drop the engine in the new one and still fit it under the hood and not scrape the ground. ’cause you’re not worried about up travel with the A arms. Right Tim?

Tim (12m 7s):

The engine does sit higher in there and And I eventually. I wanted to put a supercharger on it. But I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that without redoing the cow a little bit. But that may be a possibility. but it does sit a little bit higher because the, the thing that hung that was in the way was not the motor so much as that big 10 speed.

Holman & Lightning (12m 23s):

Yeah that thing

Tim (12m 24s):

Massive high enough. The floor hasn’t been touched but he had to raise the, the tunnel I think five inches is what he told me.

Holman & Lightning (12m 31s):

That’s a huge tunnel.

Tim (12m 32s):

The transmission tunnel. Yeah.

Holman & Lightning (12m 33s):

Yeah, absolutely. God 10 speed. Yeah, it’s a, that’s a big boy under there. And

Tim (12m 37s):

So And I have the bench seat, that’s the 40 20 40. And we were able to keep all that. ’cause I wanted the option to, to be able to sit three across if I wanted to. That’s

Holman & Lightning (12m 45s):

Awesome. Total traditional Activ. Dude, there’s not enough bench seats in the world. No, There’s Just literally like there’s the, I love a good bench seat in a regular cab truck. It’s funny that he’s keeping it real God Real. Like he could do it all. So like super modern. But there’s just touches that are like, nope, I’m keeping this old school. It’s the modern tech, but it’s the old school feel. It’s this interesting thing, vibe he’s trying to pull off vibe, pull off. For sure. So what about all the wiring and all that stuff? Like pulling it off the chassis. It’s got plastic tabs that hold it in it everywhere and then you’ve got like, it had to be a rat’s nest coming off and then putting it back in like that had to just be a challenge.

Tim (13m 23s):

Funny you say Rat’s Nest actually waiting, waiting for the, we have, we have storms in, in, in, in central Florida, you know, hurricanes and whatnot. So one of the hurricanes came through while, while I was waiting my turn, I had the, I just had The truck. I bought it in 21. It’s 22 and, and then he didn’t take it in until October last year. And 23 actually bring The truck in. So anyways, it wasn’t rats, but squirrels got in and ate my wiring harness in my brand new truck. No.

Holman & Lightning (13m 52s):

So that, that’s a big problem. Started

Tim (13m 53s):

Once a while. Oh. yeah

Holman & Lightning (13m 55s):

Man, That so that’s a big

Tim (13m 58s):

And be a long I. Couldn’t fit it in my garage. Exactly, exactly. So I talked to Jimmy, I took it to Ford not knowing what the problem was and they’re like, we can’t cover this. There’s a nest in here. So it was, it was not covered under warranty. So they wanted two grand to put a new wiring harness. Jimmy has to go through it and, and stretch it anyway, so he is like, yeah, don’t, don’t worry about that. We’re gonna have to, it still ran, but it had a miss. So I went through and tried to butt connect And. I got it. Had two misses. A brand new truck. So I, I, I got it better where it run and I bought a new harness from Ford and then they took it up there and they, they put a new harness in it, but they had to extend it anyway. So anyway, all that’s taken care of. But they, they build a whole new wiring harness and put it, they usually will stretch and, and redo the factory stuff.

Holman & Lightning (14m 42s):

Gotcha. Is what they do.

Tim (14m 44s):

Put it in all New

Holman & Lightning (14m 45s):

Loom. Just so much work. It’s just so much work to do this to a truck. I love it. The end product is fricking stunning. It just, I’ve never owned a lower truck before but I’ve said it a hundred times on this podcast. Someday I’m gonna have a bag truck. I know I I almost had one. You almost did it. And I screwed it up with Lock Jaw. Ah, But I. Yeah. I know I know I know. You told me so a hundred times. I’m saying Yeah, I know. Yes you did. You did. I I get it.

Tim (15m 12s):

One, one of the cool things about this show that I’m at in Maggie Valley is the, the little town lets you cruise, the police supervise it and they let you drag and do everything. Like I’m not dragging this truck. But I do ride low like an inch off the ground. And I just, I was just filmed by Grindr tv I don’t know if you know who that is. Yeah, Brian Good. Who’s he’s, yeah, because coming out the show we have to make a right. So I mean I was obligated to air it out and show everybody, you know what I’m saying? How does it And I had to go back. How

Holman & Lightning (15m 36s):

Does it turn down the other when you’re, when you’re aired out, how does it turn?

Tim (15m 39s):

I cannot turn. But I can change lanes. you know what I mean? Okay, yeah. The 26 is just so big. It’s up in there. And But I can change lanes and, and, and no problem.

Holman & Lightning (15m 47s):

Do you have some sort of reverse curb feelers inside your fenders so that they start making noise against your tire before you blow your fenders completely off by turning with The truck slammed?

Tim (15m 58s):

Yeah. Well what he does that a lot of people other people don’t do is he put an inner fender wall and it attaches to the lip of, of, of the factory fender and all that. That well the, the the, the F two 50 is, is aluminum. And so his inner fender that bolts in, he made that out of steel and it’s all bed lined. So if you touch that I mean you’d have to really want to rip the fender off to really to, if you’re listening you’ll hear it touch that first You know what I mean. Smart.

Holman & Lightning (16m 24s):

So the tire’s gonna touch first and not the Wheel, not not the rim. ’cause that would be catastrophic. Correct. Okay. All, right.

Tim (16m 31s):

Yeah. But it’s not gonna rip the fender off. Like if you had that little edge on the a fender only, you know, you could take the fender with it or cut a tire. This is all I mean I I. Don’t know if I’m explaining it right, but the way it meets on the outside, there’s that on the inside and then they’re, then they’re attached together with

Holman & Lightning (16m 47s):

Screws. It’s, yeah. So it’s got an inner liner but it’s rolled like you would with like a, a European sports car or something. Yeah, you roll that So

Tim (16m 54s):

It’s nice screw correct. Rolled It’s rolled to the aluminum fender. Exactly. Got

Holman & Lightning (16m 57s):

It. Okay. Yeah, super cool. Okay, so it took a couple years, like what, a year and a half to get this thing done? Two years to complete the build?

Tim (17m 5s):

Well, including waiting But. I. I just dropped it off in October, so, so only six months in the shop. Oh,

Holman & Lightning (17m 10s):

Okay,

Tim (17m 10s):

Okay. It’s just the waiting list really. I bought The truck ahead of time ’cause You know we had that thing where the, where we couldn’t get those things and everything was, you know, the Oh, the pandemic was in short supply. Yeah,

Holman & Lightning (17m 20s):

Yeah. Yep,

Tim (17m 20s):

Yep. Yes. That thing,

Holman & Lightning (17m 23s):

The Thing of which we will not mention Lightning. Right. We dare not speak its name. That’s right. Yeah. I don’t want you to necessarily tell us what you paid But I am dying to know, but he wants to Know how Much it costs. I do not wanna know that. If I, if I bought a, let’s say I could afford a used F-150 or I, I wouldn’t do a two 50 ’cause that’s your thing. I don’t wanna step on your toes, but if I got like an F-150 or something like that, what do you think a ballpark is for a new chassis? To lay it out beautifully like you did where it’s an actual, it could be a daily driver for me.

Tim (17m 56s):

I could have bought your, your TRX for sure.

Holman & Lightning (18m 0s):

And then how many other cars also

Tim (18m 3s):

And, I, And, I, And I have no interior and I’m done. But I. I ain’t mad I wouldn’t trade it for a Corvette. So it’s all good. Yeah.

Holman & Lightning (18m 11s):

Oh that’s, it’s cool. It’s gonna get more looks than my TRX I’ll tell you that for damn sure. All. right. So enough about your Super rad Slam Super Duty where Lightning is trembling with jealousy over here. We have to know about the mini truck Nats What, like what, what’s the show like this year? What’s out there, What? are you seeing What are the trends that are happening because we haven’t, you know, we always joke that everybody who’s on the show somehow touched mini trucks at some point in their automotive life career. You know hobby, whatever. We haven’t talked about it in a while. So what’s happening in the world of mini trucks?

Tim (18m 44s):

Well this is my first full size. So I’ve all done done all mini trucks until this one as far as full custom. But yeah, I mean they’re still out there. They’re still, we they still bring ’em out. They come out of the woodwork for, for mini nats people debut here. And I was lucky enough to get my, I I’ve tried to debut at LST You know whatever and it wasn’t done. I was just like, I, the chips fall where they may, when it’s done, it’s done. you know? And so this is where it ended up. They don’t let a whole lot of full sizes in there. But mine was chosen on a, on a rendering, luckily. Wow. The guy that puts on the show, that’s rare Bel there it’s it’s invitation only. Well not invitation only, but you submit and then they choose you. ’cause they ha they only have 750. I think he could easily put double that in there if they had the space.

Tim (19m 24s):

But seven 50 is the number that they have. And so, so they, they have to pick, pick and choose. But there’s way more than that that come here and cruise. And that’s what it, it’s that’s almost better than the show. The show’s great. He does a great job. But like I said, the town supports it. And When, you go into the restaurants and stuff, they’re like, we we’re glad you’re here and everything. It’s just, it’s just awesome. I tried to get Jay to come, I was telling him, but he’s I think he had other, too many other conflicts. But it’d be cool for you guys to, to come out to at one time.

Holman & Lightning (19m 50s):

I think it’d be awesome. And

Tim (19m 51s):

I went to show Fest back in the day I went to Texas. He

Holman & Lightning (19m 53s):

Goes back in

Tim (19m 54s):

The day. I’ve been to a lot of good shows.

Holman & Lightning (19m 56s):

Oh man, the memory.

Tim (19m 57s):

But this is, this is the Super Bowl. In my opinion

Holman & Lightning (20m 0s):

I mean he waved back in the day was Epic. And well the thing is show fest Hold on a second. Was un I know what Show. So there was a lot of TNA that happened back in those days. Right. This is a lot of,

Tim (20m 11s):

Is more friendly. I’m not,

Holman & Lightning (20m 12s):

We’re all grown grownups now. I’m old now so

Tim (20m 13s):

This is definitely more, this is definitely more family friendly But I at the, as far as the cruising back then they used to let you drag and everything at Show Fest and that was the, that was the cool part about that. Until, until they shut it, shut it down at a certain point. But here they just let you do it all night if you want. The only thing they don’t like is burnouts and standing in the middle of the street taking pictures. You gotta stand on the side. They made a few rules because of the, all the takeover stuff I guess this year. Yeah, yeah. Smart But I haven’t really That’s smart. The difference, to be honest with, they were reasonable. Whatever they said was reasonable and they still let you drag. That’s just the burnout thing. But

Holman & Lightning (20m 45s):

So one of the questions I think that Holman had that I do as well and that’s what is the state of mini Truckin today and not at the mini truck Nats and, and thank you for bringing us up to speed on that event, but like how many guys are doing what you are doing both on the, you’ve done it kind of at the highest level, right? The only thing above you is taking like a brand new duramax or something and slamming that out. you know, now you’re at like 200 grand or something. I I would assume, right? Yeah,

Tim (21m 8s):

There’s yeah, there’s guys doing that for sure.

Holman & Lightning (21m 10s):

Oh. yeah. Yeah. We’ve seen, you know, from Fat Fabs and his builds are all big, big bucks. Right. But is there another generation that we are not seeing that are taking Nissan’s, Toyotas new ones and making the modern mini trucks? Or is it only, is There such a thing as a modern mini truck Or is it only yesteryear?

Tim (21m 30s):

I’ve seen several mavericks out here, but a buddy of mine, Scott has a, a Maverick that’s all Wheel Drive that’s bagged. He didn’t bring it here ’cause he is, he has so many mini trucks he has to choose ’cause he has quite a few mini trucks. So he didn’t bring that here. But he, he has a Mazda with an Ls in it and his wife has a, a geo tracker that’s on bagged on twenties

Holman & Lightning (21m 49s):

And you know, Geotrack Geo Tracker are rad. I don’t care. I don’t care who you are to. It’s just

Tim (21m 54s):

Idea. Yeah they’re 20 inch race lines. Yeah it’s bitching

Holman & Lightning (21m 56s):

Rock on people. That’s hilarious. Is it a bunch of guys that are our age just like rekindling the past, reliving the past? Or are you seeing there’s, do you think there will be, ’cause look you could take a brand new Frontier. Is their generation coming up behind you? Yeah,

Tim (22m 11s):

There are. There are some but it looks like to me that they’re going for the older stuff and trying to, trying to find, find the older stuff and still still build true mini trucks. you know, I don’t I don’t think they’ve warmed up to the plus plus even a Maverick’s 25 grand and You know the The base. Base base.

Holman & Lightning (22m 26s):

Yeah. They raised it five 5,000 now.

Tim (22m 29s):

Right? The hybrid one is now the premium one. They flip flopped it. Yeah. But

Holman & Lightning (22m 33s):

Yeah, it’s expensive.

Tim (22m 35s):

I kind of dig them but You know whatever but I don’t think the young people are into it yet. Just I think more, more the cost. The cost of entry because when I got into it, that’s why I got into it’s ’cause it was cheap. I was in high school and I I had a Nissan hard body. That was my first one. My mom co-signed And I bought a brand new one. Damn.

Holman & Lightning (22m 54s):

And it cost you what, like 6,900 Bucks or something like That? Six grand, seven grand?

Tim (22m 58s):

Nah, I think it was 82 50 if I remember right. All. right, okay. The payment was 1 180 8.

Holman & Lightning (23m 3s):

Oh that was a nice one.

Tim (23m 6s):

And this was a 90. So at that time they came with carpet, still crank windows and like I said, just AC is really the only option I got. But yeah, that was a fun one. I told my, my mom I was gonna get a sunroof put in it And I, And I took it to my buddy’s shop and had a target top cut in it.

Holman & Lightning (23m 22s):

Oh no that’s not a sunroof. Oh I bet she was real happy after cosigning that load.

Tim (23m 27s):

Yeah, no she was not.

Holman & Lightning (23m 30s):

As it turns out that’s, that’s not f or accurate. Where Is that hard body today?

Tim (23m 36s):

Long gone long. You

Holman & Lightning (23m 38s):

Mean you have long gone, you have no idea who has it?

Tim (23m 39s):

I I went, it went through several iterations when I first did in high school it was just static as low as he could ripping reflectors off and, and that type of thing. Then I decided it would be a nice idea to put hydraulics on it and this, this was still my only transportation but oh man. And then, then after that I still owned that when the, when the hydraulics seemed less practical, I bought an astro van and then that was just static and that’s what I got in camera with painted it Banana pearl. And then I did a to Turbo Toyota. That was body dropped at that time. We you did, you cut the floor. So I did a a four inch body drop on that. It was ridiculous with a no head room. But that one I put a Ragtop in a few years ago. I I. I was ha feeling nostalgic for that.

Tim (24m 21s):

That same Toyota that I never finished. So I bought another one. It was not Turbo ’cause those are very hard to find. but it was the same truck, only long bed. I’m not, I’m too keen on long beds generally, but the extra cab long bed, it didn’t look too bad. And so I went with it and then that one I body dropped but left it static. So I had 17 inch buttons Switchblades on it and it would, it, we narrowed the suspension enough that I could steer lock the lock with it. Tuck in Dude

Holman & Lightning (24m 46s):

Bud Necks were the Wheel for A while. And I know I haven’t even heard that. I Haven’t heard that name in forever. That so long. Yeah, those in like Als, And, I know an’s still around. But like Yankee was the thing back then. I I

Tim (24m 55s):

Had als on it first. ’cause when I was in high school, the al R nine was the Wheel I lusted after. Sure. So I had those on it first and then I saw on Craigslist, believe it or not, or maybe it was Marketplace probably at that time a set of a set of Bud Neck Switchblades and Bud Neck does not reproduce the, the classics. At least at that time they didn’t. So I I ran ’em that the way they, I had ’em re-drill ’cause they were drilled for an Astro And I had a center cap so I could dual drill it and you wouldn’t see it. And then I ran ’em for that. They were on an astro. So the offset was a little deeper than I would’ve liked. So eventually I ended up sending them out to Chris Coddington and he regrouped the buttons. He, he’ll he doesn’t care. He’ll do whatever Wheel. And, and he, he made ’em more positive. And I narrowed them to seven Inches.

Holman & Lightning (25m 36s):

Who just bought Mini Truck and Mag or what’s the magazine that is now getting going? Like they bought the rights to it and and they’re resurfacing the magazine.

Tim (25m 45s):

Yeah, they, they actually debuted the first copy here. I have a subscription, But I. So I haven’t gotten mine, but they brought a whole bunch here. And I flipped through it. Yeah, Logan has bought, has bought that. And they’re, they’re reproducing it. It’s, it’s subscription only in the first year. I think it’s three issues for 25 bucks. And it’s on really nice paper. Really thick. I don’t know, it’s like a coffee table mag. It’s really nice. It’s

Holman & Lightning (26m 6s):

Newspaper. The way you gotta do it these, some

Tim (26m 8s):

Days it’s, it’s, that’s a premium price for a magazine. But I. I still like the magazines. I still like the holding my hand and look at it. You know. I don’t know

Holman & Lightning (26m 16s):

All. right. Well listen, you got, is it one more day of Maggie Valley in you?

Tim (26m 20s):

Well I’m gonna go back out there and cruise some more tonight. That’s what they do. And it’ll probably be till midnight. I don’t know. I’m old so I don’t know if I’ll stay out that long. But it’s, it’s a good time.

Holman & Lightning (26m 30s):

You got the family with you or you solo?

Tim (26m 33s):

No, my wife goes everywhere with me. She’s my ride or die. She’s the one that, the reason I can do all this.

Holman & Lightning (26m 37s):

It’s awesome when You have a wife who will let you go after your hobbies and enjoy them. Oh for

Tim (26m 42s):

Sure. Yeah, she’s always been that way. Our kids are grown 22 and 24. My my daughter doesn’t like car shows too much. And my son would love to be here, but he’s working. He he’s in it. He, he’s 24 and he, he was building an arranger but You know he’s trying to get on his own. So every and everything costs money that you wanna do a house and all that. All that’s up right now. So he’s trying, but, but yeah, he’ll have something cool one day.

Holman & Lightning (27m 5s):

Do, do you have friends that are like, you know, Hey Tim, are you still in mini trucks? Like isn’t that a kid thing? Do you ever get any of that pushback? Oh? yeah.

Tim (27m 13s):

Oh. yeah. Like at the high school reunion and people that I went to high school with yet. Oh. yeah. I don’t care.

Holman & Lightning (27m 19s):

Have you told your daughter yet that she’s no longer part of your family?

Tim (27m 24s):

No, that’s fine.

Holman & Lightning (27m 26s):

Alright, well listen Tim, get back out to the action. I’m kind of disappointed you were inside in your cabin ’cause it’s nice and quiet in there. I was hoping to have you out on the street, like with all the, the hoopla, the breaking bots dots off the streets and stuff. But you didn’t have any, when we tried to call, call you earlier, you didn’t have any reception. So I appreciate you stepping back into the cabin to get on the phone with us and No, I love it. Listen, I’ve wanted to talk to you.

Tim (27m 49s):

I listen to about every, all the time.

Holman & Lightning (27m 50s):

Thank you very much. We appreciate that because like you’re keeping this alive and you know, you’ve heard us talk about this a bunch. Like it all comes back to mini Truckin obviously in this age group, right? It’s like you either were a mini trucker or your best friend was a mini trucker. Like it just touches everyone and it’s so rad that you’re keeping this alive and, and the new rig is amazing and F two 50 on the ground, you gotta see it. So give us that Instagram one more time.

Tim (28m 18s):

NC Florida original

Holman & Lightning (28m 20s):

NC Florida original. Awesome dude, Thanks for coming on the show and we really appreciate you listening for all these years. I dunno why you keep doing that, but hopefully us having you on was a little bit of a payback. Awesome.

Tim (28m 31s):

I appreciate it. You got it.

Holman & Lightning (28m 33s):

All, right? Have fun. Thank you. Alright,

Tim (28m 35s):

Later. Later.

Holman & Lightning (28m 37s):

The truck Show Podcast is a production of Truck Famous LLC. This podcast was created by Sean Holman and Jay Tillis with production elements by DJ Omar Khan. if you like what you’ve heard, please open your Apple podcast or Spotify app and give us a five star rating. And if you’re a fan, there’s no better way to show your support than by patronizing our sponsors.

7 (28m 59s):

All the money I get from my paychecks, that all goes to my truck. So can’t really help it. Kind of like a disease, huh? Yeah.