On the exterior the full hand crafted metal truck has over 50 major modifications that are quick to notice such as hand built grill bars, hand made hood with a rounded upper cowl edge, and a handmade tonou cover with “speed bumps”. Also small details that are not quickly noticeable are, for example he rounded the back of the cowl to match the contour of the ’54 Bel Air windshield and of course the hideaway fuel billet knob neatly tucked away on the driver side body doorjamb. Every inch of the truck was hand crafted to perfection. Truly something that is not “bolt on” as some would say. The headlights are also an eye opener which came out of a mini cooper, but not just any mini cooper since the lights starred in the movie “The Italian Job”. The beautiful flowing paint was applied at Creative Images by Rick Valdez. Making the truck turn heads on the street (yes he drives it!) are fully polished billet Budnik M5’s with a 20/22” combo.

Moving to the interior the first thing you notice is the stunning billet steering wheel wrapped in the gorgeous embossed crocodile leather upholstered by Dan Most. The same leather was applied to the seats and the door panels. In the middle is a handmade steel center console and waterfall section with a whole in car CPU set up to make any car audio guru drool. One thing that you will never see anywhere else is the One-off Classic Instruments gauges in a custom cluster designed and built by Robbie himself. Moving towards the rear of his truck is an encapsulated rear tonue cover that is fully automated. Enclosed are all Kicker stereo components beating nearly 5000 watts of power. One L715 inch solo baric sub and (2) 12inch L7 Solo Baric subs, 3 pairs of SS6.5 inch component speakers, Autobahn head unit and Castle-Tek PC unit with (2) 10 inch Xenarc VGA touch screen monitors. Talk about audio clarity.

So the truck looks good and you know it sounds good, BUT is it fast? As we peer in the flawless engine compartment you will see a 350-inch LS1 Camaro engine with a fully polished Magna Charger feeding its nasty power through a B&M 4L60E transmission.
As we took pictures down the road you can see the whiplash as Robbie’s and Jaymie’s head bobble though the acceleration. What an awesome sight to see this custom’s engine beat into submission on to the street.

As I came to my conclusion I asked Robbie,“What inspires you to build and drive a custom truck?," "He replied, “I can’t drive anything stock, I just feel weird…”

Truer words were never spoken when you are in the field of customization. And you know what they say your first impression makes or breaks you. I think we can safly say we will be seeing more of robbies work in the future.

Project 48 impression made its debut in the Hot Hues booth at the SEMA show since then he has been on a complete winning spree that to this day is continuing strong.

Accolades and Trophies won: (the short list)
Best Truck and First in class at the San Francisco Rod and Custom Show.
Best Truck and First in Class at the Grand National Roadster show.
Sam Barris Memorial award
Manuel Arteche memorial award
Outstanding paint and achievement in the WMBC (world’s most beautiful custom) class at the Sacramento Autorama.
Best of show, best engine and first in class at Forbidden Fantasy.
First in class and best of Show at Spring Truck Jam.
First in class and Best of show at Pharcyde show in Modesto.
Invitation to the Fresno Autorama and Kool April Nites indoor display of dream works.

Robbie would like to thank the following:
I would like to thank all the sponsors, Pacific Auto Salvage, Hot Hues, Billet Accessories Direct, Budnik, EFX, Scosche, Accumat, Kicker, Iacono Design Group, Painless Performance, Flowmaster Exhaust, and definitely Slam Specialties! I would also like to thank my mom, dad and brother for making it all possible!

Article by Chachi Fonseca
Photography by Jason Mulligan & Nick De Casas