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But before Carl could even enjoy his new toy, the new owner of his Chevy was already complaining that there his new ride was leaking air like a sieve, unable to hold air for more than two hours at a time. At that point, if you can’t fix a supposed air leak, probably created by you in the first place, perhaps it’s time to throw in the towel. “I drove that truck everywhere,” Carl says. “I could leave it up for over two weeks without ever having an issue and this guy gets it and suddenly it won’t last two hours.” Moving forward, Carl will be the first to admit that he pretty much bought the truck as it sits in these pictures today. Giving credit where credit is due, most of the work was completed by the original owner and his team of builders. Thomas Matzke, the original owner of the Tacoma, started by sending the truck over to Chase at Real Life Kustoms in Camilla, Georgia to start this truck off right with a solid foundation. Starting out up front, the front clip of the truck was Z’d while the rest of the frame was scrapped and replaced with new frame rails. DJM upper control arms and Slam Specialties Re-7’s are utilized up front while the rear received a 1992 Toyota Hilux rear axle and a two link. To plant this Taco to the pavement, 20x7.5 American Racing rims were wrapped in 225/30/20 Nexxen rubber. Real Life Kustoms also continued the build by handling the body mods and paint scheme as well. With the truck body dropped 3 ¼”, the truck was completely shaved of all its unnecessary extremities, such as the door handles, tailgate, taillights, and antenna. The bed was smoothed out and a GTO hood snorkel was grafted on to the factory Tacoma hood. A Grant Kustomz full skin combo found its way out back while Street Scene mirrors replaced the factory ones. Once the body of the truck was worked to perfection, Chase sprayed the truck with Mono Chromatic 2005 350z blue while Pinstriping Mikey added the pinstriping on the hood. With the exterior of the truck was pretty much wrapped up, the truck was turned over to Dale at Xzibit Upholstery in Tampa, Florida to start on the interior. 1996 Toyota Celica seats were wrapped in blue and grey leather while the carpet was also laid in light grey as well. Steve Colley was then tasked to fiberglass the dash, which was then painted to match the exterior of the truck. A Colorado Customs billet steering wheel and billet handles gave a nice accent to the interior while Cyberdyne digital gauges rounded out the dash modifications. Steve Colley was called upon once again to add the killer stereo system found behind the front seats. A custom fiberglass box was built to house the two 15” Audiobahn subwoofers and the Audiobahn amplifers. Audiobahn 6 ¼” and 1” tweeters can be found in the doors and dash of the truck as well. To maintain control of all of this audio gear, a Kenwood head unit was mounted in the dash along with a 7” viewing screen. Carl would like to thank Thomas and Chase for all of their hard work and creativity that went into the truck, along with anyone else who was involved with the original build. He would also like to thank all of his Acrophobia family for all of their support to keep wrenching on the truck. And of course, he would like to thank his daughter for making a great decision.
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