Huddy rescued his current 88' Toyota from its previous owner in 1999 for the sum of $3400.00. It sported the factory 22RE fuel injected motor backed up by an automatic tranny. It wasn't long after getting the truck home till Huddy had an idea in his mind of what he wanted to do to this new project. Huddy wanted something different, not the typical body dropped and wild graphics paint scheme mini's we see every were today, but something that mixed just a tad of the original mini truck heritage with a touch of the new styles that are popular today. With that in mind Huddy set off on a two-year journey to build one extremely clean mini.
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Huddy called upon a good friend and fellow Negative Camber member to do the suspension work and plant the frame on the ground, David "LaDave" Jones owner of New Design Customs in Walker, Louisiana. Once LaDave got an idea of what Huddy wanted done it was time to get started. Dave started by lowering the front using a set of 2" dropped spindles and a pair of Firestone 2500 bags, to smooth out the horrible Louisiana roads Dave installed a set of Monroe shocks on custom shock mounts.
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Moving to the rear Dave wanted to make the mini unique, so Dave 4 linked the rear with a reverse set up, but to ensure the rear end could get enough lift Dave installed the Firestone 2600 bags on the upper bars of the 4 link setup along with a custom cross member to give the bags there upper mounts they needed to lift Huddy's Toyota off the ground.
Another set of Monroe shocks were then added to the rear-end. Dave plumbed the air system with 3/8" Parker fast valves and Firestone 317 Compressors along with 3/8"air line and a five gallon tank. Dave finished off the rear by adding a pair of wheel tubs and spray lining the bed of the mini.
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Once Huddy was able to plant his ol' school dragger firmly on the Louisiana pavement it was time to make the body as straight as the suspension was. So Huddy decided to do as much of the bodywork as he could himself along with the help of his close friend Rusty Russell.
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