Making its debut at the Paris Auto Show in 1984, Ferrari first showed the Testarossa to the world. Italian for "redhead," the Testarossa brought unseen performance and handling to the roads during its 11-year production run. It ruled the streets, but given the low stance, take the thing off-road and there'd be a Hansel and Gretel trail of hand-built Italian parts leading to the final resting place of a $100,000 supercar. Although it's on the dirt instead of the racetrack, Al Mata shares a vision with the founder of Ferrari's legacy, and that's to build vehicles that leave competition in the dust.

Suspensions and fabrication is Mata's game. He is the owner of ALS Performance in Temecula, Calif. It's a shop specializing in parts and accessories for everything from dropped Denalis rolling on 28s to lifted trucks on 44s. He also owns All Star Chassis Werx, a company specializing in sand rails and other dirt toys. When it came time to build his '05 Chevy 2500HD, Mata had a few tricks up his sleeve. Upon first glance, the truck looks like a lot of other lifted Bowties running around on the road. But closer inspection reveals that it's anything but normal.

The suspension itself is a one-off custom job executed by the ALS Performance and All Star Chassis Werx teams. Upper and lower control arms were hand-built and the front suspension is 3 inches wider on each side. The rear has been lifted thanks to deeper leaf springs. Eibach provided springs with a custom rate, with King Off-Road Triple Bypass racing shocks absorbing the road imperfections up front and King Off-Road 2.5 shocks on the tail end of the HD. The custom setup is good for 15 inches of lift as well as 15 inches of front wheel travel.

Mata did his homework in more ways than one when it came to the suspension. Not only is the lift highly functional, it also carries the theme of retina-scorching red theme into the front wheel wells. Precision Powder Coating in Temecula, Calif. finished off most of the suspension components in a body-matching red hue. The pieces that didn't get the electrostatically-applied powder were sent to South Bay Chrome where they came back looking like mirrors.
The one-off and prototype parts don't stop with the lift. Mata's 20 x 12-inch wheels are preproduction pieces from RBP. Yes, RBP is now in the wheel game and Mata was one of the first in the world to bolt RBP's 901 up to his rig. Available in 18, 20 and 22 inches, Mata went with the 20-inch 901s and had Michelin XZL 365/80R20 tires mounted on them. The RBP name resurfaces again on the Bowtie, and once again custom is involved.