The Basis for a Street-Smart Daily Driver

The Basis For A Street-Smart Daily Driver

It’s hard to believe that lowered trucks were all the rage nearly 20 years ago. It began when Chevrolet introduced the ’88-’98 C/K pickup featuring updated styling from the square body model that proceeded it. It didn’t take long for hot rod builder and icon Boyd Coddington to get his hands on one, lower it, shave the rear bumper, put in a billet grille and add 16-inch Boyd wheels to the truck. The “Boyd” look pickup styling was all the rage in Southern California and spun off a whole industry of truck accessories for “sport trucks.”

Today, lowered trucks are few and far between in comparison to what was on the street in the ’90s. But there are still a few die-hard, street truck enthusiasts who still prefer lowered trucks to lifted trucks. Daniel McPherson of Ponder, Texas, is one of them. An oil field worker, Daniel has owned a few diesels over the years, in- cluding a GMC dually and Dodge 2500. Both trucks sported lift kits and were black. But as a change of pace this time around, Daniel opted for a red lower-than- stock 2008 F-350 just to be different.

The truck sports a mild lowering job, courtesy of short coils up front and a set of drop shackles at the rear with the rear overload leafs also being removed. Low- profile 245/75R17 tires wrapped around Ultra wheels complement the stance. When we shot the truck, the 6.4L Power Stroke was stock, but Daniel had a tuner, intake and exhaust on his power upgrade wish list.

What makes this truck an eye-catcher, other than a slightly lowered stance, is the body-colored treatment for the bumpers and door handles. Some red was also splashed on the side vents. A Cervini’s fiberglass hood with fresh air inlets replaces the stocker while a custom mesh grille for improved airflow was fitted in the grille shell. Other subtle touches include smoked headlights, partially painted side mirrors and smoked Recon cab clearance lights up top. Recon taillights out back also replace the boring stockers.

On the inside is where most of the magic is on this truck. The big Ford features a custom center console, which is wrapped with red ostrich and black suede material. The con- sole houses a Treo SSX 15-inch sub and Memphis 1,000-watt amplifier. The door speakers were replaced with Alpine Type X units for cleaner sound and are powered by a sepa- rate Treo amplifier mounted under the rear seat. A Kenwood audio/ video head unit mounted in the dash provides all the signals.

While the truck is not the most highly modified feature vehicle we’ve ever run by any stretch of the imagination, it represents a differ- ent style of build that comple- ments its daily driver role. More importantly, it was built on a budget and with the help of Daniel’s brother and friends, and provides the basis of an on-going project build. We can’t wait to see the next version. DW