Perhaps my single favorite vehicle at SEMA 2014 is the one featured in this video made the the team at Chevrolet Performance’s “The Block”. This truck was built by Chuck Mallet and his design idea was to take a brand new 2014 Silverado and apply as many retro touches to it as he could to get the feel of an old school truck but maintain the identity of what the product actually is. This was not an attempt to slam some bizarre body kit on it and make it physically LOOK like a 1972 era truck, rather it was far more intelligent than that. It was taking those iconic elements of the old trucks and applying them in a tasteful way to a new one. I think he crushed it. Too often we get smashed over the head with stuff (See: every “retro” Corvette body kit) but this is not that at all.
The split two tone paint is something that Chevrolet should bring back tomorrow. We actually talked to some of the design guys at Chevrolet and they all agreed with us on that front but apparently production costs would be very high and at this time it is not something that can happen. The modifications to the front bumper and grill are awesome, especially the bumper. That look is so nice and it cleans up the front of the truck a ton. Of course the “stars” of the show were the moldings, all hand made of aluminum and the tailgate piece which is spot on perfection. Inside the truck the interior was touched up with the seats being redone in Houndstooth and steel accents added to hard back to the good old days of trucks with full steel dashes.
Under the hood the engine was supercharged so it’ll do burnouts for says and the wheels are large diameter steel smoothies that fit the whole vibe perfectly. Would a modern version of the deep Chevy truck Rally wheel look awesome on this thing? Maybe but Mallet is the pro designer here and his choice was great.
It is neat to hear the story behind the story on this great rig. I’m in love all over again.
Likely my favorite rendition using a new GM truck. Excellent.
Yeah .So lets see what we got here thats been awarded as a so called ‘ Winner ‘
A pos new Chevy [ that GM can barely give away ] … painted styled and made up to look like a pos old Chevy [ that hardly anyone cares about ]
With a bit of horsepower under the hood to make up for the fact that overall its ;
“Much Ado About Nothing ”
Gee … aint it nice to see genuine innovation and creativity cast aside for Suburban Urban wanna be’s doing Metro Retro face lifts ‘n botox …. and then given awards to boot ?
No wonder SEMA’s becoming as irrelevant as it is . And no wonder so many foreigners are now out Hot Rod & Customizing us left and right
We’re all becoming a bunch of lazy ___s resting on our laurels of days gone by … looking in the rear view mirror for inspiration rather than paying attention out the front window to what we’re about to crash straight into
Who pissed in your corn flakes?
He does it to himself.
Well, you are kind of an expert at becoming irrelevant.
sphencter says what
I like the color scheme and paint styling, it would look great on a early 60s generation C1, but on the contemporary large-by-huge Silverado cinder block it just looks like a blinged-out fire apparatus service truck.
I meant C10.
Award winning….lol, that is a whole heapin’hepin’ pile of meh.
I see nothing unique or innovative here, I see nothing original…just a poor knockoff of a mediocre design and color scheme from the 80’s…No sir, I dont like it.
Will this big wheel/short tire fad ever pass?
This looks like a nice truck for your old man to drive. I sorta like it but find it hard to enjoy. It is one of those trucks that will look dated in about two years. I’m kinda tired of the whole new vehicle retro thing. They all end up looking like crap. Only thing I really liked about this truck was the frontend. The rest of it was just ok. The wheels were a terrible choice for this truck. They look ok on earlier C10s but on anything newer they just look dumb. The interior was predictable. 800 hp is nice but lets face that’s the one thing it didn’t need. Sorry but I just don’t think it is ground breaking or out of the box thinking……Sorry.
He said he has built thousands of cars in the last 20 years. At just 1000 it is 50 per year…not so sure about that.
I personally really like it. It’s too low for my taste and I agree with most on the wheels, but the retro theme is great. I also think with a custom step-side bed would have suited this build perfectly. I want Ram to quit messing up the grill and come out with a retro “Macho” paint scheme, that would be interesting.
At the end of the day its still just a late model GM truck with some big wheels and a paint job. I cant say I would even give it a second look if I saw it in person. There’s plenty of cars built in someones barn, on a dirt floor that deserve a lot more attention than this….
Yep and they’ll never receive the recognition that they deserve. This truck found me thinking, “another rich guy with money.” The whole truck is just ok. It isn’t really great. The wheels are terrible on this thing. They almost look too small for what he was trying to do. The whole retro thing is a waste of time really. Especially on new trucks. Here again less would have been more on this truck. The trim doesn’t sit well with me either. I don’t care for the tailgate area. The interior was really boring. 800hp is great but honestly it doesn’t do any thing for this truck. I’m just not liking the build.
If I were to build this thing I’d loose the wheels, trim and two tone paint. The paint isn’t bad but it doesn’t work on this truck. I’d find some modern wheels that look right. Shave it clean and paint it red.
I’m a Chevy fanboi but the new Chevy/GMC trucks are just fugly! Rather buy a new Colorado and put a V8 in that.
Ask any female and she’ll tell you the outfit is all about the shoes those shoes just don’t work with that dress. Been better off just going old school all the way with some plain old chrome eight spoke wagon wheels (or even the white ones ). A little trim goes a long way. Too much trim and it’s overkill. But then. Everyone’s a critic
I saw this truck at SEMA and it made me stop and look closer. I would roll it as a cruiser and use it as my tow vehicle. It is different from a lot of the modern builds of these trucks and at the very least it is still usable as a truck. I agree that a set of 20″ Rally’s would add to the look but hey, I still dig it.