(Photos courtesy of Vince VanDyke) The notification we got in our inbox was simple enough. Gilbert Labonté had a friend he knew that built a couple of badass trucks that we needed to get our eyes on, stat. We get those requests from time to time. Then we scrolled down and checked out the photographs, and once a few expletives flew free and we got our jaws up off of the floor, we asked to be put in touch with the builder of the 1955 Ford and 1973 Chevy C20. We had to know the story behind these bitchin’ pickups!
The builder is Vince VanDyke, and he’s pretty humble about what goes on in his shop. He simply told us, “I build these as a hobby after hours, as late as the wife will let me.” Whatever he’s doing to keep her happy, it’s working, because both of these trucks are fabrication-heavy and aren’t just slammed together.
The Ford has eleven inches removed from the bottom of the cab, shortened fenders, and the wheelwells cut and lowered a few inches. A small-block Ford hooked to a five-speed manual sits in a homebuilt frame that doubles as the air tank for the suspension. The bed, floorboards, and firewall are all homebuilt.
The Chevy is backhalved, with a Dana 60 rear axle, a stepside bed that has been widened a foot and shortened two inches, and is tucking dual rear wheels. The whole body has been dropped two inches, and the front of the frame was Z’d up four inches. And, just to add to the flair, you have the traditional shark mouth nose art.
Are they home projects? Rolling art? A fabricator’s dream? All questions can be answered with “yes”. We can’t wait to see what the next project will be.
Give Delta Force a fleet of pickups built by Gilbert and watch those IS suckers run for the hills!
is it me or does it look like he left off a header tube for that it really sounds like a crappy ford sound? guys got talent though.
You’re right… 3 pipes on 1 side, 4 on the other…
He shorted the fourth tube because of clearance with the booster.
Just say NO to “slammed” anything.
Hell yeah these are badass