April 2018 RPM Reduced

Street Truck
REVOLUTION
It seems like only yesterday that
mini trucks were all the rage. Sure,
they’re still roaming around the
southern United States and West Coast
in limited numbers, but the scene just
isn’t what it used to be. “I remember
the rivalry between the Chevy 454 SS
and Ford F150 Lightning in the early
2000s—the only production street
performance trucks on the market,”
commented Billy Longfellow, VP of
Design and Engineering at Air Design
USA and a longtime admirer of the
mini-truck platform.
But let’s call a spade a spade—sometimes
it’s hard not to look back at the height of the
movement and laugh out loud a bit at the
crazy hot rod concoctions. After all, what
would possess anyone to take a perfectly
fine pickup truck and chop it, drop it, and
paint it with an outlandish paint scheme?
The square-pegs-in-the-round-holes of
the world who see it as a blank canvas,
that’s who. And mini trucks, well, they
represent the most important aspect of the
automotive world—having fun.
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At the surface, these trucks resemble
many other pickups that have been
lowered to the ground, but take a closer
look at the suspension to appreciate
the serious amount of work that gets
them there. Mini trucking is for those
who not only dare to think outside
the box, but also crave elevating the
engineering capabilities to new levels,
all for the sake of showin’ off and having
some fun. Now, don’t dismiss them
as a gearhead’s playground—they
deserve serious street cred when done
right. It’s just that, traditionally, mini
truckers have been less concerned with
serious performance or mastering crazy
obstacles, thus not always receiving
the respect they deserve. The scene is
more about pushing the limits, simply
because you can, and then having a
social platform available to display
such an accomplishment. Wild paint
schemes or funky interiors are a public
declaration of the mini-truck following
at large. Yearning to be unique and stand
out in a crowd hasn’t changed, but the
means by which we do so absolutely has.
21st Century Street Truck
Performance
Gearheads have been building
performance trucks for as long as they’ve
been crafting performance cars. If you
were to take an American muscle classic
and the same brand pickup truck from
the exact same year, you’d probably
notice a few similarities in the drivetrain.
You’re not going to snag a D100 with a
426 Hemi jammed under the hood from
the factory, but there’s no reason a true
hot rodder couldn’t reengineer one to fit
at will.
Remember in 1978 when Dodge debuted
the 360 powered Lil’ Red Express, which
Car and Driver dubbed the fastest
American production vehicle in their
0-100 test? It’s that kind of mentality
that’s helped bring the street truck
back to life, returning to the scene with
vengeance and something to prove.
Modern mini trucking has its roots firmly
planted in the 90s, but now it’s poised
to stand up to the competition across
various categories of performance.