LOWERED MINI TRUCKS

I have always been a rod & custom guy the mini trucks have just been drivers I see Moriarty & Anthony both have had post with there trucks any others besides me. drove this one 125,000 miles. worked 3 am till 11:30 thought I would get pulled over all the time but never once I think the cops that worked at nights recognized it & knew I was going to work. Ugly plate on the front is covering a dent temporarily

 

this is one I have now 35 years old the truck not me still factory paint whats left of it

 

Ordered this 1982 S-10 in late 81, had it a week and did the cut and drop on the A-arms and blocks in back, the wheels were Ronals, similar to the Cromodora wheels used on Ferrari.
The tires were Firestones HPR's, one of the coolest tread patterns of the era.
I met the guy that clamed to have the first lowered S-10 in the Portland area and I was not far behind him.

 

I guess I have never actually owned a lowered mini truck, but my son is currently driving this Sonoma that is kinda cool.

 

My first one current project

channeled, shaved and radiused

 

I have a shot of my S-10 somewhere with Moon discs over my Ronal wheels, bought them from a guy that claimed to be Dean Moons' cousin.

 

Not necessarily a low rider as such but I bought my daughter a really nice S15 Jimmy that was lower than normal but had a 383/400r in it and was about the most reliable car I ever bought. My buddy built it for his wife and she drove it daily to work and on the weekends it was at the drag strip and never had issues with it. Not three weeks after giving it to my daughter she and a bunch of her buddies were coming home from the mall and drove it down the interstate doing 75mph in second gear and burned the transmission up and the motor was making “all sorts of weird noises when I came home”….in her own words

 

Do you know how many of my book covers in school during the 80's & early 90's had drawings of mini trucks with dripping paint jobs and dancing beds? All of them. I love mini trucks.

 

I daily drove a 355 s10 for twenty years until a tree branch wrecked the cab. Would haul a ton of gravel, get over 20Mpg on the highway, and run 8.7 on an eighth mile dragstrip.

 

My Chevy Luv mini-truck. Not lowered but powered by a traditional 283 and a 3 speed with overdrive.

Gary

 

At a show yesterday

 

A few I painted more than 30 years ago.

 

Got a few film pics of the 78 Toyota I bought new around here somewhere. Just a basic 20R 5 speed, I put a set of ET turbine wheels and 15” tires on it, otherwise it stayed stock. Wore it out, rebuilt it , wore it out again. Saw an article in a mini truck magazine about swapping in a 232 Buick V6, so the hunt was on! Found a low mileage car that was totaled, bought everything from the radiator to the rear U joint on the driveshaft, motor transmission, even the shifter. Took a couple of days, but with some scrap metal, a Lincoln buzz box and a hacksaw, I got it all bolted together.Tough little sleeper! With the factory Toyota 4.11 rear and Saginaw 4 speed, it was quick out of the hole and pulled like a diesel!
We didn’t take many pics back then, but I’m pretty sure I took a couple. If I can just find them…..

 

Another couple pics of my son’s Sonoma since I had to drive into the parts store just now. It has dropped spindles and cut springs in the front and 4” blocks and de-arched springs in the rear.

 

A 97 Sonoma with 350/NV3500 I sold this past summer. Lowered about 4/5. Drop spindles, shorter springs in front, 3 inch drop leafs and 2 inch blocks rear.

 

Early 2000's I had this '86 S-10 and I stuck a 350/350 in it.


Over the next 3 or so years, I kept throwing time and $ at it...tubbed it and it morphed into this.

 

This is my daily driver I built it a few months ago and still got a few things I would like to do to it

My goal was to try to look like something that my friends and I would have owned 25 years ago. (When I was 20ish).
It's a 1995 Ford Ranger twin I beam truck, 3" lowering springs in the front, axle flip in the rear, c notched frame, 17 Radar wheels, DOT smoked tail lights, eBay billet grill and some way overpriced clear corners that look like the factory lights minus the amber color and not that you can see it but s 10" sub behind the passenger seat.
Next thing I want to do is redo the headliner and some kind of goofy animal print like gray snow leopard, maybe do the inserts on the door panels in the same material and do the Ford Explorer bucket seat conversion with center console, The seats in the truck now are out of a '06ish era Ranger and you're probably 3 inches taller than you should be. They look very awkward and they are hard as a damn rock. I did not put them in the truck It came this way They look like they're out of a work truck special terrible is an understatement. If anyone has done this conversion I would love to talk to you by the way I have a few simple questions.

 

In the spirit of mini trucking and keeping with my late 1990s vibe I am doing with this truck, this was project for the last 4 days over Christmas, I didn't really know which section to post this in but It is relevant to the pictures I posted on December 13th in this post so I figure this is a good enough spot. I just finished it up the bucket seat and center console conversion about 6 hours ago now. I got a center console out of a 1999 Explorer limited (whatever limited means) and then I got the seats out of a 1997 Ford Explorer (They are not power) and the proper seat tracks out of a 1995 Ford Ranger at my local junkyard (I actually went to two different yardshere in So Cal).
The reason for the swap get rid of the square late model 2004-2010 ugly 60/40 split bench seat thing that for some reason set 2 inches to high Even though it is technically a stock ranger seat All I know is you looked through the top of the windshield and could not use the visors.
This was a little bit of a feat because there is a lot of misinformation online and all the parts I'm looking for are now about 30 years old but nothing too ovewhelming once you get the parts and some high quality vinyl spray paint to make everything match. The seats and console were a straight bolt in but because it went in a 95 to 7 Ranger (They are 3 inches shorter between the back window panel and the back edge of the front door when compared to a 1998 or newer). I had to cut the vents off the bottom rear lower corner to make it fit the floor (the internet didn't tell me I had to do this everyone talked like they've done this but I don't think anybody had actually done it to a 1995-7 single cab truck). I would say the longest part of time was cleaning the 30-year-old seats and painting The console a medium gray to match my trucks interior. Overall I think the results look pretty good I got to say that truck is a tight fit. I also ordered a fancy leather shifter boot that is made just for the swap but It has not came yet so it's not in the pictures, I figure I will install that and change the shifter ball and then I am done with this late model garbage for a while. This was supposed to be a couple of week project It's been probably 3 or 4 months now consuming a good portion of my free time. I want to go back to working on my hupmobile banger ot the A pickup but The Ranger is my around town beater so it needs to look cool.

 

1995 S10 SS - static dropped with Belltech spindles, coils, leafs and blocks...

 

Back in the late 70s I worked at a custom van shop. They built a few mini trucks with the back of the cab cut and a topper on the bed. Full custom interior and fancy paint on the outside. I remember the little luv truck took first at the Dayton car show a Wanpler’s arena. Not sure what happened to that trend.

Edit: it took 1st in class not overall.

 

Many many years ago....

 

had to get out of the garage its as cold as it looks

 

Really have been thinking about getting a little S10 Extended cab for a cheap shop truck. This thread deff helps.

 

This is our 81 Toyota SR5 283/200-4R. Got it in 97 on the road in 98. Still my driver in the summer.

 

I definitely recommend a 1980s or 1990s mini truck for a daily driver, most of them are fairly comfortable and they have air conditioning ,heaters and power steering and it's easy to put in a good radio, if you're looking for a gas mileage the S10 with a 2.2 is good as long as you get the five speed it's just not real spry, You want a pretty fast vehicle in 1990s terms get a 4.3 single cab 5 speed They are pretty spray.