1987 GMC S-15 Truck

The itch to customize can strike hard. Once you've got it, you can't help but scratch it, regardless of how inconvenient, labor-intensive or just plain expensive scratching may be. When not working at their shop Phat Ride Customs, Chris Nankoo and his father Lee have been soothing their customizing itch repeatedly with this 1987 GMC S-15 truck. It started modestly enough, with the family building it up to "drive and enjoy." It soon became much more than that (the version you see here is the third iteration). "Let's just say we get fed up with it very fast," Chris reveals. "You never know; it might not be like this next year!" So take a look at this ride now, because it may not be around in this state for much longer.

Driver Profile: Chris and Lee Nankoo are the father-and-son team behind Phat Ride Customs in Montral, Canada. Lee started out in car audio back in the '80s, customizing a 1979 Trans Am. Chris started much later by working at a friend's car audio shop. With brothers Ray and Jason, Chris and his father transformed this truck into what you see here. Thanks go out to Earthquake Sound, Roca Wear, TIS wheels, Pirelli Tires, XM Radio, Racespex, Innovatek, Cailloux Rod Shop, Pro Charger, Audiyo, G&G Buffing, Carroserie JLT, Peinture Artistique 3D, DUB Magazine, Meguair's, all the staff at Phat Ride Customs and everyone who helped in this project.

Let's start with the cabin, the tamest (if that word can be applied) part of the install. Not much remains stock in this old pickup. Using a bit of fiberglass technique, the Nankoos built a custom dash to hold the Clarion receiver. On top, a chromed Xbox gleams (in the bed, a gold-plated 360 backs it up). Below the head unit, the Nankoos embedded a G-NET in-car computer. Rather than hooking up the standard rearview camera, the team opted for a pair of infrared versions, one in front and another in the rear. These combined video sources feed 20 Innovatek monitors throughout the truck plus a Sharp 32-inch TV that automatically flips down from the sunroof (the motorization is thanks to custom shaft-driven actuators).

Although they laid the entire cabin with standard Dynamat, the team didn't opt for the standard fiberglass when creating the custom door panels. Instead, carbon Kevlar holds a set of Earthquake VTEK MC5 5.25" component speakers. For added sound (this is a show vehicle after all), they added another set in the dash, designing the carbon Kevlar enclosure so that the two sets of component speakers match up.