Sometimes if you want to get things done in life, you just have to do it yourself. That is Michael Derrick’s philosophy, especially when it comes to his 1995 Nissan Truck. Michael bought his truck in 1997 and from there the rest is history. Everything, with the exception of the paint job, was built, assembled, tore apart, fabricated, and/or attached by Michael himself. Many hours were spent turning wrenches and busting knuckles to produce the wicked mini you see displayed here on the pages of ESM and judging by its appearance, we will have to say it was well worth it!

For starters Michael decided to go with the super clean look. To achieve such a look, Michael shaved the door handles, antenna, third brake light, windshield washer squirts, windshield wiper arms, Nissan emblems, mirrors, and the stock taillights. In place of the tailgate, Michael installed an Alter Images tailgate skin combo with Cadillac taillights and a frenched in license plate.

On the nose, Michael opted to go for the classic phantom look, by recessing the head lamps and installing a phantom billet grille. The stock bumper was also scrapped for a chrome smoothie bumper with billet grille inserts.

Other than the body shave, the most noticeable thing about Michael's ride is the ground hugging appearance. To bring the mini closer to earth, Michael swapped the stock coil springs for a set of 2500lb Firestone air bags up front with two inch dropped spindles. In the rear, Michael installed a set of 2600lb Firestone air bags with a tubular bridge, a Pete & Jakes reverse triangulated four-link, and a c-notched frame section. The air bags are filled and deflated with a 450 Viair compressor connected to a 5 gallon air tank with ½ inch lines and ½ inch SMC valves. Inside the cab, Michael mounted the switches right in the center of the dash for easy height adjustment when needed.

To stay in line with his club’s name, Acrophobia, Michael had the body chopped and dropped three inches. The wheel wells in the front and in the bed were also tubbed out for the 17x7 inch Dante Donzi wheels wrapped in 204/40/17 BFG rubber. The bed of the truck was sprayed with Line-X bed coating to protect it from unsightly scratches.

After the body was sanded and smoothed to perfection, Michael enlisted the painting skills of Heath and Paula. Heath and Paula loaded up their spray guns with Sherwin-Williams Lime Pearl and sprayed the sheet metal with its new skin.

After the paint was dry, Micheal proceeded to tear out the stock interior. Michael decided to stay with contemporary trends and covered everything in gray tweed, including the speedometer. The stock steering wheel was scrapped for a Grant GT steering wheel and a few minor parts of the interior were painted to match the exterior.

In the audio department, Michael has kept it simple and sweet by adding a Clarion 450 CD player which spins tunes to two 6½ inch Memphis Audio speakers in the doors.

The engine has been left in its stock state, except for a custom Flowmaster exhaust system which helps the engine to breathe easier as well as give it a more throaty sound. The exhaust was also raised to compensate for Michael’s tendency to throw a few sparks every now and then down local county highways.

If you ever happen to run into Michael, we suggest shaking his hand because this truck has had a lot of work and many, many hours put into it. We have to say hats off to someone like Michael who has the focus and intensity to build a nice ride. We are sure that all future rides will be just as nice if not nicer!

Shout Out: I want to say thanks to Heath and Paula for their painting expertise and my wife, April; and my daughter, Emily; for their patience during all the long nights without me.