What do you get when you mix a street rod with a 1995 Chevy S-10, two years, several thousand man hours, paint, chrome, and twenty large? You would get something like what you see on the page before your very eyes, a super clean “S-10 Rod”. Owned my Joe Schmelzer of Mufreesboro, Tennessee, this is an example of a dream that became reality. Most of us wish that it became our reality, but this particular little hot rod pickup is Joe’s reality and to respect that is to understand that. So, what better way to understand it than to give you a little detail about it!

First off, we want to mention the obvious, Joe’s S-10 sits a hair lower (the hell you say?) than it did when it rolled off the GM assembly line. This is due to the talented Jason Bullock, owner of Bullock’s Body Werks located in White House, Tennessee.

To kick off the build up, Jason Bullock and company first disassembled the truck in its entirety. What does that mean you ask? Ok, first think of a popsicle, now think of just a popsicle stick and there you have it, in this case the popsicle stick is the frame. Once the body of the truck was “sans-chassis”, to get it to kiss asphalt required cutting out the bed floor and cab floors hence achieving a 3.5” body drop. Assisting the pavement kissing action, includes the fabrication of an air suspension for the truck using a modified Pete and Jake’s four-link, welding a monster c-notch in the frame, bolting on a set of Firestone air springs, and making a custom chrome cross member. Another set of Firestone air springs were bolted under the nose, along with a set of Belltech spindles and Chassis Tech upper and lower control arms to get the front end down to earth… literally. Once the chassis was good-to-go, everything was disassembled and either painted or chrome plated.

While the transmission and engine were having an “out-of-body” experience, they were given the paint, chrome, and billet accessory treatment. To give the engine a little extra “vroom” an electric Flex-A-Lite fan kit was installed. Giving the engine that extra bling-bling, is a Billet Specialties air cleaner and Cool flex hoses. Keeping the lights burnin’ bright, is a hidden Optima Red Top battery.

Of course, no super custom “S-10 Rod” would be complete without a laundry list of custom body mods. For starters, the bed received a smoothed piece of sheet metal along with a set of custom wheel tubs, and molded in tailgate. To keep everything clean and smooth and very hot roddish, the reminder of the truck was shaved clean including the door handles, tailgate handle, taillights, and third brake light. The taillights were replaced with a set of Hi Tech LED lights to keep away tailgaters. A steel roll pan replaced the bulky GM bumper and a GMC Envoy front clip was installed along with a Goodmark cowl induction hood along with a billet grille to complete the look. The stock mirrors were to awkward for this hot rod pickup, so they were ditched for a set of sporty Street Scene Cal-Vu mirrors. Topping off the body mods, as well as the street rod effect, is the most noticed of them all… suicide doors!

Jason and Joe agreed that the outside was lookin’ pretty good, in fact, damn good. So, it was only right that the inside should look as good as the outside. With ideas on the brain, Jason removed the door panels, dash, and steering column cover, which were smoothed and molded with liberal amounts of fiberglass, in order to get them ready for the paint booth. The truck was then painted with Sunset Orange Metallic, Ice Silver, and separated with a Violet Pearl rod style stripe pinstriped in Apple Green, which flows from the exterior into the interior.

After the truck’s new skin had time to dry, it was time to reassemble. The dashboard received a set of Dolphin gauges, in true street rod fashion, and a LCD monitor. To top off the dash’s looks, a Colorado Custom Slater steering wheel was installed. The door panels were given the billet treatment as well with a set of Billet Specialties window regulators. A sheet metal center console was pounded out and painted to match the exterior as well, which contains the gauges and controls for the air suspension. Finishing off the interior is a billet specialties rear view mirror.

The truck was looking good and it was time to turn the keys over to Brandon McDonald of Stretch and Sew Customs in Lebanon, Tennessee. Brandon jumped right in and lined the floor board with a red Fire Thorn carpet kit and covered the headliner in gray tweed as well as the factory bucket seats.

Once the truck was complete it was time to strap on a set of wheels. Keeping in line with the street rod look, Joe decided on a set of Colorado Custom Slater wheels. 18 x 8’s fill the front fender wells, wrapped in 215/35/ZR18 Nitto rubber. Out back, a set of 20 x 8’s sportin’ 245/35/ZR20 Nitto rubber complete the traction efforts.

Street rod styled mini-trucks has began to resurface and become a favored look once again and no doubt we will see more of these types of trucks as long as talented builders like Jason Bullock are still around and people like Joe Schmelzer have dreams that must be turned into reality!

Shout Out: "Thanks to Bullock's Body Werks and Stretch & Sew Customs!" -Joe