Truck enthusiasts often customize their rides in a way that they know best. There are different ways that a custom auto enthusiast can customize their ride and Chad Rowland from middle Tennessee has showed us his way. The first time ESM saw Chad's truck, we knew the owner was one that takes pride in their ride and the custom license plate confirmed that since it says "MRPRIDE." Maybe that is the reason why Chad never got around to sending our stat sheet back to us. Then again, if you have a truck like Chad's that you drive on a regular basis you probably wouldn't have time to fill out stat sheets either! Don't fret though; we are lucky to have enough custom sport truck know-how and a long enough conversation with Chad to enable us to pull out of our memory banks what we do know about the truck.

For starters, the first thing you will notice about Chad's truck is that it is clean and very low to the ground. The stance is provided with an Air Ride setup with a very speedy engine driven compressor. With an engine driven compressor, Chad gets an instant burst of air in the 2600lb air bags fitted at each corner which allows him to play around at stop lights without holding up traffic. We like this feature of Chad's pride and joy very much!

Chad kept the exterior of his truck clean and simple because he is a simple guy. Why be complex with crazy graphics when a smooth body with the right mods will do the job? Chad ditched the stock rear bumper for a molded in Sir Michaels steel roll pan and flipped the tailgate handle to the inside. The stock taillights were shaved and a set of iron cross tails were grafted in their place. The third brake light was also trashed for a molded in LED light. The stock door handles were ditched for a set of sportier 1996 back door Oldsmobile Aurora door handles that have no keyholes. The handles were grafted into place and were painted to match. The stock side view mirrors were sanded smooth and painted to match except for the chrome areas.

Moving to the inside of the bed, the stock fender wells were cut out to make way for the huge 22 inch chrome rollers that would have to be tucked in order for the truck to lay frame on the asphalt. This would be problematic since Chad does take his truck on the road on a regular basis. To keep water and other debris out of the bed of his truck, he had custom rounded fender wells installed along with a rounded center section that covers the truck's rear end and frame rail c-notch. Topping off the bed modifications is a low profile fiberglass tonneau cover, custom made bed carpet kit, and shaved stake pocket holes.

On the nose, Chad opted for a painted to match Denali front bumper cover with a billet grille bumper insert and round Pilot fog lights. The stock hood was also swapped out for a ram air styled fiberglass hood. The grille's gray plastic section received the smoothing treatment before being painted to match and the stock plastic grille was cut out and replaced with a billet grille insert along with a billet bowtie. Finishing off the nose, Chad chunked the stock amber corner lenses for a set of In-Pro Car Wear clear corner lenses.

In the control center of the truck, Chad kept the interior stock for the most part, but did add a few enhancements such as two six-inch LCD visor mounted monitors, dash mounted DVD/CD player with seven-inch flip-out monitor, billet steering wheel, white face gauge kit, and various other billet components spread throughout the cab.

Chad Rowland is one who takes pride in his ride and it can be seen in ever aspect of his vehicle. Chad mentioned to me during this shoot, that he had damaged the driver's side bed of the truck while playing around with the suspension. We took a look at it and even photographed the damaged side. Can you even tell that it is damaged? We can't either, but with Chad being so concerned about it, that tells us his truck definitely fits the nickname of "Mr. Pride."

Shout Out: "Thanks to Elite Streets Magazine for the feature!" -Chad