1987 GMC S-15 Truck - Never Finished?
by CAE, Oct 01, 2007
The truck's bed is a series of enclosures, racks and molding that hold a mess of Earthquake gear and accessories. A quartet of subzero 12" woofers provide enough sound power to fill the open space near the truck. In order to show them off from all angles, the Nankoos mounted two in reverse. For higher frequencies in the rear, a set of Earthquake VTEK 693 6x9 3-ways were mounted on each side of the truck.
The current install took three months to complete and over the past three years the truck has won over 200 awards. Chris concludes, "Now that we've won every event we went to, I think it's time for a makeover."
Underneath all the brightly painted moldings are the accessories that make the magic possible. Tsunami 12-gauge and 8-gauge wires run the signal, with custom silver RCAs by Audiyo. Under the trunk, two Optima batteries store power from the upgraded 190-amp alternator.
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.
