ESM first became acquainted with Scott Powers in 2003 at the Nathan Thacker Auto Show in Clarksville, Tennessee and how that came to be is because of his 1939 Studebaker truck that made the ESM July-September 2003 issue cover. Crafted from fiberglass, this reinvention of a classic Studebaker body easily grabs your attention and from the start that is exactly what Scott intended. You see, unlike most, Scott doesn't grade his ride by adding up a worthless pile of plastic trophies, instead he sits back and watches all the attention it garners from the crowd. So, instead of trophies Scott counts people--the show spectators who crowd around his wild hot rod pickup and stare at it in awe!

Well, that is the way it used to be, until it came time for "the makeover." But how do you make something wild even wilder and in order to make that large crowd of people around it even larger? If your name is Scott Powers you hand over the keys to a painter you only met a few times and say: "Paint whatever you want on it-just make sure purple is one of the dominate colors." Yep, ESM cringed like a dental patient about to receive a root canal from a blind dentist with a bad case of the shakes when Scott told us that he did that very thing. So, the madness begins...

The history of this bad ass truck and its owner could fill a whole section of encyclopedias for Scott is a retired and decorated Army officer of 25 years (helicopter pilot), owner of www.CruisinTheStreets.com, and a graduate from the old school of street rodding and muscle car drag racing. After 30+ years of street rodding and ripping the asphalt off the streets in high powered muscle cars such as the Hemi Cuda (both stateside and in Europe I must add), he decided to turn to the modern genre of bad boy customizing--mini-truckin'. However, Scott didn't sway too far from his roots for he was able to merge both worlds, so that not all would be unfamiliar. The ride he found was a Studebaker kit truck, built to fit on a 1989-1994 Chevy S-10 chassis and a radical body made almost completely of fiberglass from Master Street Rods. Cash changed hands, the deal was complete, and Scott was ready to play!

The truck was running when it came into Scott's hands, but the engine was of the V-6 persuasion, so being a true street rodder--that was the first thing to go! Scott opted to go with a 600 horsepower, blown, small block LT1 engine, but remember all that power is between the frame rails of a small light truck. What is the definition of fun again?

When the truck isn't doing a crazy quarter mile sprint, it sits flat on the ground thanks to an Air Ride suspension setup complete with a Thompson air compressor and Blow Jax gauges. With the truck suspension modified to enable an instant ground level stance, Scott moved onto the interior.

After the install of one type of interior, Scott mid-way decided to go with a more contemporary "street rod" appearance. To do so, Scott opted to go with a fiberglass dash which was molded after a 1990 Pontiac Grand AM complete with Autometer gauges. Although the fiberglass dash from Ultimate Customs in Canada was the right width that was where the ease of installation ended and hell began, for Scott spent many hours making the dash fit and work as it should.

With the "custom dash install from hell" complete, the next items on the interior hit list consisted of: seating, door handles, door panels, shifter, steering wheel, headliner, and audio. To keep the interior custom and sporty looking, Scott installed a set of 2001 Pontiac Sunfire bucket seats on seat tracks from a Chevy Blazer. The seats, headliner, and custom made door panels were covered in black, silver, and purple tweed. The final items added tothe itnerior consisted of various billet door handles, billet window cranks, a Billet Specialties steering wheel, a JVC MP3 CD head unit with a 12 disc JVC CD changer, and a B&M Bandit transmission shifter.

After finishing off the interior, Scott turned his attention to the inside of the pick up box. Scott decided to keep it classy and opted for a full wood grain floor with custom chrome trimming.

Of course the most noticeable thing about Scott's truck is the paint job--the new paint job that is! Originally it sported an orange paint job with purple flames, now it consists of something a little more extreme. Scott hired a very talented painter, Brian Walker, from Lost Cause to lay down a unique paint scheme that consists of a mechanical nightmare airbrushed into a purple and silver two-tone candy paint job with flames. It is so highly detailed that I could spend hours writing about this truck's wicked paint scheme! Approxiamtely 90 days later, the new paint job was complete and Scott's revised ride was ready for show.

Finalizing the extreme makeover, Scott updated his wheels from a classic set of American Racing 15-inch Torque Thrust polished wheels to a set of 18-inch Boyd Coddington chrome rollers.

Scott's truck represents one of the wildest paint schemes you will ever see on a street rod era ride, to some that are purists of that particular genre it may be too wild--to others, such as the mini-truckin' crowd, it is wild enough. No matter what your opinion may be, one thing is certain, what was once "xxxessive" has now become a machine of madness!

Shout Out: "Thanks to Elite Streets Magazine and J.R. for the feature!" -Scott Powers