From Trash to Treasure

Feature

InTheGarageMedia.com

BY Travis Scanlan

PHOTOGRAPHY BY the Author

Ryno Lieberman’s 1971 Chevy C10 … aka “Brown Shuga”

N

ormally the writer of a magazine feature article isn’t supposed to talk about himself in the first person; this is not one of those times. The 1971 Chevrolet C10 built by Ryan “Ryno” Lieberman of Ryno Built Rod & Custom in Southwest Missouri that you see before you is named “Brown Shuga,” and it almost ended up in the crusher. That’s where I come into the story.

In the spring of 2018 I saw this sad, derelict, stripped C10 with a title on Facebook for $200 about 45 minutes from my home with the note that if it wasn’t gone by morning it was going to the crusher. Well, I couldn’t let that happen. The truck was bought and brought out to my dad’s farm and dropped off in a tree line to someday be rebuilt alongside a few more “someday” projects.

A couple of months later while on the phone with Ryno I mentioned the truck. He said he was itching to build a new shop truck and asked if it was for sale. I told him he could have it for what I paid for it plus the gas to bring it down to him, about a 500-mile round trip. The truck was loaded up on a trailer, with an extra C10 bed that I had since this one was missing a bed, and I headed for Ryno Built.

Now, I knew that his “shop truck” idea was fantasy, the man cannot just leave stuff alone. This would not be the first “shop truck” that was once bound for the crusher and later ended up in a magazine feature. The second that he said that this was just going to be a shop truck, despite his protests, I knew better. The truck rolled off the trailer and into a storage spot to await a break in the customer cars. A few weeks later I get a text from Ryno of the bed bolted to the truck. It had begun, another week and the frame was marked out for a little surgery to bring the rear axle closer with the cab and get that longbed cut down to the shortbed dimensions.

When the frame was Z cut and welded back together it was time to focus on the bedsides. After one was cut down and ready for grinding it was decided that getting a new set of bedsides from H&H would be quicker than modding the second bedside and getting both straight for paint. Up until this point the case could be made for this just being a shop truck; soon that idea started to slide out of the spectrum of real and it entered more of “maybe” status.

A Porter Built drop member was added to the truck, the frame was completely boxed, and Classic Performance Products (CPP) crossmembers were tucked up high to get the frontend set low. A custom air-ride suspension was built using Air Lift Performance ’bags, the truck had to lay low to tuck 22s and get the body closer to the ground. The factory firewall was shaved to clean up its appearance, and a set of Slosh Tubz fiberglass front inner fenders were called in to have the clearance for the 255/30-22 Toyos mounted on custom-built U.S. Mags 22×9.5 wheels with tri-bar spinners. The front brake duty is handled by a CPP Big Brake Kit with six-piston calipers.

With the front custom air suspension handled, the rear was ready for a bit of reworking. A massive kickup was constructed and the rear suspension was built using a custom-built trailing arm setup using CPP link arms and a Panhard bar. More Air Lift Performance ’bags were used in custom-built mounts. A custom-built, narrowed, Speedway 9-inch rearend with 3.89 gears in a TruTrac centersection puts the power to the wheels with 31-spline axles. Another CPP Big Brake Kit with six-piston calipers mount inside the custom-built U.S. Mags 22x12s with a little backspacing to achieve that deep look. These have some super-wide 335-series Toyo tires. Once the frame was finished, it was stripped and then sent off to Rocky Willis Powder Coating in Carthage, Missouri.

The cab of the truck needed some attention, the typical rust issues exist in pretty much all of these C10s that were not in a dry, arid climate. Along the way, the truck was channeled to lay the rockers on the ground when aired out. With those issues handled and the bed looking much more like a bed, from the outside at least, it was time to build out the inside of the bed. A custom bed floor and inner bedsides were built, with a higher-than-stock bed floor and angled sides to give it a great look for the once shop truck now turned show truck. Under the bed a pair of Optima batteries are set up as well as the air suspension system consisting of ViAir pumps and an Air Lift Performance 3P controller.

The rest of the modifications were to clean up the body; the front emblems were shaved as well as the side trim and the massive mirrors. United Pacific LED lights were installed all around the truck, including the headlights, side marker lights, and tail and back-up lights. A re-pop grille from H&H Classic Parts was installed up front along with a new chromed bumper to give the front end the right look, and the rear box bumper was deleted for the smoother roll pan look.

Underhood a 475hp aluminum BluePrint engine was installed with a FiTech 3×2 EFI setup atop a Speedway Motors 3×2 intake. Ignition is handled by a PerTronix distributor and the electric power is from a PowerMaster alternator, which is mounted into a Kwik Performance Front Runner System that also includes the A/C compressor and power steering pump. Patriot headers route the spent gases to a JBA stainless exhaust system built by Wyland Muffler in Joplin, Missouri. A FiTech controller handles the 4L60E overdrive built by Gayles Transmission, also out of Joplin. The engine was dressed up using air cleaners from O’Brien Truckers and matching finned valve covers from Speedway Motors.

Upgrades to the interior start with the doors where a set of Trique Manufacturing Altman door latches were installed. The inside was sprayed with Lizard Skin Sound and Heat control formulas, and Steele Rubber products were used throughout to create a well-insulated cab and a basis for the TMI interior kit. Lokar pedals hang under the dash for that “just right” look. Nu Vintage USA gauges keep track of the vitals and a New Port Engineering wiper motor is behind the cowl to update from the original model. While a Rebel Wire panel and wiring kit runs the truck, a custom sound system is wired up with Metra/T-Spec cabling. A double-DIN radio and the controls for the Vintage Air Magnum system are custom mounted in the center of the dash along with a chrome center air vent. All new glass was installed by Woody’s Auto Glass.

The stereo system is highlighted by a trio of HiFonics amps, which are mounted upside-down in the center of the cab’s roof, adding some usable space to the small cabin while still providing a ton of power. Ryno built a custom sub box with four 10-inch subs behind the seat and also a custom set of kick panels with MB Quart Z line component speakers. The custom parts of the interior that were built for the stereo were upholstered by Trujillo Auto Trim. A Speedway Motors steering column topped with their own billet wheel finishes out the interior.

With all the fab done it was time to take the truck to Mike Howell at Volunteer Auto Body in Hartsville, Tennessee. He mixed up a custom blend of PPG paint for the brown cinnamon-esque exterior and a matte sandstone for the engine compartment and accents, like the wheels and interior pieces.

It was only a matter of weeks from the day that the truck rolled off the trailer and onto Ryno’s property. In those few weeks the truck went from being a saved-from-the-crusher shop truck to starting on a journey to become a SEMA show truck. The best part for me is seeing that something that was trash to one man became treasure to a whole bunch of other people.

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