Farm Truck Turned Full Custom Cruiser

FOR SOME, it might be difficult to look at a long forgotten farm truck and envision endless possibilities, but not for Justin Berry. Justin has built his fair share of custom rides throughout the years, and he has a certain style and vision that can turn even the ugliest of farm trucks into one of the sickest haulers on the road today. It’s probably a bit more difficult to reverse engineer that thought process and look at the ’79 Chevy C-30 pictured here now and think that it was once an ugly, rusted-out hay hauler, but we’re here to help tell that story. Of course, we had no doubts that as soon as Justin got his hands on the C-30, well, the rest would be history.

Although this long-term build took about four years to complete, the results were well worth the wait. Justin started this project because of his need to immerse himself in a build, since he was getting bored with his current daily and other projects that had come and gone in the last few years. He wanted to tackle most of the build himself, so he knew it would take some time, but he didn’t realize just how far he would take it once he got started. When committing to building a ground-up custom with your own two hands there’s an obvious time investment. So you put in the work, and hopefully someday you’ll be happy with the end result. Justin did just that, starting with the frame, he slowly constructed the truck of his dreams right in his own garage.

Justin knew that he wanted a hauler that could tow his other toys, so a 1998 1-ton frame was used as a starting point. Built to tow, Justin laid the frame on the ground and modified it for a stock-floor body drop, and then boxed it all in before he would trust a three-car hauler gooseneck on the back. Stuffing a rebuilt 454 and turbo 400 trans into the frame and getting everything smoothed and painted was a bit more time-consuming than he originally anticipated, but that was just the beginning. Although Justin’s style is simple and clean, he still tends to add plenty of custom touches and detail.

Although Justin’s style is simple and clean, he still tends to add plenty of custom touches and detail.

For this crew-cab dually, the body and paint were definitely the details that set it apart from the rest. Justin and his buddy Scott Rupp body-dropped the C-30 flat to the pavement, but they didn’t stop there. They modified the rear doors to swing the opposite way, and to finish the suicide treatment, the door handles were moved forward. Little details like this add a ton of work to a project, but they are what mean the most to the end product. With most of the bodywork completed, the firewall was shaved, the bed floor was smoothed, and the rear fenders were modified to fit the custom 22-inch Alcoa dually wheels. Justin didn’t want to leave anything in someone else’s hands, so he sprayed the reworked sheet metal with Nissan 350z Blue and Black and painted the bumpers, mirrors and trim with a matte finish. For the custom graphics made to look like factory trim, he brought in a pro. Pat Maxwell airbrushed the graphic separation, making it look like the factory chrome trim.

This build meant a lot to me, and I’m glad I was able to see it through to completion.

It was a slow process, but once the build was close to complete, Justin opted to replace all of the interior with brand-new guts to match the cleanliness of the exterior and to allow his family ride in style and comfort.

After four long years of working away in the garage, Justin would like to give a very special thanks to his family and friends who helped along the way and forced him to keep pushing to see this project through to the end. Justin shared with us, “Without my family and friends, I wouldn’t have finished this one, as I was getting pretty burned out toward the end, but this build meant a lot to me, and I’m glad I was able to see it through to completion.”

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BUILD SPECS

OWNER

Justin Berry
1979 Chevy C-30
Tomball, TX
Eksessiv

ENGINE/DRIVETRAIN

• Original 454 V-8 BBC
• Turbo 400 trans rebuilt and cleaned up
• Corvette fan setup
• Flowmaster mufflers
• Painless wiring
• Painted and chrome accents
• Custom fuel cell
• Optima batteries relocated under bed
• Performed By: Owner

SUSPENSION/CHASSIS

• 1998 Chevy 1-ton chassis
• Front Z’d and frame stock-floored
• ¾-ton front suspension
• Custom airbag setup front and rear with custom 4-link setup to tow
• Boxed and painted frame
• Performed by: Owner

ROLLING ATTIRE

• 22-inch Alcoa milled by Dima Wheels
• 265/40/22 Toyo Proxes ST

BODY & PAINT

• Factory 1985 C-10 front-end swap
• Shaved firewall
• Body-dropped 2.5 inches
• Painted bumpers and mirrors
• Suicide rear doors with handles moved and frenched
• Custom bed floor sheet metal and Line-X
• Shaved rear with flush-mount LED marker lights
• Painted Nissan 350z Blue and Black
• Factory trim painted on by Pat Maxwell
• Performed by: Owner and Scott Rupp
• Paint by: Owner

INTERIOR/STEREO

• All-new factory interior
• Black velour bench seats
• Billet accents throughout
• Complete Vintage Air setup
• Hidden iPod hookup
• Performed by: Owner

SPECIAL THANKS FROM OWNER: Thanks to my wife Emily and son Grayson for their support, and also to my mom. Also, a very sincere thanks to all my friends and family who lent a hand to help see this build through to the end, including Scott Rupp, Cory Scott, Charles Kell, Paul Brown, Eric Latiso, TJ Owens, Bruce Morris and everyone else who came by even if just to take my mind off the work ahead.

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