When you regularly shoot photos of the sweetest examples of automotive art on the planet, it is hard to be satisfied with your ride. For that reason, automotive photojournalist Joe Greeves simply did not own a customized car for years. But that changed when he encountered Don Fuselier's unique Super Stepside. Within minutes of seeing the prototype, Greeves knew it could be the next custom in his garage. Actually a conversion kit designed to fit almost 50 different General Motors four-door sedans and wagons, it costs only $4,700 and could be mounted in two days! Before long, he bought a '89 Chevrolet Caprice four-door sedan and the four-piece kit. He then hunkered down for a pleasant weekend documenting of Super Stepside transformation.
Hiding The Box
Once the body was mounted to the chassis, (see the build details at www.superstepside.com) Greeves began implementing dozens of design ideas he had accumulated over the years. The first effort, however, was to camouflage any last vestige of the original Caprice. On the outside it was easy since the new fiberglass body dramatically changed the look of the vehicle, transforming the old Box Chevy into a Corvette-styled pickup truck. With only the factory front doors, windshield and roof remaining, he eliminated the recognizable GM door handles and augmented the factory sideview mirrors with LEDs and flames. The interior was not quite as easy.
Putting It On I.C.E.
One of Greeves' top priorities was to make the truck an audiovisual playground and he had a long list of electronic essentials ready to install. We all know that the 21st century vehicle has become the biggest portable electronic device and Greeves' interior would be no exception. Since a center console would hold the new components and disguise the GM interior, he sketched one that would flow from the dashboard, stop between the Honda bucket seats and then curl around to become an armrest. Greeves' good friend Mike Ohren from Jacksonville, FL, looked at Greeves' designs, added several of his own and began the makeover by gutting the interior and covering the floor, doors, firewall, rear cab wall and ceiling with several rolls of Tsunami sound deadening material. Before long, Ohren had the console and armrest in place, using a combination of 1x2s, MDF and fiberglass.
The extensive component list begins at the top of the console with the Blaupunkt Chicago IVDM7002 DVD player with retractable 7-inch screen. In addition to its stereo options, the built-in DVD/AV switching capability allows an easy blend of the two 7-inch Blaupunkt IVMS7001 sunvisor monitors and the Accele RXC400 rearview camera in the tailgate. The head unit also offers preset staging effects, on/off subwoofer controls and both random and repeat play for the Blaupunkt CDCA08 10-disc CD carousel changer in the glove box.
Positioned below the head unit, the Blaupunkt TravelPilot guarantees to get Greeves to the next truck show on time. Below the nav, a row of lighting switches controls the StreetGlow neon package, inside and out. The heater and air-conditioning controls were relocated, adding a bezel that's a duplicate of the one surrounding the Chicago for some continuity to the stack. The portion of the console between the seats holds the Tsunami 2-farad capacitor, button for the air horn and the module for the StreetGlow neon and strobes. One of Greeves' favorite touches is the center armrest over the top of the console that holds the Blaupunkt Sirius Satellite Radio monitor, power window controls and buttons for the ZEX nitrous purge valves and flamethrowers.