SILVERADO SAINT
Bouncing Back from a Total Loss
THERE ARE CERTAIN GROUPS OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO DON’T LET ANY TYPE OF UNFORTUNATE EVENT DISRUPT THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN WHAT THEY’RE TRULY PASSIONATE ABOUT. Custom auto enthusiasts can most definitely place themselves in this respectable category. Accidents happen in the form of traffic accidents or FUBAR-TYPE mishaps in the garage, and when there’s absolutely no hope of salvaging a particular project that dips too far down into the dumps, there’s usually only one realistic option left to consider—to find another project to work on.
Fender benders are common, and while as annoying and inconvenient they may be, the damage sustained by them are generally not enough to knock vehicles out of commission for much longer than a month or so. On the other end of this spectrum is the more severe category of “totaled” vehicles. Now this is where situations get dicey. From dealing with the insurance policy fine print, declaring a value on one-off bodywork and expensive
NICHOLAS PLANS ON SPENDING LOTS OF TIME IN THE DRIVER SEAT AND ENJOYING ALL THE WORK THAT HE’S PUT INTO BUILDING THE TRUCK THAT HAS HELPED HIM GET OVER LOSING HIS LAST ONE.
accessories, and estimating all the time involved to attain that show worthy car or truck, that split-second action of the accident can cause a ripple effect that can be dragged out far longer.
Once the dust finally settles and that insurance payout arrives, the time to start searching for a fresh project will present itself. This is where the tough decision lies—does one go out a buy a truck comparable to the one that was just lost? Or does one keep their mind open and let the right project find them? Nicholas Jacobo found himself in this predicament shortly after he was rear-ended while driving his fully built mini-truck.
“After my show truck was totaled, I started shopping for a full-size pickup instead of another mini,” he says. “Considering how bad the accident was, my wife and I both agreed that a larger truck would be the way to go.”
After finding the right deal on a ’07 Silverado, Nicholas made the purchase and started cutting into it two weeks later. As a previous owner of a ‘bagged and bodied OBS Silverado and a full-custom Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Hardbody, he was familiar how quickly things can escalate when owning a stock truck.
“My inspiration for this project from the start was to build a driver—a big wheel, ‘bodied driver,” Nicholas says proudly. “I love the cat eye Silverado trucks and ran with that. I also just had to go the extra step and build the truck around the biggest wheels I could fit