"We had a vision, ha-ha," says Rodney through laughter about the outcome of the three-year construction (or deconstruction) of his xB. "She was first cut back in 2009, and we had fun cruising her around in primer and raw metal until 2012 when we started hitting the shows. It was reassuring to take home a couple trophies the day after finishing the build." The uncertainty of finding out how people would react to such a creation must've been unsetting to say the least. Despite the naysayers and some rough waters Rodney had to sail through to get to this point, he's managed to stay positive and keep the bullsh*t at bay.

The late afternoon conversation with Rodney hovered around the process that went into making a truck out of a van/car/bus or whatever you'd call an xB. He stressed the fact that finding someone talented enough to pull off the transition was a mission in itself, and shelling out money to make it all happen, even when there wasn't any laying around, was only half the battle. The talk drifted into tangents about love, relationships, and then paused whenever flocks of roller skating beach bunnies cruised by. Then, the real discovery of Rodney's tendency towards pickups made itself clear when asked about what other types of customs he's owned in the past. "Back in 1987, I was in a club called Street City Minis out of the South Bay area of LA. I had an '87 hardtop convertible Nissan Hardbody. The group was pretty big for a while but didn't last for too long." Should've known this guy had to come from a minitruckin' background.

As day turned to night on the Long Beach shore, the amount of strangers that had walked over to take a cell phone pic of the truck, surely for Facebook status ammunition, was steady all afternoon. They all seemed to genuinely dig the truck. Maybe it's the flashy paint and the lowered stance? Possibly. But the safest bet is that they were utterly clueless as to what the hell kind of truck they were looking at—all they knew was that they liked it. And in that respect, Rodney's vision is as successful as he needs it to be.

[pullquote align="left"]Should’ve known this guy had to come from a minitruckin' background.[/pullquote]

The Lowdown

2006 Scion xB

Rodney and John King • Carson, CA • Swift

Rolling Attire

Wheels: 20x8.5 Asanti

Tires: 225/30ZR20 Achilles

Chassis Modifications

Suspension (front): Slam Specialties 'bags

Suspension (rear): Slam Specialties 'bags

Compressor(s): Two Viair

Performed By: The Shop

Body Modifications

Shaved: Door handles

Body Mods: Top half removed and replaced with 3½-inch chop with full-glass roof, rear door removed and cut in half to create opening back window, all custom glass, one-off hood, hand-fabricated headlight housing with four Harley Davidson headlights

Misc.: Two HD blinkers frenched into Bb grille

Performed By: New Era Customs

Paint

Brand & Colors: House Of Kolor Shimrin' 2 Orange

Misc.: Gold candy fade graphics, pinstriped, and gold leafing

Performed By: New Era Customs and Manny's Auto Art

Interior

Seats: Chopped and wrapped

Dash: Painted

Misc.: One-off Asanti steering wheel, door panels painted and wrapped

Performed By: Backyard Custom Interiors

Stereo

Head Unit: Pioneer

Mids & Highs: DSL Components

Subwoofers: Eclipse

Amplifiers: Crunch

Misc.: 11-inch monitor in dash

Performed By: A2Z Electronics

Engine/Performance

Engine: Stock

Intake: Custom

Header/Exhaust: Custom

Performed By: Owner

Special Thanks From Owner