10 years of mini truckin

i seen a post up about who had the first body drop and i found one of the first magazines i ever bought.It was called hot mini trucks,Courtney halowell was the tech editor and had a static dropped s-dime rolling negitive camber.Its from 1995 and heres how the scene was back in the day.Aim industries had the first 2 link set up they called the hottrax system.Mark fukuda held the world spl record for like ever.Body kits were the hot ticket.There were no bagged anything it was all about juice or air shocksThe big clubs were:Relaxed atmosphere,Nu choice minis,Banzai cruizers,Down to earth,Local minisShops:Concepts,Kustom Kreations,Kal koncepts,Trendsetters who sean mehoney founded before he made m.i.c what it was and now being the pimp of mtv's pimp my ride with west coast customs.There was only acouple of b-drops in the mag.one was from the chop shop no adjustable susp. just body dropped.the other two were,Dan machese's 89 nissan hardbody and the reason i kept the mag.,Pat nicholl's 89 toyota which was the first body dropped and total rear sub frame truck i ever saw.bolth trucks were juiced and from relaxed atmosphere,and rolled on 15" wheels with 195/50/15.Leaf i know you remember these days,lmao.I don't know i had to post it up.I have so much respect for the whole scene and how its grown,maybe some of the newbies can learn something about respect,feel me.Just like one day we might see camping back @ carlisle all truck.

bump

Edited: 8/2/2005 7:26:45 PM by T Baggin S10

I used to love getting headaches riding in my brothers B2000 Mazda. He cut the bumpstops, that is all I remember seeing him doing. But I do remember my dad yelling at him for his fenders covering his tires, he told him he was going to ruin his tires as soon as he had to turn. My dad eventually gave in and helped him build a sub box to fit 2 12's or something (in a standard cab). He kept it for a while and eventually got a new Dakota sport when they first came out. Before that he has a ford tempo with a phat ass vinly pink drip job on the windshield. I wish I had pics of his tempo and Mazda. He grew out of it and moved on to a ranger that he did a system in and that was it. Then got a 2wd F150 did nothing but exhaust to it, then a jeep- lifted it and a few other things, then got a quad cab 4wd F150 and lifterd it a little and put bigger tires on it. I hav not really talked to him much about the old days, but there were a few decent minitrucks for the time on my street and the next one over that were his and his friends. he got out of it before anyone did airshocks that I know of. I'd like to get him back into it somehow but he has fallen pretty far from the nest. I don't talk to him as much as the rest of my family, and only see him a few times a year if that. He liked my 98 reg cab S10 that was dropped/ had poo poo wheels and alot of interior and motor crap, he saw my red 96 ext cab just after I got it when all I did was drop it and change the seats, radio, and a few things to the motor that he did not see. H never did see my Blazer, or my two current vehicles. The bagged/ BD 78 Chevy LUV, and the bagged 72 Mercedes 300SEL. Everytime someones ride gets dirty and I feel the need to draw on it to make them wash it I always throw a long drip job down the side of it or on one of the windows. I'll try to see if he has any pics of his truck or car. I know we had a few home videos with them in them, but there is no telling where those ended up.

One of his friends who was in a club with him that lived down the street from us had two younger brothers that were older than me (I'm 22, and my brother is 34 I believe) ended up getting a ranger and an isuzu, both had air shocks and swapped to stock wheels from various trucks/ suv's often. The one with the Isuzu sold it and joined the marines, the other kept his ranger and eventually bagged it, got 17's which were huge for the time and did a few more things. He totalled it and moved on to a newer F150, dropped it did wheels and eventually sold it. Then bought a 4 door tahoe and dropped it, then sold it after doing a few more things to it. Then got a newer fullsize chevy and eventually sold it. He got a civic last time I saw him and seemed to have lost most of the interest in trucks. I knew of the club I am in now because him and a few of his friends were in the club before it split up and most of them went to ST or NC, when the club got back together he asked if I was going to join it when he saw me at a show hanging out with all of them. I saw him at Heatwave a couple weekends ago, so he still has interest, I don't know if he bought another truck or anything. That is where the line of minitruckers that started with my brother and a fw of his friends ends that I know of. I have not seen the few of his other friends or thier siblings to know if they kept it going in thier families. My other three brothers all have liked all of my trucks and now my car, but have never bought anything of thier own. They are always willing to help out and know alot oabout them, maybe someday I will be able to talk them into buying a truck and carrying it on in the family.

Man I love this topic, too many nights at the shop have we gone on forever on this same subject.. I still have the radical tops install video on my shelf at the shop lol. The (pink) Mazda we put that Convertable kit on had a hottub in the bed and a testarosa kit I remember girls in that bed wow!~ And I rememebr all these trucks, Sikness I was in love with that Nissan. And baggedMITSU I have pictures of that D-50 of yours! I wonder where my picture books are so I can post some up..

Anyone else have old cruise strip pictures?

Edited: 8/2/2005 9:01:04 PM by sauceman

This thread is awesome. I have been into the scene since 1992 (I was only 12). I may have not been old enough to drive, but my sister dated a guy who had a brand new Mazda B2200 that had the Torsions yanked out and all of the leafs removed but one with 2 2inch lowering blocks, and I was always tagging along to his Club meetings, and the only thing I wanted for Christmas that year was a subscription to MT. The very first B/D truck to get featured was Eric Perkins' 1989 Toyota in the March '92 issue. Pat Nichol's "Ballistic" Toy' followed in January of '93. My fondest memory of back then was going to the Mini Truckin' Nats. in Pigeon Forge Tn. in July of '93. It was held in a big field off of the main drag and it was so bumpy I remember a lot of people tearing their front air dams off. There were a few people who had Hydraulics and one guy had a body dropped S-10 with the old school directional wheels. I've still got pictures from that show, I wish I had a scanner so I could post some of them.

Damn bro, all that you wrote brings back some
awesome memories. I got into the mini-truckin
scene back in 1989 & things have sure changed alot since then. I remember the 1st body drop I saw-a toyota & when you either rolled on airshocks or hydraulics! Get this, can any of you remember when mini-truckin only came out every other month; yep only 6 issues a year baby! Things have sure changed

maybe on day, I'll figure out how to post pics on here, but here's a few of mine. the 720 was my first truck which I got in 89. I had chrome 15" toyota 4x4 wheels on it. These were my brothers wheels from his mazda which I thought were cooler than mine back then, LOL. the hardbody, I got new in 90 and this was probably 91-92. the suspension was non adjustable. notice the wink mirror with the stainless louvered cover. : )
I joined LOCAL MINIS with the 90 nissan. enjoy

http://www.nissanminis.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=7462

http://www.nissanminis.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=7463

http://www.nissanminis.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=7464

http://www.nissanminis.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=7466

I have done nothing but mini trucks since 90 when I got my first bullet side from my dad after being into hotrods. Needless to say the rest is history did not see a mini truckn mag untill I got this issue jan 92 pretty sure I can dig up any issue from then on some were in my posestion

man i wish i grew up then i remember when i was like 10 so that would be in 1995-1996 i always saw a ext nissan on porsche wheels lowered to the max with a camper shell and i always loved it. i wanted one and my dad called it a beaner wagon and told me if i ever did anything like that to a truck he would disown me. now he loves my truck lol