ORDER THE PRINT COPY HERE: "Crew Cab Detention" February 2024 Issue #10 – Cruise Culture Apparel
WATCH THE YOUTUBE SPECIAL HERE: https://youtu.be/GQqmDqReDcM
For over 5 years, Brandon Imbeau and his custom built 1959 Chevrolet Spartan have been rollin’ coal in central Alberta. The build started with a cab on Kijiji with a horrible white paint job. Brandon wanted to build something big and unique so picked it up and stored it at his parents until he had the space to build it.
Once he moved to an acreage with the space he needed, the build only took about 10 months. He took a 1996 Dodge Ram chassis with a P Pump 12 Valve Cummins and kept cutting until the cab finally fit over the engine and onto the frame. The amount of cutting can be noted by the size of the engine cover in the cab and the passenger only has enough leg room for one foot. This didn’t stop us from going for a rip though and you can watch that video on our YouTube channel.
Brandon tries to drive it as much as possible and has successfully put over 35,000 kilometers on it in the last 4 years. He uses the truck to haul equipment and lumber regularly and even has a gooseneck trailer hitch built into the deck. He once took several hours to load lumber in the Home Depot parking lot because everyone wanted to check out the truck.
For the Engine, Brandon turned the P-Pump all the way up and rebuilt the head with new studs and springs. He plans for a much a bigger turbo and wants to more than double the power this thing puts down now but needs to update to a manual transmission to handle it.
The paint on cab was hiding underneath the horrendous white paint and Brandon spent a lot of time sanding through to get to the cool patina we see now. The flat deck is all steel and just gets regular coats of boiled linseed oil like the cab. This gives it a great weathered look that suits the truck better and better every year.
The wheels are one off cut from blanks and are a true 24” rim. The wheels were cut by Jeff at Innovative to look like saw blades and have an interesting 11 hole design that can’t be replicated by modding a set of Alcoa’s. The wheels are all wrapped with 275/30’s.
Stance is set by an Accuair E-Level system that controls a pair of Slam 7 bags up front with cups and a custom built 4 link with Panhard bar and Firestone Sleeve bags out back.
The interior is fitted with Procar seats on custom made brackes, a Summit steering column, Autometer gauges, custom cut shifter, a set of sun visors that Brandon is particularly proud of, and an impressive billet steering wheel cut by Colorado Customs.
Some other cool details about the truck include some external booster terminals and a hose real hooked to an Oasis XD 2000 air compressor powerful enough to run an impact off of. Due to the cab over design of the truck the turbo sits under the dog house in the cab and makes for some spine tingling noises while pushing it down the road.
Impressively, Brandon built almost the entire truck by himself with only a little help from his friend Dario at Infamous Automotive, who wired the transmission for him. He would like to thank Sam at Epic Customs for helping him obtain parts, and his club, Severed Ties, for being awesome. Brando has been a member for over 15 years and has known them for at least 20 years.
Article by Brian Holzli
Photography by Brian Holzli (Cruise Culture Magazine)
