Im sure many of you dont even know all the work I did to this truck. Well read on and I will inform you...
I was contacted about this truck in by the owner Anthony. I had never met him but he had heard about my shop from someone. At the time I had very little going on and we chatted and emailed many times about what needed to be done to get this truck done. This truck was done at some shop in Florida. They had not finished it and Anthony was unhappy and ready for it to be done. I agreed to take on the job of finishing it.
The truck came to me on a transporter truck. I still hadnt met Anthony. I looked the truck over and noticed many things that needed to be finished and many things that needed to be fixed. The front bumper was a 2 piece Toyota bumper that had been put together with just plastic filler... yea, no welds, no dynaglass, no panel bond, just body filler and yes it was cracked badly since someone had hit it on the ground and bent it.
I also noticed that when you layed it out the rearend disc brake calipers hit the frame and the bags crushed down over the fuel lines and also rubbed the frame mounts. The rear 4 link bars were also bent since they were round tube and the bag was in the middle with no bracing. I made 2"x2"x1/4" square tube lower 4 link bars. I also noticed that the upper bars were not triangulated enough and the truck shifted from side to side easily. I redid the upper bars as well and redid the mounts for them as well.
I narrowed the rear section of the frame as well as cutting off the fuel tank mount, the original one was hideous!
I bodyworked the bottom of the bed and the cab and redid the sliding back glass. I installed the third brake light and bodyworked it into the cab.
I redid both door hinges, since the doors binded just before closing. The hinges were also angled down and the doors sagged. I then bodyworked the doors and found dents and even holes filled with dynaglass that had no hardener in it. Thats right the dynaglass was raw and still soft. Id be surprised if there was any hardener in it. Anyway I smoothed the doors with help from my friend Brian Simpson. He also did much of the bodywork on the bed and cab. The rear of the bed was the worst. It had been molded in and was nowhere near straight. It took Brian and I many hours to redo the body line in the bed and the plate box to get it right.
I made the front bumper by taking the Toyota bumper metal and using tubing to make a skeleton structure then covering the outside and inside with sheet metal. I then bodyworked it and smoothed it out. I also molded in the corner marker/turn signal LEDs. I also added the dip in the top of the bumper to match the Isuzu grille. This was a fully welded and sealed front bumper with molded in mounts.
I also redid the fan and radiator mounts as well as the headlights and the front bumper mounts.
I tore the truck down to the bare frome for this buildup and did as much as I could with all the other things I had going at the time. Im not sure what all was done to this truck after it left BYC but I did alot of work on it and the owner still owes me $825. I also got no recognition on any magazine feature or anything like that. Nice of Anthony to pull that kind of shit... when he and Mitch came to get the truck they borrowed my trailer which I was glad to let him use at the time. Anthony also told me he had sent the money on Paypal. I should have kept the truck until I knew that he really sent the funds. That makes Anthony Ammendola a THIEF.
So now you know the truth.
For more info on this or any of the other projects on our projects pages, please feel free to email me at
Mike@Dallashotrodparts.com
