WARNING - VISION HAZARD AHEAD...
May 23, 2007

Make sure you have your shades on if you happen to meet me on the road!!

I figured Renae Watkins and Jenny Corely from AutoTruckToys.com had pretty well gone over the legal limit for chrome on one truck when they proved me wrong again. On the second "Trick My Truck" session these gals replaced the boring black grill with a charged-up chrome job. Above the shiny new grill they put a chrome (what else?) hood guard that's guaranteed to send bugs scrambling. For just that perfect touch of functional class they installed a hefty chrome bull bar. I'm sure that bar will be a tremendous help when I'm in thick brush trying to retrieve that big buck this winter.

It's really fun getting all the looks and compliments on my pick-up these days however, just being shiny and pretty doesn't cut it in my line of work. A truck must be a dependable, no-excuses tool whether I'm cruising around town or on a long haul filming project. But, thanks to AUTOTRUCKTOYS and Renae and Jenny my ride is now a perfect mix of good looking, tough, and comfortable.

AutoTruckToys Trick My Truck!
April 23, 2007

A good looking truck has long been one of my weaknesses. Since I've never owned a car, my truck has to fill many purposes. My current pick-up is a bright red Chrome Edition Ford half-ton to which I'd added a tonneau bed cover and a set of Hatchie Bottom seat covers in Mossy Oak Break-Up.

I thought it was a reasonably sharp ride and received favorable comments on it regularly. So when I got the call from AutoTruckToys.com asking if I'd go along with a project to really sharpen up my ride I couldn't imagine what they could do to improve it. Wow, was I wrong.

Here you'll see a before picture and we'll have more photos of each stage of the transformation. I'll have to let Renae Watkins of AutoTruckToys tell the story since it was her idea. You can also find more information and articles by Renae on the company website and various magazine's she writes for such as Sticks&Stones.

Trick My Truck

Story by Renae Watkins
Photos by Jenny Corley

We actually ran into Brenda the other day and noticed that she was driving a sweet new truck. A bright red F150 SuperCab with all the bells and whistles. Now, we know Brenda from way back and know that she really enjoys a ‘pretty truck’. This new truck was nice but, we knew what kind of bling it needed to really catch the eye. We asked Brenda if she would let us “Trick her Ride” and after about 2 minutes of consideration she said “Yes”. The wheels in our minds started to turn. What to do to it? Lots of chrome, of course! Red looks way too good with chrome to miss this opportunity. Chrome door handles and a tailgate handle, taillight and headlight trim rings, mirror covers, pillar post covers, a fuel door, and rocker panel guards. We went on and on and on. Then we reined ourselves in and decided to go with just the chrome this time. We’ll save the grille and bull bar for next time.

In these next few paragraphs, we are going to tell you just how easy it is to take your ride from functional to ‘WOW’ for a few dollars and a little bit of time. After we were sure of the specifics for Brenda’s F150, we placed our order with AutoTruckToys.com and dropped off the truck at the local detail shop. Our order arrived and we picked up the truck. Wow, all this cool shiny stuff and time to start the installation.

Doesn't it look great? Click here for more details about how we tricked Brenda's truck!

First the Willmore rocker panel covers. This 12 piece set of 7” wide polished stainless steel pieces is backed entirely with automotive grade adhesive for a rock solid application. We test fit all the pieces before removing any of the backing and then cleaned the application area with rubbing alcohol as per the directions. Now it’s just a matter of peeling the backing off the adhesive line up the top edge with the lower body line, press and stick. Pull off the protective film from the front of the pieces and wipe with a soft cloth while pressing firmly to ensure proper adhesion. Now you can reposition these pieces if you get one slightly cocked but they are not coming off easily. Holy cow, what a difference! Cost $254.95 and installation time about 1 hour. Sweet!

Also, from Willmore we got a set of laser cut pillar post covers. Cut from high quality stainless and polished to a brilliant shine, these covers install in about 30 minutes with same procedures as the rocker panel covers. Cost $49.95. Being part of this transformation will just almost give you chill bumps.

We chose the Putco door handle covers because Putco matched the style and contour of these covers to the OEM handles. Nice touch! This application process is the same. Test fit, clean application area, peel adhesive backing, and stick. Check location and wipe firmly with a soft cloth. Stand back and admire. Cost $69.95 door handle and tailgate handle covers, with installation time of approximately 30 minutes.

The chrome mirror covers we picked are made by Putco, too. They are made from ABS chrome to match the OEM chrome finish. Installation process is again just test fit, clean, peel and stick. We are starting to feel like professional installers now. One thing to note when ordering your mirror covers is whether your truck has factory turn-signals in the mirror itself. Cost $69.95. Installation time – 15 minutes. This is awesome!

The F150 has fairly intricately designed headlights. Putco designed the perfect trim to enhance the features in the lights, without overwhelming them. Again we used the same simple procedures for installation. Test fit, clean, peel and stick. This is so easy and looks so good! Product cost $79.95 and installation time 15 minutes.

Brenda’s F150 has the Flareside bed, so we went to Quality Automotive Accessories for the taillight trim. Again we are using the same installation procedure. A cost of $109.95 and installation time of approximately 15 minutes just make you want to smile.

Lastly we chose a replacement fuel door from All Sales that is machined from a solid piece of polished 6061 TL aluminum. This is the only product we added to Brenda’s F150 that required any tools. We had to have a Phillips screwdriver for the 4 screws that attach the fuel door. This door is available in a locking version and fitment is specific to your bed type. Cost $119.95. Installation time was about 30 minutes. This was the only product that we thought the installation instructions were a little vague on, but we after checked out the instructions on AutoTruckToys.com, everything became clear.

We know that Brenda’s truck isn’t going to get babied around. She uses her truck for what it is, a truck. You are just as likely to see it in the woods, as you are to see it at the post office or the air port. The facts are simply that, now-a-days trucks are nice. Nicer than some cars. You can have a truck that you fish, hunt, or work out of and still use it for your Saturday night cruiser or Sunday morning go-to-churcher. Bottom line is that for less than $800.00 and less than 4 hours install time Brenda’s bright red F150 went from nice to “Wow, check out that red F150!”