Venomous

Like many of us in the scene, our passion for custom vehicles started at a young age getting our hands on our first vehicle. Cliff Somers was no different, starting his first mini truck build his senior year of high school with his 1997 Chevrolet S10. Built to be a showstopper, the S10 had a lot of work from custom hydraulic suspension, motor work, and custom body work. While the truck was a fun one, it was modified to the point that it wasn’t very street-able and typically had to trailered to shows. In 1999 Cliff would meet a group of friends that he now calls family, East Coast Minis, going with them to shows and showing his S10. But after putting lots of miles on the truck and it not being the best streetable truck, the time came to begin searching for a new project that be driven all the time.

Cliff had found the 2004 Colorado, not long after Scott Lang had the truck built and stock floor body dropped by Eric Saliba over at the Little Shop. They knocked out a custom 3”x4” boxed frame, added a custom set of control arms before eventually converting the truck over to a 5-lug set up. The rear end was then shortened by 11 inches along with a Little Shop wishbone link setup to complete the rear setup. To set off the truck to the next level, Little Shop fitted a set of their disc brake setups to go along with the new 24-inch Intro Twisted Vistas wrapped in a full set of Hankook Venus tires.

With all the chassis and suspension work done, it was time to work on the body modifications, picking up on what was already done with the truck. Before it came down to laying out the killer paint job there was still a few things left to button up like shaving the tailgate and the gas door; and molding in the rear roll pan. Cliff sent the truck down to Kenny Dean in Virginia and let him run with the paint on the truck and discussing the general colors that he wanted to go with. Kenny went to House of Kolor for the blues, golds and the browns that make up the main base of the paint job. He then went to laying out the graphics along the sides, featuring the snakeskin patterns, the “rusted” water splatter, and the airbrushed murals on the front and rear, and the tribute to a lost friend, Chris Gibson. 

When it came time to start the interior work, Cliff reached out to Matt Reynolds at Charm City Upholstery in Maryland. After many nights hanging out in the shop with Matt, the color palette was decided to accent the colors of the paint, going with Aspirations Milk Chocolate accented with Dolce Ivory white vinyl. With the seats coming to completion, one off ECM logos were machined and added to the seat backs. To top off the last few pieces of the interior, the simple, low profile center console was added to stretch from the front to the back of the cab, with the aluminum cup holders and inlayed Accuair controller. The guys over at Exotic Sound and Tint set out to finish off the custom audio system with a Pioneer head unit pushing a full set of Rockford Fosgate speakers. With everything finished up inside, there was plenty of room for the family to get in and just cruise around town or to truck shows with friends.

Like so many of us, if not all of us in the scene, we can’t do what we do without the love and support of our friends and family. The biggest, coming from his wife and daughters who were there with Cliff as the truck was taking shape. Fellow members of East Coast Minis jumped in and helped where they could working on the Colorado and getting the truck prepped to show out on the show field. Over the years of owning the truck, building it and enjoying it, countless friendships were formed from all aspects of the custom car and truck scene. Personally, we’d like to thank Cliff for the continued support and friendship we’ve had over the years since we first met at Mini Truckin Nationals. We look forward to seeing what’s in store for the truck in the coming future and can’t wait to see his 1938 Ford Truck build that’s been in the works, soon nearing completion.