Custom Classic Trucks Magazine
Is Robbie Azevedo A Space Alien?
By John Gilbert
Photography: D. Brian Smith
A prophesy of untold proportions--who in
1947 could have ever imagined the
introduction of General Motors' Advance
Design trucks would have such an impact on
contemporary truck design in the 21st
century? It's a little known fact that the styling
on Advance Design trucks was space-alien
technology gleaned from the '47 crash of a
flying saucer in Roswell, New Mexico.
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, we
were able to confirm a long-held suspicion
that there was a reason General Motors killed
the '47 Wurlitzer trucks right in the middle of
the model year and replaced them with the '47
Advance Design series. If one thinks about it,
perhaps it's even stranger that the Advance
Design styling exercise disappeared into the
'55 model year in the same manner it
appeared in '47--as Series 1 and 2.
Beyond the conspiracy theories and prior to
the 2003 introduction of the Advance
Design-inspired Chevrolet SSR, Robbie
Azevedo penned his concept for an Advance
Design-based topless Blazer at the tender
age of 12 years old.
The '48 Chevrolet panel truck featured on
these pages represents Robbie's realization
of his dream truck after an investment of over
5,000 hours and exactly two years. Robbie
started on the '48 at age 19. At the age of 21,
the truck represents his first attempt at a
ground-up build. For the Azevedo family,
'47-55 Chevrolet trucks have been objects of
desire since Robbie's great grandfather
bought one brand-new in '48 for his Vallejo,
California, ranch. It was the same truck
Robbie's dad first learned to drive in and later
customized after he inherited it. Automobiles
in general and hot rods in particular have
been a passion for the Azevedos since before
their family business, Pacific Auto Salvage,
opened in '57.
At the same time Robbie embarked on his '48
project, he opened the doors to his own
customizing shop, Pacific Coast Customs,
located at the same American Canyon,
California, address as his folk's auto recycling
business. The first customer through Robbie's
doors was Robbie and his '48.
Before we get too much further into this
feature, we should mention Robbie's '48
Chevrolet graced the July '05 cover of Custom
Classic Trucks in bare metal. For those of you
who missed it, we'll bring you up to speed with
a review of the numerous radical body mods
Robbie performed and then resume where the
July issue left off.
To save time, let's just skip the parts where
Robbie peeled the panel truck's roof off and
scraped the '48's firewall and cowl in favor of
a '54. Long story short, by the time Robbie
was finished whacking, there was nothing left
of the original truck except for its
quarter-panels and pink slip. That's not to say
they were left intact, because Robbie
shortened the quarter-panels by 13 inches
and disturbed the pink slip's home in the
glove compartment when he tossed the '48
dashboard in favor of an early '54 dash. Not
content to leave the quarter-panels bobbed,
Robbie sectioned 3.5 inches out to clear the
rear 22-inch Budnik wheels when the truck
was laid out. Fully laid out is probably a good
place in our story to describe the '48's chassis
and suspension. The 116-inch-wheelbase '48
frame was dumped (not to make a pun) in
favor of a '03 Chevy S-10 frame with a
108-inch wheelbase. Rear lift on the
3.23:1-geared differential is handled with a
four-link setup from KP Components on the
same Slam Specialties bags used in the front.
Tubular is the word for the front double A-arm
suspension as well as all the body mounts
and crossmember supports Robbie twisted up.
For propulsion, Robbie dropped in a 350-inch
LS1 Camaro engine with a beefed B&M
4L60E transmission. In his quest for
smoothness, Robbie buzzed the coarseness
off the engine and trans before it was shot in
DuPont Hot Hues Psycho Silver. Speaking of
nuts, the LS1 gets its extra boost from a fully
polished Magna Charger. The blown LS1's
fuel supply comes from a custom-fabricated
13-gallon stainless steel tank tucked within
the boxed framerails on the driver's side. The
'48's fuel and brake lines were plumbed with
fully polished stainless steel tubing.
In front of the one-piece '54 windshield
dropped eight inches into the cowl there's a
ton of radical metal work. Robbie
custom-formed a pancaked hood and created
a one-off face for the truck by grafting Mini
Cooper headlights onto heavily modified
Advance Design front fenders. A '54 Chevy
Bel Air passenger car was the source for the
front and rear bumpers. The front bumper
was flipped, shortened and reshaped to
conform to the much customized '54 Chevy
Bel Air grille bars. The hand-formed front
valance has a functional scoop built in to feed
fresh air to the intercooler.
The '48's interior is as radical as the exterior.
Robbie constructed door panels mounted on
the four-inch stretched doors, with
all-concealed fasteners and custom armrests.
Real trucks are made from steel, and steel is
what Robbie used to make his center console
and speedster-style tonneau. Then Dan Most
laid in the '48's award-winning alabaster and
orange alligator-embossed leather upholstery.
Realizing Robbie is only 21 years old and this
is his first effort, it can't help but make one
wonder if perhaps he isn't in some way
connected to the '47 Roswell incident.
