Always bet on Black, especially when it's your last name and your father happens to own the casino. (Actually, several of them northeast of Las Vegas.) So it's no surprise that when Austin Black's 16th birthday spun around, he hit the jackpot-his father Randy gave him an '06 Chevy 2500 HD pickup as a present. What we'd really like to know is if Randy's interested in adoption, because we figure there are a whole lot of Diesel Power readers out there looking for a home.
Anyway, the obvious question is, How come Austin wanted a pickup for his birthday instead of, say, a pony or a BB gun? "My inspiration for the truck started at a very young age," Austin said. (That's a relative concept for us older diesel owners.) "Growing up in Vegas, I was able to see all the different types of styles and custom-made vehicles. However, I wanted to create my own idea-something that Vegas had never seen before."
Austin's ideas for a lifted truck came at the impressionable age of five when he first saw a monster truck. He began to obsess over the enormous tires and body lift. "I always told my friends how massive I wanted my truck to be, and even though I had many years to wait and hope, I frequently brainstormed, finding even better ways to pimp out my pickup."That meant scouring the truck magazines and checking out all the high-rise rigs. But to Austin's dismay, they usually had only a 4-6-inch lift. "Every time I would think to myself how my truck would be double or three times that height," he recalls, "I knew my truck had to be separate from every other truck."That's when Paul Marra and Angelo Carvalho of Auto Visions upped the ante. "Randy contacted me with an idea to build a 'big, bad-ass truck' for his soon-to-be, 16-year-old son," Marra said. Evidently, Austin is a pretty level-headed kid, earning straight A's throughout school, and his Dad felt that merited some sort of reward. (Remember, kids, study hard and someday you too might get a big diesel truck as a reward!)
Casino owners aren't usually known for subtlety or restraint, so Randy and Austin threw the dice and agreed on a high-stakes 13-inch lift using multiple Fox shocks and reservoirs. Just the thing for crawling over cars on the Strip!
In keeping with all that gleaming Vegas neon, Auto Visions chromed just about everything in sight: front shock hoops, sway bars, A-arms, tie-rod ends, traction bars, and differential cover. To enhance the front end, Auto Visions added a polished two-piece billet grille with matching Bow Tie (kind of like that Vegas vibe high-rollers with a lot of bling hanging around their necks have). And you can't miss those 22-inch chromed wheels wrapped with 40x15.50R22 Toyo tires.
Next came the part that every diesel guy can relate to. "In my eyes, the bigger and louder the truck, the better it is. Of course, since my truck is so big the only way it can roll is with a diesel engine. Diesel provides that extra-loud growl, and the power is so immense and fierce." He sure got that right. Go to the head of the class, Austin (now we know why he gets straight A's).
Obviously, one of his favorite parts about the truck is its speed. "Despite how huge the tires are and how high the truck is in the air, this truck still pins you to the seat." He says the Superchips programmer and custom SRS 5-inch exhaust boosted the acceleration quicker than a hard spin on the roulette wheel.
Austin then doubled-down, putting all his chips on making a really unique graphic statement. "I planned this by first avoiding the flame paintjob. Although I have seen some pretty good work, flames are way overrated," Austin said. "So I had to come up with a different type of style. This style, of course, was the inverted shark fin, as I like to call it. It allows for a sharp, powerful display yet doesn't take away from the whole of the truck." He picked the lime green accent to add a little more color to the design just to give it that extra edge. Pearl white was the original base, chosen because of its cleaner look-and it makes more sense in the desert heat too.On the inside of the truck Austin wanted something simple but flashy, so he went for a gray suede headliner along with blue and light green suede seat accents (in keeping with the exterior hues). He also added silver carbon fiber trim panels on the dash and door panels.