The Ultimate Father-Son Project: A 1958 Chevy Apache Race Truck Built on a Budget

Jeffrey McHaddad and his dad Jeff McHaddad have been big fans and builders of 1955-1959 Chevy trucks. Jeffrey is the builder and Jeff is the creative. They had finished up what they thought would be their last build together when Jeffrey got a call from a friend offering up a one owner, manual, diesel, 1997 Dodge for only $3,000. It was a deal that couldn’t be passed up, and kicked off what would become the insane race truck you see here. 

Cheap Truck to Race Truck

You might be asking how a cheap Dodge Cummins truck purchase turned into this crazy custom 1958 Chevy Apache race truck. Well, here’s how it came together, in only four months.

Jeffrey immediately called his dad and said; “we already have a cab, and I have a Tahoe chassis laying around, let’s build one last truck.” What the duo had was a 1958 Chevy Apache Cab and front sheet metal — from the truck Clint Eastwood drove in the movie “Every Which Way But Loose —, a 1964 Chevy C10 bed, a 1973 Chevy C10 front bumper, and a 2004 Chevy Tahoe frame.

With 90%of the pieces for this build already in hand, it was to be a low-budget build. They wanted “something that we could hop into and drive to the store and not worry about locking it or getting a door ding from the person parking next to us.”

Parking Lot Build

Mayhem Metal Works in Simi Valley, California, was a local shop that Jeffrey used to work at, and at which he talked the owner into letting him build this truck in the parking lot, in exchange for some help around the shop. Jeffrey didn’t have a good spot to build to truck at the time, so this arrangement worked out perfectly, even more so in the end.

Jeff had the idea to create a wide-body look with this truck, as it would have massively wide tires and they didn’t want to narrow the axle housings. Father and son went down the online research rabbit hole and found Clinched, a company only 30 minutes from them that make late-model car body kits. They took some sheet metal from the build to the Cinched warehouse and test-fitted kits until finding one that would be close enough to work. The Clinched 2019 Mustang wide body kit was then modified to fit the front 1959 Chevy and rear 1964 Chevy sheet metal.

Cummins Powered

Once the body was looking right it was time to tackle the drivetrain. The 1997 Cummins 12-valve motor, out of the cheap truck purchase, was placed into the chassis and Jeffrey decided he wanted to run a 6-speed Allison behind it. He made this happen with parts from CA-Conversions out of Milton, Florida.

A stock motor wasn’t going to cut it, so he also started looking at bigger turbo options. The initial thought was going to go with one big turbo, then a compound turbo setup was considered, and eventually the decision was to go big with a triple compound turbo setup.

Chassis Setup

The rear suspension setup was giving Jeffrey a headache. He wanted something that would offer massive performance improvements, but also look super cool. The stock Tahoe frame was just an eyesore, so he went all in and chopped the frame just behind the cab and built a full 1.75” DOM tube chassis for the rear of the truck.

This setup not only looked amazing but also allowed for an off-road style trailing arm rear suspension. Sway-a-way 2.5×12” coilovers were used in the rear, with a Sway-a-way 2.5×8” coil-over setup up front. The front upper and lower control arms were also custom built, offering a 1.75-inch wider trackwidth, over stock, per side.

Parking Lot Build to Show Truck

Clinched had been following the progress of the build, which had only been going on for a month at this point, and offered up a spot at The SEMA Show. Jeffrey and his dad were ecstatic, but the show was only three months away and they had a ton of work to do to get the build completed.

The now looming deadline meant that they would need to bring in help, and lucky for them the help needed was only across the parking lot. The truck was rolled into Mayhem Metal Works and there was an all-hands-on-deck sprint to get the truck done in time.

Not So Budget Anymore

With the big show spot secured a number of top sponsors came on board to take the build to the level you see it here, as shown at SEMA. The big change up was ditching the 12-valve Cummins for a built 6.7L Cummins. This was done to aid in strength and tuning capabilities to match the excessive triple turbo setup.

An AEM CD-7 digital monitor in the cab, along with a host of sensors on the engine, keep the driver informed on how the big Cummins is performing. Mishimoto helps to keep things cool with an intercooler and trans cooler.

Wheels are so important for the overall look and functional setup of a vehicle like this, and there wasn’t time for custom wheels to be made, so a wide range of wheels from TIS Wheels were tested fitted before landing on a 20”x10” front and 20”x12” rear setup. The big wheels were then wrapped in sticky R888R race tires from Toyo.

A race ready Wilwood brake setup ensures this quick truck is able to stop. It features 14” rotors with 6-piston calipers up front and 12” rotors with 4-piston calipers in the rear. A hydraulic handbrake ensures steep angle drifting fun is just a lever pull away.

Continuous Upgrades

While The SEMA Show was a massive success, a build like this is never done. It is currently awaiting its turn to go to Darkside Diesel in Wilder, Idaho, where it will get 200% over injectors, and a 14mm CP3. After the engine upgrades Jeffrey will be swapping out the 6-speed Allison for a built 48RE transmission with a full manual valve body and ratchet shifter.

After the reactions it got at The SEMA Show 2022 Jeffrey realized he had a product he could build that others want. You can find him and this truck in Middleton, Idaho, at Killer Creations, his new custom vehicle build shop. You’ll also likely see it at Idaho Truck invasion and SEMA 2023.

A second similar build is also currently in the works, this time with a ’59 Chevy body and a Duramax Diesel.

Check out more @killer_crestions_id on Instagram and Facebook. 

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’58 Apache Diesel Race Truck

Body: ’58 Chevy Apache Cab w/ front sheet metal, ‘64 Chevy c10 bed, ’73 Chevy c10 front bumper, ’19 Clinched Mustang Wide Body Kit

Chassis: ’04 Chevy Tahoe Frame, Custom Rear Tube Chassis, Custom Upper & Lower Control Arms, Custom Trailing Arm Rear Suspension, 2.5×12”and 2.5×8” coilover Sway-a-way Shocks

Drivetrain: 6.7L Cummins Diesel ( bored .020 over, Wagler street fighter rods, Hamilton 188/220 cam, Hamilton pushrods and valve springs, ported and polished head, 100% over injectors, 12mm CP3, 73mm turbo feeding 2 68mm turbos), 6-Speed Allison Transmission, AEM CD-7 Monitor & Sensors, Mishimoto Intercooler & Trans Cooler, TIS Wheels, Toyo R888R Tires, Wilwood Brakes