Photos and Words by Mark Kawakami
- How and when did you get into surfing?
When I was in Elementary school, my dad would drop me and my brother off at beach on the weekends. We would spend our weekends body boarding. As we got into middle school, we bought some used surfboards from ET Surf and some racks for our bikes and began riding our bikes to the beach with our boards.
- Favorite spot to surf?
I don’t get outside of the South Bay much due to time constraints, but locally, I surf Marine Ave, 26th St., and El Porto depending on the day of week, time of day, and the crowds.
- Current boards you ride?
I have a large quiver of boards (Oak Foils, Griffin, Tyler, Harbour, etc…). Jose Barahona (Becker Surfboards) has been shaping most of my boards I currently ride for the past decade. Every single one of them has been magical for the conditions it was created for and my surfing has progressed tremendously! Lately, I’ve been riding a different board every session, but two boards that come to mind are my 9′ high performance longboard and 7’2″ double-winged round tail thruster, both shaped by the master, Jose.
- When did you buy the truck?
January 2013. I started taking it apart immediately after I bought it to get it out to get the bodywork and paint done since it takes the longest time to complete.
5.. Where did you buy it?
I bought it in Panorama City. It was a rust-free Silverado C10 project truck with original blue California license plates. It was exactly what I’ve been looking for on and off for years.
- What have you done to the truck?
The short answer, which most people notice, is body/paint, interior, lowered, wheels/tires
- List the people involved in the truck. Who did what: motor, paint, interior, etc.
The bodywork and paint was done by Diamond Auto Body Center in Long Beach. Interior was done by Juan at 5 Star Upholstery in Gardena, Emilio and his crew at Guadalajara Tire in Gardena did the brakes, tires, alignment, and Brian at New Wave Tint in Gardena has been doing all of my window tint work for the past 20+ years. I did everything else myself.
- Specs of the truck. Size of motor. Wheels/Tires. Suspension. Anything you
want to add for more info on the truck
Stock, California smog legal 305ci motor with 700r4 transmission. Bodywork consists of shaved fender emblems, bed stake pockets, rear cab seam, and flipped and shaved tailgate handle with a Blazer tailgate band (no tailgate handle cutout) painted bright white found on newer Audi’s (Ibis White). Lowered 5/7 with 20×8.5″ and 20×10″ Coy C5 wheels on Toyo Proxes II tires, Updated ’90 Suburban/Blazer core support, grille, and light assembly with HID headlights. Factory look interior done in black leather and black suede, suede headliner, suede sun visors, and suede door panel inserts, Custom Autosound digital shaft radio with USB drive (concealed in the ash tray), and iPod connector. Kicker 2-way dash speakers, Kicker 3-way 6×9″ rear cab corner speakers, 2 10″ Kicker subwoofers in a custom shallow enclosure running through a Power Acoustic BAMF 1600 amplifier. The list of all the custom stuff goes on and on…
9.Other cars you have/working on.
1969 Camaro Z/28
1965 El Camino
Lexus CT200h Hybrid (lowered, 19″ wheels, Yakima rack for my surfboards)
Suburban Z71
