I had seen Derek Bumgardner’s Task Force Chevy a number of times—on the socials and in person—before actually spending some time with him and the truck at last year’s C10 SLO Down. Even after that, I still was none the wiser to the fact that the entire Stepside build was based almost entirely off aftermarket components! From the Premier Street Rod cab to the (now-defunct) Mar-K bed with boat deck flooring, the GSI/AccuAir chassis to the GM Performance LS3 and the Snowden bucket seats, it’s all stuff you or I or anyone else can pick up the phone or click the mouse and buy!
Before I get into the abovementioned particulars, I asked Derek to give us a little surmisal of his Stepside—and just how he came about its name, “Destitute”!
“I love having my ’69 C10, “Bruttus” (built by Tre5 Customs pre-pandemic), but when the opportunity came to buy this 1957 Chevy (which was a build started by someone else but needed to sell for personal reasons), I realized that I was ready to do another truck. I was excited to do something different. The ’57, aptly named Destitute, is completely different than Bruttus, most notably the motor; Bruttus has a big-block Chevy whereas Destitute is equipped with an LS3. As well, Bruttus is static-dropped and Destitute is on air ride. I definitely got out of my comfort zone when choosing the paint and interior for Destitute. Silver is my color of choice, but with a little prodding, the custom blue paint was chosen, and I couldn’t be happier with it. The color is probably the most-commented-on feature of the truck. The same day the paint was chosen, the interior color was picked as well. The camel interior and blue exterior contrast yet complement each other at the same time. When it came to the bed of the truck, I had already decided not to do the traditional wood. I went with SeaDek, a boat flooring. I installed it with the help of good friends and love how it turned out.
“The name, Destitute, was chosen for obvious reasons—I’m just a regular guy who, thankfully, is able to work overtime when needed/wanted. I didn’t have the sum of money needed just sitting around for this build; I worked countless hours of overtime to fund Destitute, but I have no regrets!”
As was the case with his ’68 C10, Tre5 Customs in Glendale, Arizona, finished up the ’57. It’s all based on GSI Machine and Fabrication’s bagged 1955-59 chassis that utilizes AccuAir’s eLevel ride height system with Ridetech shocks and Baer brakes and rolls on Billet Specialties’ 20/22-inch Fury wheels. Power comes from that naturally aspirated, 376ci LS that features a Tre5-fabbed stainless exhaust utilizing Ultimate headers and Borla mufflers, a Lokar-shifted 6L80E, and a 3.70-geared Currie 9-inch.
Atop that adjustable foundation, Tre5 puzzle-pieced the assemblage of aftermarket sheetmetal together, added some custom touches (new tubs, custom bed floorpan with Dakota Digital actuator-hinged centersection, shaved cowl, and so on), and fine-tuned everything before handing it off to iKandy Paintworks for Derek’s non-traditional color of choice: custom medium blue. Once the LMC Truck/UP Car Parts chrome and finished exterior details were added (lights, grille, and bumpers—including the exhaust-modified rear), it was up to Elevated Design to complete the interior using the aforementioned camel-colored leather over the Snowden seats and custom-made door/kick panels, and custom center console flowing into a full-length lower dash panel housing the Restomod Air components and Pioneer double-DIN display.
Comfort amenities added by Tre5 include Dakota Digital HDX gauge cluster, Ididit tilt column with a Billet Specialties Fury steering wheel, and a Morel/JL Audio system.
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