1951 Chevy 5 Window

John "Senior" Rabe and the truck are both 70 Years old

Amanda Rabe

Well. Before this night it was only blood and sweat. But now I can say blood, sweat and tears finally. Keeping this surprise from one of the closest people to me was much more difficult than I had expected. But it all paid off tonight. My dad thought it was for a customer and we just rolled with it. 6 months start to finish and from what I can figure over 2,000 man hours went into this build. It’s our first classic vehicle build. The team here at Sky High Car Audio willed this truck into existence. It fought us every single moment of those 2,000+ hours. Any chance it got it fought, kind of like my dad. From the hard life to retiring at 45. This truck is much the same. Not the best beginnings for either, insert a metric ton of hard work and it will get a beautiful life moving forward. It’s been probably the most rewarding thing I’ve personally been involved in. There’s absolutely nothing more fulfilling in my opinion than repaying a lifetime of perpetual mentorship with the “gift of a lifetime.” This was built almost completely by us at Sky High Car Audio as a surprise 70th birthday present for my dad. Since my parents selflessly help me with anything and everything I could possibly need without expectation of anything in return I feel that I owed them something special. I could call them in the middle of the night and ask them to fly to Antarctica to drop off a shipment to a customer and I truly believe they would. From the time I was a child my dad coached me to be a successful person mentally, will myself to my goals, work harder than anyone, be good human being, a good parent and a productive member of society. I am what I am today because of my parents. I’ve built a very successful business on my own but I would NEVER have been able to do this without all the years of advice and counseling I have gotten and continue to get daily. I can’t think of a better way to say “thank you” than building my dad his dream truck. He’s been talking about this truck for as long as I can remember. We would always go to car shows together when I was a kid; somehow 20 years later I remember all the stories, dreams, wants and needs. Here’s my interpretation of all those memories: It’s a 1951 Chevy 5 window. He loves this body style and especially the 5 window. I found this 1951 which is perfect and exactly what I wanted because he was born in 51. It seemed like the perfect platform.

4 months, 4 people, 12 hours a day

10 years or so

drive the wheels off it

Literally found in a barn in rural Nevada.

Jeffery Bardos Johnny Schultz Berto Pastelin

2009 GTR feature

corvette ls1

8

5.7

large aluminum radiator, stainless headers, full custom exhaust with x pipe, March billet pulleys/accessories, custom painted covers, 243 heads, big truck cam, all the goodies. It’s ran by a Holley Terminator X system.

chrome

randys transmissions

ford 8.8

sky high car audio

stock-is frame. full boxed, back halved, custom notch, a arm conversion, power steering conversion, 4 link, exhaust pass throughs with integrated driveline loop.

We decided to do a coilover IFS set up in front. It’s all tig welded with Moog problem solver joints. Power steering and Willwood hydro boost. It’s got 13.8” Wilwoods up front with billet hubs. The rear is 4 link with coil overs and a pan hard bar. Small step notch to fit under a 2 raised flat bed floor. Everything was made in house and it works amazingly.

sky high car audio

drop idk how many inches....until the tires cleared

qa1

qa1

mustang

qa1

custom

paint and powder

Detroit Steel

Detroit Steel

20x9

20x11

275

305

It’s a Lamborghini orange over a white base; it has green and gold pearl to get the shift. Plus 3 thick of clear

Every nut. Every bolt. Every part excluding nothing has been touched, modified, loved, beat, and messed with to make this truck what it is. It’s a driver. It will get scratches. It won’t live locked up in a trailer and/or garage. This is what’s special about this truck in detail: The first car he ever built was a ‘56 Nomad. It was Chevy Racing Red so we went with this orangish red to match(ish) the color of his first car.

jonathan rabe

center rib delete

chrome oem

chromed OEM front, roll pan rear

As far as the body work we did all of it in house. From scratch fire wall, toe board, floor board, front end rear lower cab corners, shaving of the louvers and upper cowl intake. Added Kin Dig It handles and bear claw latches to get that modern feel but classic look. We did a single piece hood on billet hinges and struts. We modified the bed extensively as you can see. It has an actuated bed floor to access the paint matched jack and fuel filler for the rear mounted 19 gallon aluminum tank. It has a pressure switch that turns on the lights for under the Wyoming barn paneled bed floor

oem

summit

TMI

retro sounds

audio control

sky high car audio

summit

TMI

infused glass 20%

Inside we did a TMI seat in distressed leather, matching steering wheel, headliner, sun visors, and door panels. Power windows and door locks are ran by a proximity sensor ignition system (no key like a modern vehicle). Steve Meade made us some amazing covers for the keyless entry (and the custom laser battery cover). It has AC and heat. Audio Control amps and digital sound processor, B2 subwoofer, custom Gately Audio 3 way speaker kick panels holding Sky High carbon neo 3 way sets. All sky high wiring for the entire vehicle and audio system. Every system is individually fused and relayed. An essentially stock looking dash brings the modern resto mod feel home inside. In addition it has a column shifter...which if you know about these trucks doesn’t exist. It’s these small touches of “impossible” problems solved here that makes it so special.

TMI