Dane Howell is a fabricator by day and a mini-truck fanatic by night. He owns several Chevy Luvs and a couple of Ford Couriers too–but this one takes the cake.

He picked up this 1975 Luv eight years ago for $750, immediately lowered it, added a set of Corvette wheels, and drove it. It was his daily driver for two years, with its original four-cylinder and four-speed.

He wanted to make it more fun while making it more his own, so he added an LS1 and custom suspension. The engine is mostly stock, with only the weak points replaced, such as the oil pump, timing set, and valve springs. A more tunable Terminator X replaced the factory LS ECU. The cam, however, remained stock. Inside the truck is a Canton Racing Products Accusump, an external system that maintains oil pressure during startup, high-g cornering, any other time the engine might see low oil pressure.

Witht he exception of a few service items to ward off any high-mileage failures, the LS1 is largely stock. Even in that form it's a far cry more powerful than the Luv's original 4-banger.

The LS1 is backed by a Turbo 400 with B&M floor-mounted shifter. Out back is a Ford 8.8 rear axle and stock Ford brakes.

Dane built the front, lower control arms from scratch, mating them to S10 spindles and machining an adapter to run Corvette C5 hubs and brakes. He made the suspension work with the stock frame. Coilovers are QA1, and the brake master cylinder is Wilwood.

The C5 Corvette wheels are wrapped in 275mm, front and 295mm rear tires. The front splitter is made out of wood, and the flares were born from scrap metal.

“I’ve always been into mini trucks,” said Dane. “The old stuff is cool and built well… I just kept driving this one, making it cooler and cooler as I went along.”