Story and photos by Jack Sloan
Ever since I have known Dave, he has had a dentside the project or three. After I attended Ultimate Adventure in 2015 with my junky Explorer, Dave decided he wanted to build a truck to take out with us. That is when the infamous short bed was born. Dave had enough parts lying around to build a ton-swapped short bed dent that Super Dan described as “a big freaking truck with big freaking tires,” of course, my dad chose more colorful language. 
The evolution of this legendary vehicle has included many phases, and still, to this day, it is being tweaked by the mad scientist in his two-car home garage. I believe Dave is on his third style bed, going from a metal flatbed to a full-stock bed that got demolished on Ultimate Adventure. He is now sporting a Dave Chapelle Mom’s Spaghetti-inspired metal-framed inner structure with step-side fenders hung off the sides. Everything has been hand-fabricated and designed to hold gear for week-long adventure trips, as well as crawl the gnarliest rocks wherever the truck may travel.
Power from the Howell Fuel Injected 351W is put to the ground via a ZF5 manual trans mated to an Offroad Designs 203/205 doubler feeding the 5.13 geared Ford D60 and 10.25 locked differentials. Mr. Hamrick’s tires of choice for this multi-use vehicle are 40-inch Cooper Discoverer STT Pros with Dirty Life aluminum beadlocks.
Skyjacker Softride coils with ADX 2.0 shocks on all four corners help keep this rig firmly planted on all terrain and give it a comfy ride on the blacktop.
So, if you ever pass a tan dentside on the open road or see a bearded gentleman on a rock obstacle giving his truck the West Virginia bump, odds are it is Dave, so make sure to throw him a hand gesture!
