(Riverton, WY) – A locally owned truck named “Shorty” recently made a splash in Phoenix, Arizona, when it was named Best in Show at the Desert Diesel Nationals.
Ed Simcox of Wind River Auto and Diesel resurrected Shorty from something that wouldn’t run and had to be towed into a fully operational truck. He shared that the work started on December 22, 2022, and ended on April 1, 2023.
“It’s 100% like a brand new truck that you could buy at the dealership, basically.”
The truck, a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 2WD, spent the first part of its life as an airport tug truck in Las Vegas.
“When we got the truck, you probably should have just sent it to the scrap yard,” Ed continued. “It was in really bad shape.”
They turned it into a short bed, redid the engine, painted and polished the frame, added new wheels, and lowered it eight inches.
“I wanted to do something that you don’t see every day, and that is different,” Ed explained. “You know, a lot of people out there buy a pickup truck, and they put a lift kit or wheels and tires on it. That’s kind of where it ends. We wanted to do something that you can’t buy. You have to build it, literally.”
Ed shared his appreciation for the vendors that helped make Shorty possible: Rugged Werx, who helped with the chassis; Impactless Dent Repair of Casper, who helped with bodywork; and Star Trims, who did the wrap. The rest was put together by Wind River Auto and Diesel.
County 10 also caught up with Rob Stortroen, Kyle Stortroen, and Matthew Waters of Star Trims.
Kyle and Matthew designed, produced, and installed the wrap build in three weeks, which is quite the feat. And doing so while most of the truck was in pieces.
“It was definitely pretty crazy,” Kyle shared. “In the middle of us doing the wrap, they were also working on the engine, and so we were having to kind of fight the grease and mechanics of that, but, you know, we got everything cleaned and worked around it, and it was tough, but we did it.
Normally, it would be wrapped as one big sheet, but they had to cut it in half and work in four different panels. The difficult part was making sure everything lined up.
“It’s crazy,” Kyle shared about winning Best in Show. “It’s cool to just see our work get out there. To have people see it and see other people’s reactions to it because I mean not even the picture is doing it justice really until you see it in the sunlight and full visual.”
“We weren’t expecting to get first in show at Phoenix, everyone talking about it, everyone loving it,” Matthew added.
Star Trims’ work continues to gain national and international recognition.
“Being a small fish in a huge pond, we’re making a hell of a big splash,” Rob said.
Shorty is headed to California’s Golden State Diesel Festival this week.