Texas Trendsetters: Top 10 Trucks from Lone Star Throwdown 2023
For enthusiasts of all truck types, Lone Star Throwdown (LST) is a must attend show. Though it started as a minitruck based event, it began to attract fans of other truck styles over the years including slammed full-size pickups, powerful diesel haulers, iconic classics, and even sky-high lifted trucks.
Held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe, TX on February 24th-26th 2023, LST is one of the largest custom truck shows in the country. In fact, so many people want to participate that the staff has to cap it off at 2,000 trucks, which must be preregistered ahead of time. The event usually sells out in such a short amount of time that reselling registrations is a common thing.
Helping to elevate the playing field, custom billet aluminum awards made by Phil Built Designs are given to only the elite vehicles. Getting your hands on this hardware is quite tough as the show only gives them out to the top one hundred vehicles along with a few “Best of” awards. Other than the most obvious reasons, the most desired award is the “Best of Show” trophy, which is better known as “BAE.”
Competition is very stiff for this award and there have been some very high caliber builds that have earned the opportunity to take it home. This year Ricky Holly was able to get his hands on it with “Lolita,” a unibody ’79 Chevy C10 that was built by the talented hands at Dru Custom Builds, Alamo Customs and MTI Automotive Designs.
In the past, weather has been an issue as the threat of rain put a bit of a damper on the event. Last year temps were in the 30s and it poured on Saturday, the main day of the weekend. Well, this year was quite the opposite as it was sunny and hot outside. This brought in droves of spectators, and it seemed to be the busiest LST ever! There was definitely plenty incredible trucks to see — here’s 10 of our favs from this year's event!
10. Jose Galvan’s ’91 Chevy Silverado
OBS Chevys are without a doubt one of the hottest trucks in the custom scene right now and doesn’t take too much to make them cool.
Jose’s Chevy was ‘bagged over a set of 22-inch Raceline wheels and has even been upgraded with a 5.3L LS engine. It’s topped off with a metallic green and gold paintjob by Pristine Custom Paint and Body.
9. Jeff Baum’s 2000 Chevy S10
Starting out as a project truck for Sport Truck magazine, this truck was amazingly finished fourteen years ago, and it still looks fantastic!
Not only is it slammed, but it also has a retro styled paintjob by Maxwell Designs and Kustom Werx. The rear of this truck is the real highlight as is features Ford Model A taillights and a “Chevrolet” center section from a first gen C10 blended into the tailgate.
8. Mike Wyatt’s “Blazter”
Starting with a’92 Chevy two-door Tahoe, the roof was cut off and the windshield was laid back to make this one insane roadster.
The exterior has some classic styling including a modified C10 grille / light bezel unit. The slammed stance and black paint make is stunning but what really sets it apart from the rest is the interior with red leather seating and ’59 Chevy Impala dash.
7. Karleigh Campbell’s ‘68 Ford F100
Since her father Stacey is heavily into customs and even owns Sketchy’s Speed Shop, Karleigh definitely had the bug early on. At age 16, she built this Bumpside F100 with him and it’s pretty amazing.
It gets going with the original inline six-cylinder engine and lays low with a ‘bagged suspension that features a Fatman Fabrications front IFS. Killing it in the style department is the Harbor Blue paintjob and Raceline billet wheels covered in Nitto INVO tires.
6. Justin Reed’s ’89 Dodge D150
It’s not every day that you come across a custom squarebody Dodge pickup and we were absolutely digging this one. Since they are not common, Justin had to have custom control arms made to help lower it.
Though it has an older paintjob with some flaws, the interior was immaculate with red leather upholstery. The best part of this truck is the 5.7L Hemi with eight-speed trans stuffed under it.
5. Clay Note’s “Pig Pen” ‘55 F100
Patina trucks are all the rage these days and this Ford has been weathered just perfectly for a distinctive build. Clay, the Owner of Riffraff Diesel found this truck and though it would make the perfect project.
It’s been setup with a 6.0 Powerstroke diesel engine, which is boosted by a 68mm VGT stage 3 turbo. To lay that power to the pavement is a No Limit Engineering Big 10 coil-over chassis with 18-inch Forgeline wheels covered in Nitto NT555 G2 tires.
4. Johny Stigall ’67 Chevy C10
C10s are another hot body style these days and ones with fleetside beds are most popular. However, Johny’s truck is a stepside and it is stunning.
This patina truck sits on a full GSI air bagged chassis that was hardline plumbed by Arizona High Test. It’s also powered by a 6.0L LS engine and has a set of 22-inch Detroit Steel wheels with Nitto NT555 G2 tires.
3. Paul Welsh’s ’67 Ford F100
In a world of custom Chevys, it’s really nice to see Fords of the same era get done up too. Paul recently caught the trucks bug and decided to go all out on what was a basket case trucks.
Octane had Octane and Iron resurrect this truck and make it low with a Fatman Fabrications front IFS and a rear back half frame with triangulated four-link. Giving this truck an extra kick is a 5.0L Coyote engine and flare comes from a House of Kolor True Blue paintjob by RF Customs.
2. Terry Rose’s “Twisted” ’76 GMC Jimmy
Classic SUVs are surely on the rise as we’ve seen them fetching for a lot more than their pickup counterparts. Terry is no stranger to building sick rides and had Chris England Concepts turn his vision into reality.
The Jimmy is on a full Roadster Shop chassis equipped with a LS3 engine. The interior of this SUV is the wildest part as it has been completely modernized with help from MTI Automotive Designs.
1. Matt Petterson’s ’56 Chevy
Surprisingly this truck is a bit of a refresh on a build that was completed 12-years ago. It was originally built by Eldred Hot Rod Shop to compete for the Ridler Award at Detroit Autorama but it attended one show before, so it was disqualified from the competition and never shown again.
This truck has been customized from top to bottom includes a spotless ‘bagged chassis with LT-4 stroker engine. It sits on a set of Billet Specialties wheels with Nitto NT555 G2 tires. The body has countless modifications that have transformed this truck from its original form, and it was covered in a custom candy red hue of PPG paint.
It recently surfaced at an auction and Matt scooped it up without knowing the history of it. Once he got a better idea of what he had, he turned to Chris Pate to give a bit of a refresh on the inside. This was one of the most extreme custom trucks at the show and seeing vehicles like this is one of the many reasons we keep coming back to Lone Star Throwdown.
