The most popular cars on the road aren’t cars anymore. They’re pickups and sport utilities. Well, one thing because they are so commonplace, well, you see the same vehicle that you’re driving on every corner. And a lot of people don’t like that. Well, I didn’t, so we elected to customize my 2000 Ford F150 pickup.

We started with a Lund molded bug deflector. It serves the purpose of keeping the bugs off the windshield, but more importantly it protects the paint from stone chips and it helps protect from stone damage on the windshield itself.

Then we added a J&J Enterprises stainless steel grill. Now, it is unique inasmuch as you don’t have to modify anything. You don’t cut, you don’t drill, or anything like that. And that was one of the prime concerns for everything that we did to this truck. No drilling, no modifications. It can be undone very easily.

Now, the next thing, we added some Panther custom wheels, chrome plated, a little bit wider than the factory ones. It makes the tires look a little more aggressive. It goes along with the aggressive stance of the 4-wheel drive pickup. On the side, we have steps. They happen to be Ford factory-installed optional parts, but you can buy them either from the dealer or in the aftermarket for any make and model of truck.

Here at the back of the truck, we started out by playing with a couple different types of bed covers. This ARE hard cover is a very well-made unit, nice locking mechanism, hydraulic assists on the lift and so on. But remember that hard covers have one disadvantage, and that disadvantage is you can’t haul tall things in the bed of the truck. So we also tried the Agri-Cover. It’s a folding soft cover that just folds out of the way, so when you need to haul something tall, no problem at all.

We also installed a Bedrug. This protects the bed and protects whatever it is that you’re hauling in the bed. It does a great job, plus it makes the vehicle a little quieter.

All right, but we found also that once all of this was done, when it rains you get moisture into the back of the truck, so we used Trail Seals. This seals up the back of the truck and makes it so water doesn’t come into whatever you’re carrying in the back. Then to change the appearance of the back end, we added these taillight covers, and we got into some serious stuff. We changed the exhaust system with a Gibson cat-back system that has dual side outlets. A very nice piece of equipment, it adds a little power and it adds a wonderful mellow tone to the vehicle. Quite a project.