Carport Customs YouTube

09/03/2026

In an era when American luxury cars were getting bigger, flashier and covered in fins, the 1961-1966 su***de-door Lincoln Continental did things a little differently.

And to me, it did it gracefully.

We spotted this Lincoln Continental at the Lowered Limits Car Show at L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, Louisiana, and it’s a perfect example of why I’ve always loved this generation.

These cars are incredibly complex, but somehow look incredibly simple. The long straight body lines, slab sides and clean proportions give the Continental an unmistakable presence without needing anything wild to get your attention. Then you start looking closer and realize just how much stainless brightwork and trim is worked into the car.

Open those iconic rear su***de doors and that same attention to detail continues inside. Miles of stainless trim, brightwork and little details give the interior a level of class that you just don’t see anymore.

I’ve always looked at these old Lincoln Continentals as the distinguished gentleman’s ride.

This one doesn’t need giant wheels or a bunch of modifications to change what it is. Put it on the right set of classic wheels with whitewall tires, lay that big land yacht down on the ground, and leave everything else alone.

No crazy graphics. No over-the-top body mods. Nothing fighting for attention.

Just an iconic su***de-door Lincoln Continental sitting exactly how it should.

Simple PERFECTION

09/02/2026

Some mini trucks are built to be clean. Some are built to be different. Tom Jenkins’ Toys 4 Tommys Toyota manages to do both.

We caught up with Tom and his Toyota mini truck at the Lowered Limits Car Show at L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, Louisiana, and this thing has all the right ingredients. It’s right-hand drive, bagged, body dropped and laid out hard, but the longer you look at it, the more little details start showing up.

The white body is covered in flowing purple, blue and black old-school graphics that scream MINI TRUCKIN, with that same purple theme carried throughout the entire build. Inside, the custom interior mixes black and gray with purple piping, purple belts and a polished steering wheel, while the engine bay keeps the same theme going.

Then you get to the bed.

Instead of hiding everything, Tom made the suspension part of the show. The custom tube work and air suspension are exposed through the bed floor and finished in purple, turning something that normally gets covered up into another detail worth stopping to look at.

And being a right-hand-drive Toyota just adds another layer of cool to an already RAD mini truck.

This is what I love about old-school mini truck builds. Body drops, air ride suspension, wild graphics, custom interiors and a theme that carries from one end of the truck to the other.

Toys 4 Tommys isn’t trying to hide what era inspired it.

It wears MINI TRUCKIN culture all over it.

09/02/2026

Incase you have been living under a rock, link blew to the Behind the Decks with Maze podcast. Oh and you might here some familiar voices on there. Great conversations with amazing people from our truckin lifestyle. https://open.spotify.com/episode/57sikojvvEClmaHSfIzTiZ?si=617103d1f25c40f7

Behind the Decks with Maze · Episode

09/01/2026

It’s going down. No filter, nothing is off limits. It is an absolute honor to be invited on Behind the Decks with Maze podcast.

I hope you guys are ready!
Recording tonight with Carport Customs YouTube and OBS Step Brothers

09/01/2026

Why is replacing the factory dash speaker grilles on an 88–94 OBS truck such a headache? Because the factory GM design relies on sun baked brittle plastic and stubborn metal clips that bind, break, and break off in your dash every time you try to remove them.

We looked at every single pain point on the 1988–1994 GMT400 square dash speaker covers and re-engineered them from scratch. This isn’t just an interior styling upgrade that sets your cabin apart—it’s a solid fix to a decades-old design flaw.

Here’s how we did it:

•Say goodbye to fighting rusty metal clips that snap off in your dash. The grilles feature precision rear alignment tabs that slide smoothly underneath the dash pad, while strong, integrated front magnets lock the cover securely in place for tool-free removal.

•Unlike the one-piece factory units, our custom grille features a fully removable dust cover. You can run it open for an aggressive custom look, or easily pop it off to paint and color-match the main body to your interior before reinstalling the screen.

•Decades of sun and heat mean no two square dashes are shaped the exact same today. We integrated adjustable shims right onto the mounting tabs, allowing you to raise or lower the grille height by a few millimeters to achieve a seamless, perfectly flush fit across any warped dash pad.

Engineered for durability, zero-headache installation, and a tailored fit that complements your interior, this is the dash upgrade your 88–94 Chevy or GMC has been waiting for.

Ready to upgrade your square dash? We’ve got you covered.

08/31/2026

If you own an ’88-’94 Chevy or GMC OBS, you already know the factory dash plastic is one of those things that gets more fragile every year. The defroster vent area is especially prone to cracking, breaking, and turning into another 30-plus-year-old problem you have to chase down.

That’s where the Spare Time Billet Dash Saver from LG Billet comes in.

Instead of waiting for that brittle factory plastic to fail, this piece installs over the original defroster vent area and gives the square dash a clean billet upgrade while helping protect the plastic underneath. It’s one of those simple OBS Chevy interior upgrades that actually serves a purpose and looks right at home in an old-school truck.

If you’re restoring, rebuilding, or just trying to preserve the dash in your 1988-1994 Chevy C1500, GMC C1500, Silverado, Sierra, or other GMT400 truck, this is the kind of detail worth looking at before the original plastic gives up completely.

Sometimes the best upgrades on a 30-year-old truck aren’t the ones that completely change it.

They’re the ones that help keep the original truck together.

08/28/2026

Some builds are cool because they’re completely custom. Others are cool because they remind you just how wild you could get ordering a truck straight from the dealership.

This Trail Master Edition square body Chevy C10 Suburban at the Lowered Limits Car Show at L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles has that unmistakable factory-custom conversion look that made trucks and vans from this era so damn cool.

The stripes running down the side are what grabbed me first. They flow with the body and carry the same colors right into that plush interior, complete with plenty of woodgrain and all the little details that make an old conversion Suburban feel more like a rolling living room than an SUV.

Then you throw a set of U.S. Mags Bullet wheels underneath it, get the stance right, and suddenly this big square body land yacht looks RAD without taking away from what made it special in the first place.

That’s what I really like about this one. It doesn’t need to be completely reinvented. The vintage graphics, old-school conversion styling, woodgrain interior and massive square body proportions already give it personality.

It’s just a cool, plush family cruiser from a completely different era of custom trucks.

And apparently the owner understands the fuel economy of an old square body Suburban too, because there’s a bicycle hanging off the front.

When the big land boat gets thirsty, you’ve got a backup plan.

08/27/2026

Can a single build completely reinvent itself while still keeping the DNA that made it iconic? When you travel the country hitting shows, you see thousands of custom trucks—and every now and then, a familiar build reappears with a transformation so dramatic it stops you dead in your tracks.

Something as simple as a fresh paint job can make a truck feel like an entirely new creation, and this OBS is the ultimate example. While the profile might ring a bell, the ex*****on has leveled up across the board.

Tucking massive Intro Wheels front and rear, this truck lays out flat to the ground, topped off with a custom bed modification we are seeing a lot more of. Beyond the engineering and stance, what makes this build stand out even more is that it’s owned and built by a female builder —a space in the GMT400 community that doesn’t get highlighted nearly enough. Take one look through the custom interior, and you can instantly tell her personal touch and vision drove the entire build aesthetic. From the stance to the metalwork, it checks every box of an elite-tier show truck. Another amazing truck build at this year‘s Lowered Limits at L'Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles.

Did you catch it at the beginning? And yes, we had permission to open the door.

08/26/2026

Sometimes the most awesome builds at a show are the ones you never expected to stop for.

At the Lowered Limits Car Show at L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, Phil Blottie’s 1972 Datsun 510 from Twisted Images was easily one of the craziest oddball builds I found all weekend.

From the outside, this thing looks like a rough, rusty old Datsun sitting on an iconic set of vintage BBS RS wheels.

And honestly, that’s what makes it so rad.

Because underneath that old weathered body, this little Datsun is WAY overbuilt.

Phil kept all the bumps, bruises, rust and character showing on top, but underneath is a completely different animal. This 1972 Datsun 510 rides on a custom full frame with custom air suspension and a narrowed Toyota pickup front clip.

Then you start looking at the fabrication.

This thing has what feels like miles of custom bead-rolled sheet metal throughout the build. It’s in the cabin, under the hood, and all the way into the trunk. Add in the full roll cage and you start realizing just how much work is hiding underneath that rough old Datsun body.

Then you look under the hood and it gets even better.

Instead of the engine you’d expect in a classic Datsun 510, Phil swapped in a Mazda 13B rotary engine backed by an RX-7 5-speed transmission.

It’s such an awesome combination.

Rusty old Datsun on top. Serious fabrication underneath. Custom bead-rolled sheet metal everywhere. Full roll cage. Rotary power. Air suspension putting it on the ground. And vintage BBS RS wheels tying the whole thing together.

That’s the kind of custom build I love finding at shows.

It doesn’t have to be perfect and polished everywhere to be cool. Sometimes leaving the history showing is what gives a car its personality. And when you combine that old weathered exterior with this level of custom fabrication and engineering underneath, you get something people have to stop and look at twice.

Phil has been building custom cars and trucks for decades, and when you start looking underneath this Datsun, that experience becomes pretty obvious.

On top, it’s rough, rusty and old.

Underneath, it’s completely overbuilt.

And the whole damn thing is just RAD.

08/25/2026

What does a chopped 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle have to do with MINI TRUCKIN?

On paper, not much.

But walking through the Lowered Limits show at L'Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles , Randy’s Volksrod from Phat Phabz might have been the most oddball, crazy, out-of-place custom build I came across all weekend.

And somehow, it was also right at home.

The Volkswagen Beetle has been customized just about every way imaginable over the years. Cal Look VWs, Baja Bugs, drag cars, slammed Beetles, hot rods and full custom Volksrods. After all these years, you’d think it would be hard to build a VW Beetle that makes people stop and wonder what they’re looking at.

Then Phat Phabz gets ahold of a 1972 VW Super Beetle.

A Volksrod takes the classic Volkswagen platform and mixes it with traditional hot rod ideas, custom fabrication, aggressive stance and a whole lot of personality. Randy’s Volksrod pushes that idea even further by blending old school hot rod culture, custom Volkswagen culture and the attitude of MINI TRUCKIN into one build.

You’ve got the chopped roof, air ride suspension, wide whitewall tires, custom wheels, exposed air-cooled VW engine and fabrication everywhere you look. It takes one of the most recognizable little cars ever built and completely changes its personality without hiding the fact that underneath it all, it’s still a Volkswagen Beetle.

That’s what got me.

Because MINI TRUCKIN has never just been about mini trucks.

It’s a style of building. Cut it up. Lay it out. Fabricate what nobody sells. Mix styles that aren’t supposed to go together. Take something everybody has seen before and figure out a way to make people look at it again.

That’s exactly what Phat Phabz accomplished with Randy’s Volksrod.

This custom VW Super Beetle brings together three different automotive worlds: traditional hot rods, Volkswagen builds and MINI TRUCKIN culture. Instead of one style fighting against the others, somehow they all work together.

That’s why I chose to feature it at Lowered Limits in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

A chopped and bagged 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle should have been one of the most out-of-place vehicles at a MINI TRUCKIN show.

But the longer I looked at it, the more I realized…

This weird little VW might understand MINI TRUCKIN better than some actual trucks do.