We first spotted this truck at the Extreme Motorsports Expo in Costa Mesa, California, last summer. The truck was very well built, clean, and the people involved with Colorado Sand Cars were extremely friendly. They built this prerunner for John Van Hattem, a customer of theirs from Loveland, Colorado.
John got his fix for the off-road racing scene traveling into Baja on many occasions to watch the SCORE Desert Racing Series. Growing up outside of Temecula, California, he was no stranger to the dirt or the off-road world. John and his family are now dairy farmers in a small town in Colorado, so that tall glass of milk you drank for breakfast this morning may have helped pay for the tires on John's '06 Chevy Prerunner.
John had a good idea of what he wanted to build, so he gave Tom Frank of Colorado Sand Cars a call to go over the details. John and Tom brainstormed for over a month, and after a six-month build process came up with what you see on these pages. We met up with the pair in Ocotillo Wells, California, over New Year's for a little off-road fun on the way to their big Glamis bash.
The front suspension on this Chevy is a custom-made, center-mounted J-arm setup built by Colorado Sand Cars. | 
Using Fox 2.5-inch coilovers and Fox 3.5-inch bypass shocks, the front end travels 24 inches. Tatum Motor Sports built John a set of strong, hollow, billet spindles to match the arms. Matching Fox 2-inch air bumps were also used to aid in damping. | 
The original intention behind this truck was to romp the sand dunes of places like the Glamis Imperial Dunes. John wanted more: He wanted to be able to take this truck anywhere he saw fit, so additional attention was paid to the strength of the entire chassis of this ride. Everything was very well thought out, and not a piece of tube was unnecessary. |