STOP, DROP, AND ROLL
December 1, 2024
THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
The Great Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion Hits New Heights
September 15, 2025
Colorado Drop Kit
July 16, 2023
B-Series Bullseye: Part I
What can we say about VTEC Honda motors that hasn’t already been said thousands of times? Accolades have been bestowed upon the B-series Honda at an almost embarrassing rate—and we might add that all of its praise is well deserved. But we have already begun to turn our attention to the newer K-series motors, which by all accounts are even better motors than the B-series. They are sure to start a revolution of their own, but that is a discussion for a different day.
A Long Time Coming
How many times have you heard the following: I sold my first truck for $1,000 and wish I had never gotten rid of it. If you have, then you understand the mental grief generally associated with selling your first truck. What can make matters worse is to find out the new owner wrecked it, sold it or that it was eventually parted out or scraped. Perhaps you have succumbed to one of these unfortunate circumstances, leaving you to long for that first ride. Longtime classic truck enthusiast Eddie Rudd of Knoxville, Tennessee, knows that empty feeling, as Rudd drove a not-so-flashy 66 Chevy 1/2-ton to and from work during his teens, and even into his 20s, it served as his daily driver. Times changed, Rudd became a father and soon learned the uncomfortable truth that the truck no longer allowed the entire family to ride comfortably. Rudd knew the truck had to go, so in March of 1982, he sold it to a friend.
Corvette Expo 2026 & Chevys in the Smokies Take Over Pigeon Forge
The Great Smoky Mountains are famous for the blue haze that gives the range its name—but during the 49th Annual Corvette Expo 2026 and Chevys in the Smokies, the mountains were a little smokier than usual. Some of that haze came from cammed-up V8s, hot rubber, and thousands of horsepower rolling into Pigeon Forge for one of the biggest Chevrolet performance events in the region.
Spotlighter
Literally Lightning
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
From Factory Wild to Really Wild, Darren Pellechia's '02 Was Built for Show and Go
SVT Lightning enthusiast Darren Pellechia of Cedar Park, Texas, built his ’02 Ford SVT Lightning F-150 so that he could show it and boot it along, as enthusiasts will do from time to time. Of course, the genuine Lightning mural treatments are the most obvious things you notice first about Pellechia’s F-150. The Custom Crafters Lightning silver paint and Von Otto Lightning murals adorning the truck are certainly attention getters, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
As Pellechia says, The truck was supposed to be a daily driver, and my 1997 F-150 Super Cab that I had already started was supposed to be my show truck. Then one day my wife, Lynn, said to me, Why don’t we turn the Lightning into a show truck instead? After all, they’re far more popular. I said now I have to start all over again!
So began the transformation from factory wild to really wild. Although the Lightning F-150’s suspension is already an awesome piece of engineering straight from the factory, Pellechia fine-tuned it with the addition of a pair of Eibach Sport 1-1/2-inch-lower front springs and Bilstein gas-charged front struts. Out back, the F-150 also features a Belltech 2-inch-lowered shackle kit, Bilstein gas-charged shocks and Cal-Trac traction bars.
Pellechia also updated the Lightning’s 5.4-liter Eaton-supercharged mod motor with a set of Power Surge billet-aluminum engine pulleys, a K&N-filtered Accufab 75mm throttle body, and a combination PSP and Nitrous Express 75hp Express Shot nitrous system. Other engine upgrades include an LFP electric cooling fan and, of course, lots of engine compartment detailing. Backing it up is an Art Carr-prepared Ford AODE featuring an Art Carr 2,500-rpm stall-speed torque converter.
Of course, the SVT lightning is already known for its good looks; but Pellechia made it look even better with custom upgrades such as a smoothed tailgate, a rolled rear pan and APC clear taillights. He also filled in the windshield washer holes and replaced all the badging with airbrush painting. The mural on the bed cover features an AC-130 Spectre jet fighter, along with the Lightning logo, Pellechia said. In fact, lightning bolts and other sundry forms of awesome art can be found throughout the entire machine.
Inside Pellechia’s Lightning you’ll find even more Von Otto murals, along with the factory gray and black suede upholstery. Interior upgrades include an Alpine 1VA-D900 DVD with 7-inch screen, Infinity two-way 5×7 front speakers, MB Quartz 6-1/2-inch two-way rear speakers, a Crossfire five-channel amplifier, two 10-inch JBL subwoofers, Auto Meter Phantom fuel pressure and transmission temperature gauges, billet-aluminum gas and brake pedals and billet interior knobs and controllers.
Pellechia is a member of the Austin Lightning Owners Club (ALOC) and the Houston Area Lightning Owners club, as well as the National Lightning Owners Association. ‘Probably my proudest achievement to date was winning first place back to back at both the first and second annual All Lightning Fest, held at Heartland Raceway in Topeka, Kansas, as well winning first place at the 2004 Houston Autorama and first place at the 2005 Waco Autorama. Yeah, howdy, we’d say that’s quite an accomplishment for a project that was never supposed to happen.
