RealTruck.com ‘tricking’ out special truck

Lamborghini doors.

A flat-screen TV equipped with a gaming console.

An iPad that controls the door and electronic functions.

These are just some of the features that are part of a $100,000 project by Jamestown-based RealTruck.com called the Storm Truck Project.

RealTruck.com CEO Scott Bintz said he envisioned the concept of putting everything that his online truck accessory company had to offer into one “tricked out” vehicle.

“It’s the idea that anything is possible,” said Bintz, who started the company in Spokane, Wash., in 1998 and then moved it to Jamestown in 2000.

RealTruck.com has teamed up with two North Dakota companies — Site on Sound of Fargo and The Foss Shop of Casselton — to transform a 2012 Chevy Silverado 2500 pickup truck into a fully-upgraded vehicle that features several top-of-the-line accessories.

“There’s a lot of stuff in this project that we’ve never even tackled before,” said Jim Foss, owner of The Foss Shop. “It’s something completely out of the ordinary and hopefully it’ll just show people all the different things we can do.”

Foss said the truck will have custom features including a barn door-style tailgate, Lamborghini-style doors on the front, suicide doors on the back, oversized wheels, a 6-inch lift kit to elevate the truck’s suspension and much more. Suicide doors are hinged closer to the rear of the vehicle as opposed to the standard hinge toward the front of the vehicle.

“I’m looking forward to getting it done and seeing what people think of it,” said Foss, who began work on the project in May along with the help of his sons, Mike and Shane.

“They’ve worked together in the shop since they were young and seems like they’ve been fixing cars since they were in the eighth or ninth grade,” he said.

Audiences will get the first look at the upgraded truck on Thursday, as it will be available for public viewing at Casselton Cruise Night — a regional automotive show in Casselton.

The Storm Truck will have all its features ready for the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show in Las Vegas that runs from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2.

Bintz hopes the project’s display at the SEMA Show will indicate the sort of work North Dakotans are capable of.

“Being from North Dakota, you don’t traditionally think of this as place for a huge truck makeover,” he said. “But vehicles are really engrained into the American culture now, so I’m looking forward to seeing people’s response and the ‘Wow’ you’ll see on people’s faces.”

Fargo-based Site on Sound is expected to soon begin work on the Storm Truck’s interior and electronics, with features including: a TV with a gaming console that rises out of the truck bed; TV screens in the rear-hinged back doors; and an iPad that controls the doors and electronics in the truck.

Once completed, Bintz hopes to showcase the truck to the local community — especially schools.

“We were thinking of making the truck available to the schools in order to promote a message that anything is possible,” he said.

RealTruck.com currently employs more than 30 people in Jamestown and Fargo and posted its best year of sales in 2011 after generating more than $13 million in nationwide revenue.

Sun reporter Brian Willhide can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at bwillhide@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local business, business