1991 Isuzu Pickup | MINT CONDITION

Aaron Oliver’s Twizted Isuzu P’up 

 Aaron Oliver had a lot to think about when he found himself stranded on the side of the road in a not-so-cheap turnkey truck he had just purchased. Luckily, his son Ryan was along for the ride, so the two had each other for company. The situation gave Aaron lots of time to reflect on how things could’ve been different, but also how much he still wouldn’t change about his current scenario. 

“At the time when I purchased this Isuzu, I was looking to buy a truck that was already done,” Aaron says about his latest mini-truck acquisition. “I’ve owned many trucks over the years, and I was finally in a position to buy something that was done that I didn’t have to rebuild or finish.”

While that does sound like a good spot to be it, it didn’t help make an untimely smack of hard luck sting any less.

“Two hours into our trip back to Ohio from Chicago, the Isuzu’s engine blew while we were passing through Indiana,” Aaron says. “The trip didn’t go as expected, but four of our Twizted Intentions club members, Jesse Kidd, Buddy Hedland, and Craig and Angie Snyder, responded to our distress call and got us back home safely and quickly.”

After that first incident with the truck, Aaron fully assessed the situation when it was finally parked inside his garage. The Isuzu only had two previous owners who cultivated the Isuzu into the condition it was in when he found it for sale. Kane Ferris was the original builder of the truck, who then handed it over to Thomas Townsend, owner of Paint Asylum, who pulled the strings to put his own spin on it. Aside from painting the truck its current cool minty green color, Thomas also had reached out to Chris Allred of Unusual Fabrication to build new ‘bag mounts, as well as a set of one-off tubular control arms to narrow the front end 3 full inches. It was all this work that kept the Isuzu fiends out there interested and talking about the rebuild, which is exactly how Aaron caught wind of it being on the market again.

“Chris Couch, who is one of our Twizted members, told me about the Isuzu, and that it had only been to one show since it was freshly remodeled,” Aaron says about the inside info he received about his future new truck. “Chris also mentioned to me that the owner would most likely be interested in selling if approached with the right offer.”

With that lead, Aaron and his son made their way to Chicago with pockets full of money and a plan to drive their new truck back home as a victory celebration if it was to their liking. While only part of that plan carried on without a hitch, Aaron made sure to see the situation for what it was—a good excuse to add something to the truck with his own hands.

While the idea of buying a completely bug-free, fully customized show truck is a goal all its own, it just wasn’t in the cards this time around for Aaron. Instead, he began coming up with solutions on how to move forward with the truck during the tow ride home from its botched maiden voyage.

“After we arrived back at home, the first thing I did was order a newly rebuilt motor for it,” he says. “The only problem I kept running into at this point was finding someone who was interested in doing the motor swap! Nobody wanted to touch the job since everything underneath the hood was custom painted, which is understandable, but it put us in a somewhat frustrating situation.”

Knowing that the job had to get done before they could go literally anywhere in the truck, Aaron and his son decided that they would just have to pull the blown engine and install the new one on their own.

“We had the old motor out in a matter of a few hours, and it took us some time to clean and paint the new engine, but we made it happen pretty quick,” he says.

Aside from a brief period of quality control double and triple checks, the freshly rebuilt 2.3L was dropped into place and buttoned back up. As far as rather major unforeseen hiccups go, Aaron took the setback in a gracious stride.

With all that behind them, Aaron can now look toward the horizon with the truck, which is starting to seem mighty bright. Aside from hitting as many shows as COVID will allow in 2021, he plans on calling on Jeremiah Sibray of Addictive Fab Works to whip up a new frame, firewall and floor for the Isuzu. That will make a huge difference in how the truck drives and displays at shows.

“As president of the Ohio chapter of Twizted Intentions, it’s nice having the truck done for now and ready to add to our group of vehicles,” Aaron mentions proudly.

Even though the road started out rough for the Oliver family’s Isuzu pickup, it has given Aaron and his son Ryan a reason to spend some quality father/son time together. While the engine swap wasn’t too in depth or time consuming, it was enough to allow the guys an opportunity to invest a little bit of themselves into the truck’s overall success. Be on the lookout this year, as these guys do intend on making up for lost time.

TRUCK SPECS

 Owner 

Aaron Oliver
1991 Isuzu Pickup
Hamilton, Ohio
Twizted Intentions 

Chassis & Suspension 

• Shop: Chris Allred @ Unusual Fabrication, Kane Farris, DJ Roberts and owner
• Custom one-off upper and lower control arms
• Custom ‘bag mounts
• Slam Specialties SS5 and SS6 ‘bags
• Lowered custom shock mounts
• Machined hubs for wheel clearance
• Four-link ‘bag on bar setup
• Custom back half
• Accuair valve block
• Viair 444 compressors
• 3/8-inch air line
• AVS 7-switch controller
• Relocated stock fuel cell

Wheel & Tires

• 20×8.5 Coy C-33 smoothie wheels custom pained with baby moon chrome center caps
• 25/30/20 Lexani tires

Powertrain & Brakes 

• Shop: Thomas Townsend @ Paint Asylum and Roberto Martinez
• Rebuilt 2.3L factory engine
• Weber carb
• Powermaster 20-amp alternator
• All emission components eliminated
• Major wire tuck

Exterior & Paint 

• Shop: Thomas Townsend @ Paint Asylum, pinstriping by “Famous” Dave Walters, Roberto Martinez and Kane Farris
• Custom mixed Diamont RM mint solid green
• House of Kolor clear
• Shaved windshield squirters, mirrors, door handles, gas door, tailgate, stock taillights, rollpan
• Traditional body drop
• Cut out grille on lower valance
• Lokar billed LED tails
• Molded in crooked license place box
• Motorcycle flush mount gas cap
• Custom wood floor in bed

Interior & Sound 

• Shop: Thomas Townsend @ Paint Asylum and Kastelic Upholstery
• Billet Specialties steering wheel and hub, shift knob and window cranks
• Custom center console with cup holders and gauges
• Rodeo seats cut down
• Stock dash and door panels
• Everything wrapped in black vinyl and suede