2002 Ford F350

What could be better than heading to the lake with your truck and boat on a hot Arizona afternoon? It would have to be driving out to the water with friends and family in a fully-customized tow rig and one bad boat in tow! Mark Bruncie of Peoria, Arizona, set out to build his '02 Ford F-350 and Magic 28 Deckboat, for fun, in elevating proportions. From muscle cars to 4x4s, this next project took Mark's build to the next level.

With the truck given the name of Elev8ed, its height had to match, so adding a sky-high 15-inch lift seemed to do the trick. The front suspension uses leaf springs by Valley Spring and nitrogen charged Fox Racing Shox shocks, which offer a broad range of adjustability. The leaf suspension makes way for the 18-inch polished aluminum Mickey Thompsons, which are wrapped in 39-inch Interco TrXus STS all-terrain tires. Under the hood is a 7.3L diesel engine, but it wouldn't be complete without adding performance modifications. Mods include an Edge Performance Programmer to improve towing capability and an Airaid Intake to create more horsepower and torque gains from improved air flow. The list of upgrades continues with a Bad Boy Performance transmission and B&B exhaust to achieve the truck's performance and power needs. The ultra-deep 4:88 gearing makes a light workout of towing the Magic.

With more than 137 skulls covering the lower half of the F-350, Danny Livingston out of Phoenix, spent more than 300 man hours to hand airbrush each unique skull. Inspired by the scene in T2 Rise of the Machines, there are a bunch of skulls and bones under the water that set the tone and concept for the truck. Since the movie, Mark has adopted the skulls theme to just about everything: bikes, sand cars, and even his body. The House of Kolor custom paint with graphics and flames, once combined with a fade design, made the perfect canvas for the distinctive skulls. Kodiak 12-inch drop steps were added to all four doors to make it easier to get in and out of the lifted vehicle. The steering linkages are all octagon tubing and were powdercoated purple with the rear control bars made by Valley Spring. To add to the visual flow of the truck, a simple billet grille with clean lines was selected and painted white to match the overall base paint color.

No truck is really fully customized until it gets an audio makeover. Starting with replacing the factory head unit, Soundwerks in Phoenix installed a Clarion single-din source unit with a flip-out screen, along with two Alpine amplifiers for the MB Quart high and mid speakers. The four 10-inch Kicker subwoofers, which are in a custom enclosure behind the back seat, are powered by a Rockford Fosgate 1,000-watt amplifier. Car Toyz in Paradise Valley, Arizona, initially set-up the truck's wiring for the audio system, then added video for the passengers in the tow vehicle. The dash was customized to house the in-dash monitor, while causing the A/C controls to be relocated. Three Alpine monitors and a DVD player were installed for the ultimate entertainment, along with a back-up camera and navigation for the driver. The build of Mark's tow-rig project took more than six months to complete.

At the lake, the matching graphics and flame theme of the 28-foot Magic Deckboat and F-350 stand out. The finished project was a color mistake; not intentionally using purple, but after spending time with Brett Durante and the staff at Magic, the creative process started to really take shape with the boat design. It formed into a fading design of purple and blue with a transitioning color choice of orange to yellow. The gel coat had a variation of many colors to create the distinctive color fading, and Magic really pulled it off, which made Mark very happy.