Bob Suffern developed two amazing conversion kits that allow customers to turn their 1980s and 1990s into miniature trucks using very few tools. His company is called Lil Big Rigs and started off with the Lil Kenny kit, which as you might imagine is a mini replica of a Kenworth. He recently introduced the second model, the Lil Pete, which is a shrunken Peterbilt design.
Suffern, a long time mechanical engineer, tells Big Wheels that he came up for the idea in the late 1990s.
"I have always been into hot-roads, all the hot stuff," he says. "I was driving up and down the interstate looking at all these rigs and thinking that the design would make a cool street rod."
He built a prototype Lil Kenny in his garage and says the reaction was remarkable. "It's amazing. Every time I drive it I get mobbed," he says.
The kits are designed to sit on top of an existing pick-up, using the original mounts of the vehicle. Only part of the frame is cut-off and the body is removed. Donor pick-ups include Fords, Chevrolets and Dodges.
The basic kits cost around $13,500 (NOTE: $Aus) and includes all the basic parts you need for a conversion. The cabin and sleeper cab are made from gel-coated fibreglass which is re-enforced with steel and comes pre-assembled with a dashboard.
You also get that big grille and all the windows, including electric side windows and a road legal laminated windscreen. Suffern designed the kit conversion so it could be completed by folks who like to tinker but aren't engineers.
"The project can be done with basic hand tools," he says. "You only need an electric drill, some wrenches and a four and a half inch grinder."
Customers also need to have the body painted. Like proper trucks, the Lil Big Rigs machines can be optioned-up.
Big stainless front bumpers, air intakes, huge vertical exhausts, visors, airconditioning, sleeper windows and gauge sets are all on the extensive options list. Suffern says that kit customers do often customize their vehicles including one Canadian bloke who spent $100,000 on his Lil Big Rig.
For more information, visit lilbigrig.com
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