What Does It Take To Sit A 1964 GMC Truck On Its Rails

We’ve spoken before about the incredible craftsmanship of Australian minitruckers, and how their skills - often honed decades ago making Holden Rodeos and Toyota Hiluxes kiss the blacktop - are now translating in to the broader street machine and custom scene.

Ben Thorne of Mex’s Garage definitely fits this mold. He’s adapted his fabrication skills and air suspension knowledge to everything from lowrider Impalas and American customs to coffee vans, but it was this ‘64 GMC that caught our eye.

“I cut my teeth on minitrucks and I’ll never let them go, but our current clientele definitely know what they want with their builds,” explains Ben of the clear definition between his two target markets.

“The owner of the 64 bought it as a stock truck from Toowoomba. He already had the wheels for it, but just about everything else we did here in house. In fact, the only thing we didn’t do was paint the cab or do any of the upholstery,” explains Ben.

As an Australian rep’ for Porterbuilt, the team opted to fit a PB Fab front end to the GMC, which joins a slew of custom chassis mods in the rear of the truck. “We tubbed the front end to suit the wheels, and added the parallel four-link with a Watts link in the rear,” adds Ben of the extensive work this project required.

And while the standard 250 Chev’ and T400 combo won’t be setting any land speed records, trucks like this don’t need a stack of power. “We upgraded the brakes as well, and did a new fuel system with new fuel lines along the modified chassis and added power steering too,” says Ben.

Sure, all this is cool enough but the real cherry is the Accuair air suspension set up, which boasts self-leveling and programmable ride heights, allowing the GMC to breeze through engineering. “The latest Accuair stuff is amazing, you can control it all from an app’ on your phone!

Back in the minitruck days the air suspension we were working with never had sensors or self-leveling; it’s non-negotiable for getting these current builds over the line with the engineers,” he explains.