- Hey guys, I'm Shawn Chartier,
the founder and CEO of Custom Offsets,
Offsets Garage Team Stance, and some other stuff.
And this is my episode of The Builder.
(Victorious by Tyrone Briggs plays)
♫ I'm in it just to re-write history
♫ 'Cause I'm in the mood to
♫ Label us the leaders of the leaders of the new school
♫ This ain't for the radio
♫ Can't find this on YouTube
♫ This the type of killing that these critics aint use to
♫ Victorious
♫ In this day and age I got time for innovation
♫ Time to be creative
(upbeat music)
My passion began when my grandpa sold me his truck.
It was a 1979 Toyota pickup truck.
It was missing half of the box on the back.
It had rusted and fallen off.
Sold it to me for $250 and it was the biggest piece
of crap I've ever seen in my life.
But to me, it was the most beautiful thing ever.
I sat and waxed that thing
until the rust would fall off of it.
I basically took the grill off of it
so that it would look custom
which, it jut looked like it was missing a grill,
but I didn't know that.
I took out the headliner 'cause I thought
that would be custom.
That made the stereo just ping
every time the bass would hit,
which were how speaker boxes
that I had stuffed behind the seat.
But the whole point was that it was mine
and it looked like no other truck out there.
And I would say that was the beginning of my addiction.
Because from there on, that's exactly what I did
with every vehicle.
It didn't matter if it looked better
as long as it looked different.
I actually had somebody's name carved
in my white Ford Escort.
Her name was Betty, and I liked that 'cause it was custom.
Because I didn't know who Betty was
and since somebody had keyed their name
into the car I really liked that.
So I keyed other names into that car.
And that was the keyed name car
for the three weeks that I owned that.
But once bought a car for $75 from a friend in college.
And it was really in rough shape
but it was missing the antenna.
So I took a metal clothes hanger
and I folded it into a hand that did that.
And I made that my antenna.
And then my friend took blue paint
and wrote my name on the hood.
So it said, "Shawn's Car."
And that one made that one my car.
That one lasted probably about six or eight weeks I think.
But these are my 50, I think 50, 51, and 52
are the names of these vehicles.
I've had 52 vehicles in my life.
I believe the first 20 didn't add up
in total to about $10,000.
So I've had a lot of vehicles,
some of them a couple hundred dollars
only lasted a couple of weeks.
But I always made it my own the day that I got 'em.
So I've been absolutely obsessed
with never driving a vehicle
that looks like somebody else's.
After the Toyota, the first one that I really made mine
was I bought a Chevy S-10 low rider.
It was an '86 and it had the red interior, black exterior.
And it had some big old pinstripes and stuff on it.
So I right away started taking off the pinstripes
that I didn't like, kept just the color that I did like.
I went and got a tunnel cover for it.
It had some slotted Camaro wheels on it,
so that already looked good.
I put some new tires on it.
And then I went and got some old Chevy bow ties
off of some junk vehicles,
and I painted the insides of those purple
and mounted those up on the bottom of the air dam
on the front of the truck.
And I think I did some, I know I added a No Fear sticker
to the front windshield
because that was super awesome back then
and then put a full stereo in it.
I always put stereos in my trucks
and I would say that was the first one that I really turned
into my first proud to drive it truck.
I only had that for probably one summer
and then I went onto the next one and the next one.
But the one after that was another Chevy S-10 that was a 91.
That was the first one that I went
and bought my first set brand new custom wheels.
I bought some American Racing Hammers,
which was the deepest dish wheel at that time
and it was about an eight inch wide
probably a zero offset.
But they somehow created a dish on it,
so that was the first one
that I actually put my own wheels
and then I went and did the windows.
I tinted the windows with some Shopko Tint
'cause Shopko was sweet back then.
And I would say that was the first one
that I made totally mine.
I did some other stuff too,
but that was like 20 years ago,
so I can't remember all the details.
It's not really my most recent,
but I would say my recent most proud vehicle
was the CO Avalanche.
That truck I got from my buddy.
He owned it since it was brand new.
It was about 11 years old, had 150,000 miles on it.
I got it for $5,000 bucks.
I know that Avalanches are one
of the ugliest vehicles made,
I know that they're one of the most picked on vehicles made.
I think a Pontiac Aztec would've been
the only thing I could've challenged that vehicle with
for the most ridiculous lookin' vehicle ever created,
especially by GM.
So I knew I had my work cut out for me.
So I did a ton of research and I took this stock truck,
put it in the garage and stared at it for two months.
And I basically pushed every single limit.
(upbeat music)
(engine revs)
So I went with the six inch lift,
I went with 12 wides which nobody
was running 12 wides anywhere in this town.
I had never seen a truck with 12 wides in person.
And then I did 33's which they said would never fit.
And I just cut big chunks outta the bumper to make it fit.
I went SEMA beavered with a chisel and a dremel
and made room for the tires on the back.
It was a nightmare but it was mine
and I got it to fit and I could drive it.
And then I came up with this crazy idea
to first I decided to drill bolt holes into the truck.
I had seen on an episode of those bike builder guys.
What are the two?
The father son, Orange County Choppers.
He had built the Tuttle kid had built a Camaro
that had sheets of metal on it with rivets.
And I really liked that really beefy look
and I wanted to turn that plastic Avalanche
into something more beefy
so I literally took a speed bit, put some tape on it,
and hoped that I wouldn't get carried away.
And started speed bit drilling three quarter inch holes
all over my truck and put these giant bolts
all around threaded right into the truck.
Then I Plasti Dipped the entire thing.
Custom painted all the bolts,
ripped the headliner outta the truck,
put a custom suede headliner on it
with embossed raised emblems for custom offsets on it,
which didn't work at all because the liner was too thick
and the emblems were too detailed
but I knew they were there, so that made me feel nice.
That had black suede headliner
and then I went and put Ruff Tuff seat covers
black and white gator skin all throughout the inside of it.
I did all custom lighting, light bars, under glow.
I actually cut my own Lamborghini exhaust,
I mocked up on a cardboard
what the Aventador exhaust looks like,
went to a metal fab guy,
had him actually weld up,
bend and fab me a custom Lamborghini exhaust
and I called it the Avalambo exhaust.
And then I went to the muffler shop
and had them put a straight pipe
that came through where the spare tire is
and put the Lambo exhaust coming out
where the license plate was supposed to be.
And I say that one's my favorite
because I actually did most of the work myself.
I definitely came up with the entire vision myself.
It had never been done before,
nobody had ever seen anything like it.
I was gonna get a t-shirt made that said,
"I hate Avalanches, but God do I love that one."
Because everywhere I went, I heard that.
I won my first trophy in my entire life with that truck.
I got best of show, at a classic car show,
which I knew hurt them to vote for my truck
because they all like classic cars and they hate trucks.
But they couldn't get over how unique
that flat black truck with all the bolts
and the whole interior done.
And just all the work that they could tell
that I put into it.
So that one, I think that'll end as my favorite build
that I've ever done
because I've put my hands all over it
and I was the one that could've ruined that truck
by drilling those giant bolt holes
and it never mattered what anybody said about it
because it was mine and I made it that way.
And I never cared what somebody's opinion was.
I just smiled and said, "Yeah, it's pretty sweet isn't it?"
"Bedazzled SUV with a birth defect,"
Was my favorite comment of all time.
And I said, "Yeah, I love it too."
Was my only response back to 'em.
So that's the one that I loved.
And then I got super busy and now I basically don't
have time to build my own stuff.
So what's happened is I've had to transition into
now I just come up with a vision
and then I've got a team
that helps me actually get the vehicle built.
So my big pushback has been I keep hearing these people say,
"Bought not built.
"You're not a builder 'cause you just bolt the stuff on.
"You're not a builder because this,
"you're not a builder because of that,"
And I say, "Kiss my, I am a builder,
"I have built in the past.
"I could build if I want to.
"Don't judge my level of my ability."
I love the kids with the cans of Plasti Dip
that are makin' their cars their own that are 16 years old.
That kid's more of a builder
than half these guys that are talkin' crap
and pickin' on everybody else.
Because they actually get it.
And the guys that go out and just spend money
or have all the tools and all of the expertise
and all the talent,
but they can't respect the high school builder.
I think they're the ones that are missing out.
I'm more proud of the kid
that made his Volkswagen Jetta his own
when he removed the hood and can't find it anymore
and drives around like that.
So that's my thing.
I don't know what my point was
but at the end of the day
to me, having a vision for these vehicles
and getting them to come to life
is just as much building as a guy
that knows how to custom fab a complete lift kit.
My next build that I had a vision for
but I knew I was gonna have a team build
it with us was CO2.
Custom Offsets was startin' to really ramp up.
We were startin' to do a lot of shows in a lot of meets.
And the Avalanche was startin' to really drag.
We got stranded in Kentucky 500 miles from home
because the transmission went out.
So I knew it was time for an upgrade.
And I knew that I wanted a brand new truck.
But the big craze was you have to have a diesel.
Everybody has to have a diesel.
Diesel, diesel, diesel blowing smoke whatever.
I intentionally wouldn't buy a diesel because of that.
I've never been one to follow the fads,
follow the trends,
just do it because everybody else was doing it.
So what my goal was with CO2,
was to buy a gasser 2500 'cause I did need something
that could toe.
To make it very unique and one of a kind
and really stand out and make people stop and go,
"Wow is that ever a clean build."
Clean was definitely the word.
I'd come up with a concept of a complete whiteout.
I'd seen a lot of murdered black trucks,
I wanted to do a murdered white truck,
where absolutely everything was white.
And the other thing I wanted to accomplish
was the whole vehicle including the vehicle,
all of the parts, and the labor if we were to pay for it,
we actually priced it out, would be under $75,000.
Because we were seeing all
of these 100, 125, $150,000 single builds
but we wanted to say, "Can you take a Rough Country,
"can you take a medium grade light bar company,
"can you take and have this stuff pulled off
"and painted by the local painter guy
"that does it in his garage?"
And literally build a complete truck for about $25,000
in add ons and have it look just as good
as some of those top builds and get some attention.
And that was what we went for with CO2.
And that's why we went with the five inch rough country,
we went with off country LED bars for the light bars.
We were intentionally choosing things
that we knew other people could afford,
and build an affordable truck that still had that look.
So we went with 12 wides
and then added two inch spacers versus 14 wides
because the tires'd be less expensive.
And then we ran the Atturo tires
'cause they were a price point tire as far as the MP's go.
So that was the concept behind CO2.
And we definitely pulled it off it turned out.
Being a truck we were super proud of
it ended up in Truckin' Magazine
as one of the Reader's Rides.
And it was the perfect truck to create
what we were trying to create.
Which is if you put enough passion into something
and have a clean vision,
you can really create something
without spending the 50, $70,000
that these guys are spending.
I honestly don't know why we redid CO2.
(laughs)
I do know why, I'm just gonna say it.
I was trying to come up with a better way
to say why we did it,
but I'll just tell you the truth instead.
So I used to be able to wear the shoes from Walmart
and I was cool with that.
I used to wear all my clothes were from Kohl's
and I was cool with that.
Ever since I got into the custom world,
I'm gaining more and more appreciation for clothing,
for shoes, for everything.
And then you kinda start gettin' into the Jordan's
and you just like the style of that and the feel of it.
And I think what happens is you start
to get this brand thing
where you just you understand the brand,
you start to meet people because of your shoes,
because you find out that they collect Jordan's
or that they also really like fashion clothes
and stuff like that.
I think that brands and cultures around a brand
are becoming more and more prevalent in the truck world
and in the car world too.
Or they've always been there and I just found out about 'em.
But when you put a BDS lift on,
the other BDS guys come and talk to you.
When you run Hostile wheels,
the other Hostile guys come and talk to you.
So what I'm learning is that when you run a brand,
you kinda get into this culture then.
So CO2, we had a mission, we set out we did it.
Now for this year, we wanted to take it to that next level.
I'm not ever gonna be a SEMA builder,
I don't wanna be a SEMA builder.
I have a ton of respect for the guys
that are SEMA builders.
I love talkin' to 'em, I love hearing their stories.
I love seein' their passion.
That's not my thing, that's not one of my dreams.
It does nothing for me.
But I did start to like the idea
of running a BDS brand lift kit.
So I wanted to go up to six and a half inches,
do the fox shock upgrade,
and get that brand behind this build.
Same thing with the Hostile wheels.
I'm a huge fan of Hostile.
I've got Hostiles on a whole bunch of my stuff.
They make a phenomenal wheel.
So right when they came out,
Mike and I were talking back and forth from Hostile
and he was able to get me the 24 by 14 strikers.
And I was just pumped to be able to become a part
of that brand, a part of that culture
of the guys runnin' Hostile.
And then the metal tires are basically the only one
that make that size.
I don't wanna stay with a big wide footprint.
So I think we redid CO2 probably
because I'm starting to get more into that culture
and that brand rally.
And I don't know if it's a phase
or if that's something that's gonna stick with me
but that's the truth,
is I just wanted the Michael Jordan's or the Air Jordan's
of truck parts.
One of the things that happened
because we took some shortcuts
and saved a lot of money on that budget build,
is we did things like we painted over the top of chrome,
which is a big no-no because what'll happen
is you'll get a rock chip
and it'll actually just start to blow away.
So we went through and touched up the bumper on CO2
and then we clear broad the entire thing.
Our idea is that would basically hold it together.
The next step would be where you're gonna have
to just get rid of it and get a paintable bumper.
So for now we did a clear bra to just clean that up
and get rid of all those nicks.
We want CO2, because it's our flagship truck,
to be super clean
and to just have that super clean look to it.
And then we also wanted to kinda bump it up
in the luxury level
because when I bought CO2 we were a brand new company
and doing this budget build,
I didn't get the leather,
I didn't get the sunroof,
I didn't get all of these features
that as I'm driving it, it's like,
"Man I just miss having that stuff.
"I had that stuff on previous vehicles."
So this year we took it in
and had the calfskin leather installed,
we had a big hole cut in the roof
and put a moon roof into it.
And then for a utility, we do a lot of shows
and we like to carry all of our killer wax,
all of our cleaning supplies with us,
so we had the swing out case,
and the bed rug in there.
And I'd been looking for eight months for a cover
and now we finally added a cover, the Lomax,
to the back of it.
And then that will get completely vinyl wrapped white
to continue the whiteout theme.
So I would say that stuff we were just refining it
and kinda finishing the build that we had started.
(upbeat music)
Then we got to the point
where we had actually picked up the CO Lambo.
And with that, it's an expensive car,
it's an exotic car,
they really decrease in value
when you over customize 'em.
They really decrease in value when you start doing things
that can't be undone.
So our whole intention with that is,
how can we make it look like no other Lambo,
but let's make it where it's all reversible.
(upbeat music)