Colorado welder spends 500 hours building work rig for Oldsmobile Bravada truck with incredible detail
Published on Jun 15, 2025 at 8:44 PM (UTC+4)
by Keelin McNamara
Last updated on Jun 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
A Colorado welder has just spent 500 hours working on a truck.
But this isn’t just any truck that he’s been working on.
It is, in fact, a second-generation Oldsmobile Bravada.
And the end result of this tremendous effort looks wonderful.
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Custom-built trucks are becoming ever more popular in the car world.
We’ve seen some truly spectacular trucks getting a second lease on life.
That’s seen trucks, such as this Ford F100, receive so much time and effort.
And it’s another custom-restored truck that is the star of today’s story.
This particular restoration story comes to you from the great state of Colorado.
Loren Byers owns and runs First Choice Fabrication – a welding shop in Colorado.
Byers explained that he was simply looking to buy a truck for safety reasons.
He wanted to park one in front of his garage at night to deter potential criminals.
In a recent interview, Byers explained how the truck changed his mind.
“I wasn’t even planning on building it when I bought it,” Byers said.
However, that mindset quickly changed during the drive home.
“I drove it all the way home at 80MPH, the thing had 105,000 miles on it, and it was absolutely perfectly clean except for a smashed back end.”
There was, in fact, an enormous gap between the rear door and the roof.
And this is where the build project found itself starting.
After fixing the gap, Byers explains that ‘it became a single cab, and then I said, ‘I might as well build a bed for it and use it.’ And then it just spiralled way out of control.’
The flatbed for this Oldsmobile cost $10,000 alone, so going all the way kind of made sense.
This Oldsmobile Bravada truck was still powered by its stock 4.3-liter V6.
The engine was on its last legs, so Byers planned to swap it for a different one.
He wants to upgrade the current powerplant with a 5.3-liter V8 in July.
Loren Byers has also made substantial upgrades to other areas of this Oldsmobile Bravada.
Auxiliary LED headlights make night-time work much easier for Byers.
It also has new, massively upgraded tow hooks attached to the rear.
This is truly an extremely cool restoration build.
Hopefully, this Oldsmobile Bravada will continue to make news in the customized truck world.
Keelin McNamara is a content writer at Supercar Blondie from Ireland, covering cars, technology, and lifestyle. Despite being a Law graduate, he discovered his passion for journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has worked in the industry ever since. Outside of work, he is an avid MotoGP fan, and is a self-confessed addict of the sport.
