Ride Of The Week 06/26/2023: Stewart Murray's 2002 Silverado

A TRUE PHANTOM

In the collector car world a phantom is a car that the factory could have built but never did. Such is the case with Stew Murray's 2003 Chevy Silverado SS, known as ImpoSSter.

Stewart attended the 2003 SEMA Show in Las Vegas where Chevrolet had on display a pre-production single cab/short bed concept of what would become the Silverado SS. But as Stew inquired further about the possibility of ordering this new high-performance variant, the Chevy Brand Manager wasn't forthcoming about their future plans for this build. So Stew took a red-eye flight back home to Michigan and ordered a Black, Single Cab Silverado and set about work to make his own.

Now the true Silverado SS that went into production was an extended cab which is why Stew's single cab truck is a phantom. The build began with swapping the 5.3L Vortec V8 with a 6.0L Vortec Max with Corvette LS6 Cam Shaft & Heads and a Rotrex Supercharger up top. The transmission is a Tremec T-56 with a Detroit TruTrac rear with 4.56 gears.

On the exterior, he was able to source a Silverado SS front fascia and SS badging. But he had to get a little creative with the SS body cladding and roll pan. These components had to be custom made since his was a single cab and not the production-ready extended cab truck. But, living in Michigan, he knew people with ties to GM who could get the job done (wink, wink).

Overall, the truck is such a clean build, you'd swear it was a factory produced truck. But that's what makes it such a great ImpoSSter SS!

If you’d like your ride to be featured as a #carshowlife#rideoftheweek, send us your story and at least 6 photos to info@carshowlife.com.