I Do Love ICON 4×4’s New C10 Series of Retro-Modded Modern Silverados But $500,000 For Them Makes Me Dizzy

I’m so conflicted about this. On the one hand, I love the idea of taking a brand-new, modern vehicle, packed as it is with the latest technology, performance, efficiency, safety features, and, yes, all of that new-ness (which brings with it the promise of trips taken without long periods of lingering by roadsides when something inevitably breaks) and skinning it with the charm and character of an old car’s body. I feel like I mention the ancient Aztec god Xipe Totec the flayed god every time I talk about a retro-modded car like this because of how the practice was to wear the skin of a sacrificial victim, but I promise I won’t do so this time. While these have existed for a while, it’s very possible that ICON 4×4’s C Modern Retro Series is the best example of this new-car-wearing-an-older-car’s-skin ever.

I mean, it better be, since it ranges in price between $450,000 to $550,000.

Go ahead and take a moment to wipe whatever beverage/chowder/chili you ejected at your screen when you read that price, because that’s a healthy reaction. If it helps, that price does include the donor brand-new Chevy Silverado that lurks under the surface, but not the 1967 to 1972 Chevy C10 or C20 pickup truck that will become the new body for this retro-mod.

Here’s how ICON 4×4’s press release describes it:

ICON 4×4 proudly announces the launch of its newest vehicle program: the Chevrolet C Modern Retro Series, a limited  production series that seamlessly blends the iconic styling of the 1967 – 1972 Chevrolet C10 and C20 pickup with the engineering, performance, and everyday usability of a brand new Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4×4 V8.

Developed from the ground up by ICON founder Jonathan Ward and his team of engineers, designers, and craftsmen, the C Modern Retro Series is neither a restoration nor a conventional C10 Chevy build . Instead, it represents a comprehensive reengineering effort that preserves the complete functionality of a modern Silverado while clothing it in one of the most beloved classic Chevrolet trucks ever produced.

As you can see, this half-a-million-dollar Silverado looks, as far as anyone can tell, like a well-loved and worn old C10, something that may be worth, oh, between $8,000 and $10,000 if it’s just a nice original and running truck. A really nicely restored C10 can go for between, oh, $40,000 and $100,000, depending on just how nice, but it’s worth remembering that this is not a restored old truck. It’s brand new truck, very carefully re-engineered to look like an old truck, because it’s wearing the old truck’s entire body. And that’s not cheap or easy to do.

From a distance, you’d never realize this, of course. But start looking up close, and you get some hints:

Like under the hood; that’s the 6.2-liter Ecotec3 V8 engine, I think. It’s definitely not what originally came in any C10. Just like how this fusebox is clearly not from an old C10:

Where are the pennies jammed in to replace missing fuses? That’s some prime old-truck character right there. They should have engineered modern fuses that look like pennies. When I order mine, I’ll demand that.

Another big tell is the dashboard:

I have to hand it to ICON here; they do a good job of integrating all these modern controls into a very old-school looking dash. However, for $500,000 freaking dollaritos I sort of want custom, retro-looking button faces for everything. The F, V, and T knobs look great (Flush, Vamoose, and Tsuris, I assume) but why don’t we get an old-school looking knob for the lights or parking brake or mirrors?

It looks like the lighting has been upgraded to LEDs, which make sense. And the patina on the paint is impeccable, too.

The interior materials look interesting, the way they ride the line between luxurious and retro. That’s not an easy line to walk, and I suspect here the goal was to keep retro look while upgrading to modern luxury tactility. I haven’t touched it, so I’m guessing, but that’s what it looks like to me.

Oh, and that window crank is just a switch for a power window, before you get too excited about rolling down your own window manually.

It sure looks like an old truck inside; I’m curious about how ICON handled sound deadening and rattle-resistance, which I suspect must be priorities in this price range. It seems like extensive work is done in that arena, with modern methods and materials.

If you like patina, you can get the Derelict style, which preserves old paint and patina, as this example does. Or, you can get it in Old School style, which seeks to make a sort of time capsule like-new version of the old truck.

“The 1967 through 1972 Chevrolet truck is one of the purest automotive designs ever produced,”

… ICON founder Jonathan Ward said to whomever was writing this press release, and I can’t necessarily argue with him there. These old trucks were remarkably clean and uncluttered designs, confident and not needing any superfluous ornamentation to look just right. They are fantastic old trucks.

Only five trucks in this series will be made, and I suspect that may be the right number. Because who is the target market for these? God’s dad’s boss?

I don’t know what to think. I love the idea of these, and I think these may be the best-executed versions of the modern-vehicle-reskinned-as-an-old-one ever. I’ve driven some similar sorts of things, like that Dodge Power Wagon retromod I drove a couple years ago, and that thing, while cool, was one of the most dangerous, difficult vehicles I’ve tested and it cost almost $400,000. I think the processes required to make vehicles like these simply isn’t cheap.

As usual, I have no doubt ICON will do an amazing job on these. But does that even matter to most of us? There’s going to be five made, all sold to people who pay professionals to keep people like me away from them. Far away, ideally.

Just to be clear, the chassis is a stock 2025 CK1500 Silverado, shortened a bit to fit the C10 body, which is all original C10, painstakingly made to fit and, even more impressively, not freak out the CAN-BUS, which remains gleefully unaware of what has been done to it. I was told by Jonathan Ward himself that the wheels are specially forged just for this application, too, to give the “perfect offset for a proper stance.” That man sweats the details.

Is the experience of owning and driving one of these that much better than owning and driving a $40-$50,000 competently restored old C10? Isn’t some of the charm of these old trucks the noise and smells and vibrations? I have similar questions about that Kindred EV-converted VW Microbus I just drove (and will have a review of soon). I don’t really know how to process these things in my head; I waver between appreciation and contempt, interest and irrelevance. I don’t really know what to do with these.

I’m open to hearing what you think. Maybe I just need to embrace the conflict.