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.
Usually, I’m impressed with ICON’s work. Not this time. I thought I’d be in the minority about such thoughts here, but…
Only from across the parking lot would this elevate my interest. Once closer, and especially when looking in the window at the interior, I’d begin to laugh to myself. In no world does mashing new plastic controls into the dash convey integrity or luxury. Just forget those things and leave them on the shop floor.
I’m usually a “I won’t yuck your yum” kind of person, but this wreaks of someone trying to become something they totally are not, and that’s a crazy rich cosplayer who will only get what appear to be approving nods from peers and the poors who find it easier to simply smile and say nothing rather than engage with the owner. Because they don’t care enough to offer honest feedback about the waste the owner just paid to drive. Because the owner is living in their own very wealthy bubble and doesn’t want to know the truth.
Rich man cosplay was the first thing that popped into my head, too. It’s stupid.
Yeah, I’ve always admired ICON’s attention to detail and craftsmanship. I’m surprised and maybe a bit concerned about their future that they put this out.
The stock plastic switches and screen from the modern truck stand out like a black eye, and I can’t believe Ward let it out of the shop like this.
Learned to drive on my dad’s orange/white C10. This Icon truck, well, I’m as likely to buy that as a Ferrari Luce. Surprised the wing vents work since the window crank is just a switch.
Give me a good old C10 with a blanket over the bench seat.
I’m going to fall on the side of outrage. This is just a rich person cosplaying as a working class schlub, and priced accordingly. When that artifice costs more than my house, they can eat my ejected chowder.
Give me an original with light modifications to the brakes and suspension to improve handling and safety and I’m happy. I don’t want a permanent screen in my old school ride.
If you think the owner of a mere $75,000 Sierra Denali is irate when their L87 goes boom, just wait until it happens to the $500,000 toy of some multi-millionaire.
Maybe they’ll sell you an ‘upgraded’ engine for only $100k more.
Yup as stated that price is just utterly ridiculous also for the price I was expecting a Duramax swap. Hell an EV swap would have been cooler to me then this set up but hey that is just me.
Not my slice of tea. I’m sure the average prospective buyer would stretch their bank accounts far less for this than, say, the average F150 buyer.
This would have done better with an aftermarket HMI that tucks away into the dash (behind a bit of trim, perhaps)
And then hide all those OEM buttons. The headlights could, honestly, have been hardwired on automatic.
How about a truck that looks like a 2027 on the outside but on the inside it’s just a bench seat, metal dash, chunky old knobs and buttons, analogue gauges, and a AM radio?
The truck for the billionaire CEO who has never turned a wrench but wants to cosplay as a “working dude”. This thing can skid sideways off a cliff while on fire with the owner inside who is cheating that working dude out of a living wage and free healthcare.
The only thing worse than actual “patina” is carefully faked patina.
This is just a waste of a truck that could have been restored to mint condition for 1/5th the price.
Can the Revolution begin already? If you can afford this sort of rolling bullshit you can afford to pay taxes that could lift a whole bunch of people out of poverty.
My pitchfork is sharp and ready. I’m tired of paying for healthcare that sucks when the people who call the shots have access to better healthcare at a price they don’t even notice.
My son works as a mechanic at a Chevy dealership, and the amount of stories he has about crappy new Chevy vehicles makes me realize they made this truck LESS reliable. New motors getting replaced at 8 miles, 20,000 miles, etc.
Personally (and this person not being Murican) it doesn’t do a lot for me. I get why someone with a lot of money might pay for one of these. But if I had parted with a cool half million for that car, those buttons, whatever else they do, would peeve me something fierce every time I looked at them or, worse, pressed them. They are the definition of “half-assed”.
Vehicles like these only exist because we allowed the rich to eat up the middle class. As such, kind of like the glut of “Who the fuck cares?” supercars/hypercars, I’m not a fan in any way, shape nor form of a half million dollar chevy truck.
I think it’s very cool, and including profit, there’s probably 500k in it. Will they sell five? Of course. It’s just too extreme for me. I’m just using random round numbers, but I imagine you could buy a c10, do a nut and bolt restoration, put in a nice crate 350 and modern overdrive transmission for 120k, including the vintage air and dynamat.
Then you buy a top of the line new Silverado for 100k. Now you’ve got two driveable modern trucks for less than half of this. I’m assuming the people who buy these are in it for bragging rights.
I used to do some work for a billionaire on Cape Cod. One of his hobbies was land cruisers. He let me drive a restored 70’s model 55 that was modernized for AC, highway travel, etc. it drove like a Defender 90. I asked him how much, I wasn’t trying to be that guy, I was genuinely curious. He said all in, including the original truck which he had to import, about 120k. Out of my price range for sure, but I felt like he bought his vision of what he wanted for the price of a new Range Rover. That’s more the spirit I think of, rather than the half million ICON vision.
I liked fake patina the first five times I saw it. It’s well past time to let that fad go. The work is exemplary but the cost is ridiculous. Restored is the way to go. They couldn’t have pick a better model, though.
Reading the comments I’m left wondering: what makes this adorable at $500k, but the EV Type 2 monstrous at $250k?
Pickup-ness? Gas vs. EV? Murican vs. Tcherman?
Neither one is particularly creative, but the Icon seems more monstrous to me.
ACVW EV kits predate desirable production EV’s, and 23-window conversions are as old as time. This is just a company selling a turnkey version with the appropriate supporting mods (brakes, power steering) for about double the cost of the DIY route. It’s about right for someone who doesn’t want to worry about solving compatibility and performance issues themselves on a custom build. You pay for the peace of mind that everything works together. It’s not super creative, but the price is less ludicrous and the result is nice. It’s basically just the sum of its parts, clean T2 bodies are getting expensive and just a comprehensive restoration could take you into 6-digit prices before upgrades are considered.
Similarly, slapping an old body on a new frame is a practice as old as BOF vehicles, but it’s the “easy” way to upgrade a truck, and Icon chose a particularly undesirable donor vehicle.
The current Silverado has widespread problems with the reliability of its engine and transmission, the OEM infotainment is worse than a mediocre double-DIN CarPlay unit, and the buttons and screen are not only bottom-of-the-barrel cheap, but also incoherently slapped into a blank panel with the same consideration that Xzibit would employ when adding 12 TV’s to someone’s minivan. The amount of work put in is impressive, as is the fit and finish, but the problem is the idea, not the execution. It’s more than the sum of its parts, but the parts suck.
That is how I saw it as well, but the mood in the comments seemed very much against the bus (restored and on a custom-engineered EV skateboard) and very much for the truck (“distressed” and plopped on a generic modern gasser frame for 2x the money.) Later comments on the truck evened that out a bit.
Ah well, I ain’t buying either.
I drove a friend’s C20 for a few months. Got so many thumbs ups and positive comments. But, man, that thing was a death trap. Does this one have airbags and hidden roll bars in the A and b pillars and side impact protection and, and…?
That was my initial thought too. Drop half a mil to lose decades of material science and engineering in crash safety?
Plus you get a body that’s already started to rust! It’s all win!
It does seem to have shoulder belts But it doesn’t have headrests…
That’s not even taking into consideration the NVH, wobbly suspension and steering, terrible brakes, etc. No thanks.
They picked the 6.2L V-8 that has a 6% failure rate for a $500K truck! Oh boy
Iconnot deal with this shit. Why price it at 500k. Price it from 50 million, afterall money doesn’t mean shit nowadays.
We all like to moan about how the OEMs could sell a million trucks like this if they only did it in house. And maybe they’d sell a bunch, I dunno. If it was reasonably priced I’d pony up.
I dig it. And they’ll have no trouble selling all five and pocketing loads of cash.
That patina smells fake though, far too many rat rods with patina are in mint green eh? Betting that entire paint job is new, they got kinda lazy on the roof and just hit it with the sander a few times and knocked off for the day.
It’s been a while since I looked at an ICON Derelict build, but when the first few came out they were taking barn-find cars with real wear on them and basically just cleaning them up and putting a durable clear over it. Maybe some fake patina here and there to hide a new part, but most of the patina was real.
But on those ones they went to great lengths to custom manufacture a bunch of knobs, dials, and switches to integrate modern amenities into a period-correct dash without it being visibly apparent, and this one has the modern plastic switches just chucked in there, so it appears their attention to craftsmanship may have slipped.
for 500k and they slapped those OEM interior parts in all half-assed is wild
They really do look like shit
I like Icon’s work, albeit not the price, and I love the ’67-’72 GM trucks, but I am struggling to like this project of theirs. The price is certainly a big hurdle for me, but I think the biggest issue is that everything about it just seems…off. It doesn’t sit quite right, the wheels aren’t quite right (though I do still like them). The (pseudo) patina doesn’t fit with the nice interior, nor does the modern switchgear with the old GM interior. I feel like they could have disassembled the GM switchgear and replaced the plastic bits with metal ones that could have at least fit in better with the old, mostly-metal interior those old GM trucks had. For an Icon project, I’m pretty underwhelmed, but then I am hardly the target audience for a truck like this.
The beater truck Cosplay turns me off. It’s as mannered and curated as a fake punk rock battle jacket from a Rodeo Drive and will never haul gravel for fear of scratching the bed. I expect the kind of person to spend $500,000 on this will have equally pricey and equally curated distressed jeans and boots and will exude the spurious aura of store bought cool.
I drive a $5,000 beater truck and wouldn’t hesitate to load gravel if I needed it.
I’m here for it. The price and ICON level of perfection is a bit much. But I’ve always dreamed of the same idea with other vehicles. Like an 80-series chassis underneath a 55-series Land Cruiser. Or a modern Mustang chassis under a 1970 Fastback body. It’s the old have your cake and eat it too idea. Old skool sleeper style hiding modern tech and reliability. Yes.
For THAT price I expect a genuine bonafide working (wo)man’s blue collar human skinsuit too
Shoot. Ya want a human suit? I’ll give ya one for free, no purchase of a fake old truck required
Do you have a powered human suit in Arnold Schwarzenegger, circa 1974?
If I had one of those, id be wearing it!
For $500K, I do NOT like this.
For that amount of money, I want a proper paint job. NOT this “patina” bullshit they are trying to sell.
And when I say a proper paint job, I’m talking about a show-car-quality multi-stage paint job using quality paints like you get from House of Kolor
Of course that would cost Icon money in the form of having to do proper body panel prep, the cost of the paint and then painting it properly.
To me, this is a $100,000 truck tops. But if it was me spending my own money, I wouldn’t spend even $50K on this pretend-working-mans-truck.
I’d rather have an actual original old truck that is mildly restomodded (such as with improved brakes and a fuel injection kit) for $50K than this overpriced thing for people with more money than brains.
I’m not surprised they’re only producing 5 of these.
Can’t see the market being big for something like this where you pay so much to get so little.
WELL LOOKY HERE AT ALL THE WHINERS!
“I want a short cab pickup why won’t someone make it for me” they say
“I want a proper bench seat and handcrank windows” they say
“I want a simple pushrod V8 that’ll last forever” they say (L87 *chortle*)
“I’d happily buy it new!” they say
Now that someone builds one and it costs, like, not even a single million dollars and it’s suddenly not good enough.
You sound like a WHINER!!!
:-p
Someone told me I’m going to whine so much that I’m going to be so sick of whining.
Well, I whine a lot. And I’m still not sick of it.