Bargain truck

Matt got “White Lightning” from a man in Orlando in March. His 2007 Ford F-150 is a four-door, 8-inch-lifted, pearl-colored, off-road machine — the only thing he put on himself was the bull bar in the front. He gets about 10 miles a gallon and has to stop for gas at least twice a week. He says that he loves to drive it in the open field right next to the Manatee County race car fabrication shop where he works building dragsters and jet drag racing cars, and admits he favors when it rains — the muddier the better.

 

Cleanliness is next to godliness

Along with his two DVD players and two 10-inch sub woofers (which he proudly states that he keeps at a volume of +22) inside his truck, Matt ensures White Lightning’s interior is impeccably clean. “There’s nothing wrong inside of it,” he says. “I don’t want it to get dirty.”

 

The taller the better

Matt’s truck is easily the tallest in the Newsome High parking lot and can be seen from nine cars back when in the car line. “I just like how I can see over everyone in the parking lot,” Matt says. “I like being taller than everyone else.”

 

Excuse me. Am I in your way?

One day while driving to Orlando, some woman in a little car strayed into his lane and hit him. “She slammed into me. My truck didn’t have a scratch, but hers had dent marks all down the side,” Matt says, laughing.

 

TORI LAWHORN, Newsome High