*Before you all tie me to a wooden stake and set me alight, this highly unusual pickup truck is being featured as part of Silodrome’s “Curious Contraptions” series, in which we highlight strange, weird, and occasionally even offensive vehicles, often out of morbid fascination.
It’s believed that just nine examples of the Shadi 2000 Chevrolet Pickup were ever made and four are known to still exist today. Shadi kits were made in Pasadena, Texas, and very little is known about who designed them.
The Batman logo on the back window is a little questionable, but then again there are many who think the whole vehicle is rather questionable.
The Shadi 2000 has attracted its fair share of critique over the years due to its in-your-face styling, it was an attempt at creating a more aerodynamic American pickup truck with some Corvette style cues, but it would ultimately see very little demand. Perhaps for obvious reasons.
The Shadi 2000 Bodykit
Fiberglass bodykits like this have existed for just about as long as fiberglass itself has existed, and the quality has varied wildly over that time. Some kits are relatively high end with good fit and finish, whereas others are questionable in just about every conceivable way.
We’ve seen bodykits that allow people to turn their VW Beetle into a Porsche 959 lookalike, but when I say “lookalike” I am using that term rather loosely, as these kits would be unlikely to fool even a drunk person peering through a dusty welding mask at 60 paces at the stroke of midnight.
The Shadi 2000 bodykit consists of approximately 12 individual pieces that would be fitted over the top of your Chevrolet pickup truck. The donor vehicle needed to be a 1977 to 1987 Chevy pickup with a short wheelbase, and it was up to the kit buyer to do the conversion themselves.
The conversion process required the fitment of all panels, these needed to be carefully aligned during fitment, and the vehicle would need a closed-door respray in order to color match everything by the end. The kit was offered with or without a rear spoiler that was fitted above the tailgate in back.
The reasoning behind the styling of the Shadi 2000 is lost to history, as no publicly available information seems to exist about it. This is likely due to the low production numbers and the fact that the internet was only really in its infancy back in the 1990s when the kit was in production.
The Shadi 2000 included a much longer and lower nose than the pickup it’s based on, with widened wheel arches, a multitude of vents, sidesteps, an unusual light recessed just ahead of each rear wheel, an illuminated tailgate with prominent Shadi branding, and the optional rear spoiler.
The rear tailgate on this truck is now fully illuminated from within, and the truck has LED lighting installed underneath.
The front end has some possible Corvette and Mako Shark concept car styling influence, likely to add a sporting element to the design, improve the brick-like aerodynamics of the original truck, and tie it in with the wider Chevrolet family.
Most seem to agree that the styling isn’t particularly appealing, some seem to downright hate it, but at least nine people were willing to lay down a few thousand dollars to buy the kit, then put the work into converting their trucks.
The Shadi 2000 Chevrolet Pickup Shown Here
The vehicle you see here is actually the best of the Shadi 2000 equipped vehicles we’ve seen. It’s finished in red with yellow and blue decals down the side, Shadi badges front and back, and a questionable Batman logo on the rear window.
A set of Ultra wheels are fitted front and back, shod with new National Renegade XT tires, and LED lights have been fitted to the underside of truck, they’re operated with a remote control. Power is provided by a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet small block V8 and power is sent back through a column-shifted automatic transmission.
The interior is finished Wirth red velour upholstered seats, red carpeting, red door trim, a red console, and a red dashboard, so probably not a good vehicle for anyone with an aversion to the color, and it has a sports-style wood rimmed steering wheel.
The nose has Corvette and perhaps some Pontiac design cues, it probably does help with aerodynamics to a degree, compared to the blunt front end of the original truck.
This truck has power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning, as well as electric windows, a stereo, and a pair of cup holders. It might not be an appealing truck to many, but I have a feeling that there’ll be a very specific subset of people who will love it.
It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum on the 7th of June in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has 53,114 miles on the odometer, and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
