Chad Criss Designs

When Your Passion Creates Your Career…

It all began in high school, when I saw my first mini truck. I thought to myself, I have to have something like that one. I ended up taking a drafting class during my high school career that propelled me forward into a passion that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Little did I know how much this passion would play a role in my hobbies as well. 

Since I was young I was always raised to work hard and my work ethic has always been what ive considered to be strong. That carried forth into my adulthood and to this day I continually challenge myself to be an innovative designer. I started in a garage building my own Nissan hard body mini-truck on air ride and I have sustained that same 17 year olds passion well into my 30’s now. I design parts with the skills learned starting back in high school in my drafting class and implement those designed parts into fabrication designs daily.

– Chad Criss

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Mini Trucker
Xtreme Lowz

It All Started When I Built My Single Cab Hard Body…

My passion for Nissan trucks began over 15 years ago when I built my own single cab hard body. Taking off from there, I’ve been working in the mini-truck scene ever since. What initially got me into building vehicles was when I initially built a Pontiac Sunbird. Despite some financial setbacks, I kept at it and continued building.

After some bad dealings with other builders, meeting Chad Criss, the owner of Chad Criss Designs, a bond was formed, and we worked on a full build project together. The current project is a truck for my twin sons to enjoy once they’re old enough to drive. My wife has made everything possible through her tremendous support.

One of the goals of our duel is to attract and motivate people that are considering getting into the car building to take action. This project is a new experience that’s bigger than ever before, so it’s a great time to get involved.

– Mike Ciccone

Clean Concepts
Mini Trucker

How Master Suspension Fabricator Turned Passion Into Business…

As a coming-of-age teen, Oregon-native Scott Vann came into an invaluable fortune when his grandfather gave him his Nissan pickup. It immediately became his muse and fueled his passion for modifying cars. Finally, he was able to put the ideas conceived from scanning the pages of automotive magazines to the test. Twenty-five years later, he is a professional fabricator and the owner of a thriving automotive business in California, called Clean Concepts. He will be celebrating another anniversary in the coming new year, which marks a decade since the official launch.

Before launching Clean Concepts, Scott Vann belonged to a local club in his hometown, namely Altered States. Through this platform, he networked with aspiring fabricators and friends that also enjoyed the culture of building trucks. In 1999, he joined the U.S. Air Force, which required him to relocate to Georgia. While there, he frequented various mini truck exhibits that helped him sharpen his skills as a fabricator. He won many duel competitions with his Nissan mini truck at these events. 

Today, he has shelves of trophies to show for his achievements. After leaving the service in 2007, he continued building trucks from his backyard carport and garage. His specialization lies in suspension fabrication. Scott Vann never misses an opportunity to showcase his talent and build expertise. The father of two and devoted husband continues to compete against top fabricators on the national stage. In July 2020, Vann will duel talented truck builders for a prestigious title in the upcoming truck building competition.

Kreative Kustom Worx

My passion for minitrucks started 21 years ago. My neighbor brought home a bright yellow, freshly bagged Chevy truck. I was hooked at first sight. Trucks have been my vice ever since. My first minitruck was a ’96 S-10 I bagged several times over. I used that platform to fine tune my fabrication skills and knowledge of suspension. I’d rather fuck up my own truck as opposed to someone else’s. After many failed attempts at different suspension designs I finally understood the do’s and don’ts associated with air ride.

With wanting to push the boundaries of air suspension I decided to build an air hopper/dancer along side my best buddy, Robert Hohlt “President of Severed Ties – Indiana Chapter”. We built a truck that would hop 6ft on compressed nitrogen at 600 PSI. After realizing that Nitrogen freezes the valves we used compressed Helium. We discovered, using compressed Helium at the same PSI would cause the truck to hop way higher. After moving on from extreme air ride we decided to build a cover truck for Rob. It was ’02 S-10 Blazer. After three years of building Rob’s dream truck we landed the cover of MiniTruckin August 2009. This helped me realize my capabilities as a builder. I then started building trucks for more than just my friends and figured I could actually make money at something I loved.

In 2016 I opened Kreative Kustom Worx with the help of my loving wife, Tiffany Neumann. We have four children: Elias 9, Tayler 12, Parker 17 and Xavier 19. This scene has created life long friendships from people I would have never meet otherwise. Im grateful for the opportunity to build the Toyota for Daniel, he has became one of my best supporters over the past few years. #1 fan. This build I am doing for Daniel Croquart will be an example of the quality fabrication I pride myself on. With the help of Daniel, we hope to create one of the best minis ever built. Challenge accepted.

Mini Trucker

Appreciation meet entrepreneur Daniel Croquart is a husband, father of 3 daughters, and entrepreneur who works full-time. His business adventures include a clothing line called Bottom out clothing. Daniel focuses on showing his appreciation for the minitruck culture through his designs used for his clothing line.

Daniel Croquart and his love for the mini truck

Daniel was first exposed to the popular 80’s and 90’s minitruck culture at the age of 14. He would often view guys in his community who would build their cars up with a custom hydraulic suspension and the famous wire wheels. Almost 20 years have passed since he saw his first mini truck but Daniel still harbors that same passion for minitrucks. Except now that Daniel is older he is the one building and designing a minitruck. Daniel is petitioning for Forbidden Fantasy in Indiana along side Tony. When it comes to building mini-trucks there are 3 people Daniel would like to show appreciation for, Tony a close friend who is remarkable at fabrication, his supportive wife and his 3 daughters. With a talent and passion for building minitrucks, you can expect Daniel Croquart will continue to participate in the Fabricators Duel and continue to make unique minitruck designs for many more years to come.