Justin Boyle, age 24, was born and raised on a ranch in Colorado. He’s always had active hobbies such as fishing, shooting, snowboarding, baseball, and riding his motorcycle. But he also loves building his truck! Now, when most people grow up, they tend to move beyond their childish interests to bigger and better things, but not Justin. He may have grown older, but he has definitely used that as an excuse to play with much, much bigger toys.

Despite all of his adventurous interests, Justin still found himself loving comic books! Today, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a captivating sensation for the entire world. But for some people like Justin, these are more than just movies—these are characters many grew up reading about in the original comic books brought to life on the big screen, live action fashion. And while some might see the comic books as a childish fad, deep down, these superheroes and stories illustrate good morals and distinguish between right and wrong, all while maintaining fantastical stories. Well, these stories captivated Justin so much that he based and themed his custom diesel truck after one of his favorite Marvel characters.

Frank Castle, more commonly known as the Punisher, is a character from Marvel Comics who has taken it upon himself to clean the streets of New York City of gang violence and organized crime… using lethal force! One thing that was revolutionary about this particular character is that the tone of his comic books and his method of fighting bad guys with the use of fully automatic weapons and a never-ending supply of bullet casings was completely unheard of! Back in 1974 when the Punisher character was created, the Comic Code Authority (CCA)—a comic book censorship regulation group—never would have approved publishing such a character. But Gerry Conway and the rest of Marvel Comics didn’t care what the CCA thought.

“I named the build Project Punisher because I needed something badass and a little different! I used the American flag Punisher logo in my first wrap design and love the comics so the name just stuck from there,” Justin explained.

And if there was ever a character to be the central theme for an over-the-top truck, the Punisher is it.

Where The Passion Started

Justin has always had a love for beautiful one-of-a-kind vehicles, and it all began with his dad. His father always had nice trucks and regularly took him to car shows. There was something about mechanical perfection and enhancement that really caught his eye; whether hearing souped-up engines roaring like angry gods or recognizing each and every customized vehicle as a work of art, he fell down the rabbit hole of the custom automotive community. And from such a high exposure to show-worthy vehicles, he knew he just had to have one for himself.

“I knew I wanted to build a truck that stands out from the rest and makes a statement.” Justin said.

As soon as he bought his 2007 RAM 3500, he knew he wanted to take it to SEMA, and that’s been his motivation. He gets to travel the country for truck shows while also attending his local shows in Colorado, and he absolutely loves it.

“The truck always brings a huge crowd to it,” Justin says. “There’s nothing like it because everything on the truck is mostly one-off custom products that I drew up or had companies help build!”

And Justin’s truck has won a couple of “Best of Show” awards, as well as a “Top 100” award from the Summer 2022 Truckin Nationals in Arlington, Texas. Some of his favorite memories are of the amazing people and friends whom he has met through the opportunities his truck has enabled him to have. But having an epic truck wasn’t enough. Justin wanted not only to make it to SEMA, but to be one of the top trucks around that stands for something greater!

The Inspiration

Justin’s thought process behind his Project Punisher was to build something that stood for something other than being a cool truck. He decided to theme his RAM around supporting all first responders and military. He wanted his truck’s image to bring attention to all of the men and women who don’t get enough recognition.

“My grandpa served in Korea, and my brother is a sheriff. And I was a sheriff for a while as well,” Justin said, explaining why he feels so close to the inspiration for his truck’s aesthetic theme.

With his eye-catching truck, Justin attends fundraisers and shows for different branches of the military and police departments to help draw attention and raise awareness for some of the most underappreciated people of the United States. He wants to show his support, and his diesel truck is undoubtedly much louder than words.

Modifications

“The truck was nothing crazy. Just on an 8-inch lift and that was it. I’ve been slowly building it up for the last four and a half years,” Justin recalled about his ‘07 RAM 3500.

But since then, he has obviously made quite a few changes to it. He’s added a Rack Tech roof rack, Twisted Pro All-Terrain off-road lights, Flog Industries front and rear bumpers, an absolutely killer Overkill Fab front grille, some gleaming Alpha Rex headlights, an American flag Speed EFX reflective wrap, and slipped on some 26×16 Amani Forged wheels with some 44×19.5 Interco bogger tires, all illustriously tied together with a 20-inch Resurrected Fab 4 Link!

“But wait, there’s more!” – Billy Mays

Justin has also equipped his Project Punisher with a custom one-off diamond stack exhaust, custom spare tire rack, and an undercarriage train horn mount from Alpha & Omega Fabrication equipped with train horns by Horn Blasters. So if this truck’s screaming down the interstate doesn’t grab your attention, the blaring roar of the train horns certainly will. And with Justin’s goal of having a SEMA truck, he really made a good choice in equipping his wheels with SEMA award-winning True Spike lug nuts!

And to finish up his truck, he has a GEN-Y trailer hitch dropping all the way down to the level of a “normal” truck, MidSouth LED door handles and fourth gen mirrors, US Speedo dash gauges, custom Seat Belt Planet seat belts, and a custom interior done by REMA upholstery.

“A lot of the modifications I had drawn and had companies bring to life, so it’s fully custom and no one has it because I wanted it to be one-of-a-kind,” Justin elaborated.

It’s fairly safe to assume that Justin’s truck is the only one of its kind.

“My favorite modification right now is definitely my custom interior, but it always changes! I love everything equally, that’s for sure!”

What’s Next?

Justin, like any truck owner who loves to upgrade their baby, says that he has plans for modifications in the future, including full new brake products, a custom sound system, new injectors, more engine work, and some other small details.

“My truck means the world to me because of the joy it brings to others! The smiles and the conversations I have at shows are some of my best memories, and the people I have met through building this… I wouldn’t change for anything,” Justin concluded.