Down in the little pocket of Geneva, Fla., outside of Orlando, Tonya Ogle lives the good life with her husband and two kiddos. She’s been a vet tech for 19 years, but in her free time she enjoys things such as camping, fishing, mudding, and just about any fun and dirty outdoor activity with her kids. She doesn’t deny her obsession with true crime and real life murder shows, and she’s not afraid to admit her fascination with learning about historical abandoned homes and artifacts.

But make no mistake—though she enjoys the humble quiet life, she also loves bright brilliance. Her family has a tradition of putting up over 25,000 Christmas lights every year.

Tonya was 17 when she bought her first truck, a 1996 Ford Ranger on 33’s. Ever since then, her love for trucks has grown, and the size of her trucks has grown at a commensurate rate as well. Tonya’s husband used to work at an off-road shop, so she has been around lifted trucks ever since buying the Ranger. But she has since bought a diesel.

“I am new to the diesel life and we are learning and loving it as we go!” Tonya says.

Buying Pinky

Tonya’s husband originally found the truck, a pink 2005 Chevy 2500HD 6.6 LLY. She kept an eye on online, but never went to see it at the dealership even though it was right down the road from where she worked. Ultimately, after going back and forth about it for about a month and unable to get the truck out of her head, she went to take a look. Once she saw the truck in person she had to have it.

“My husband and kids even named it Pinky before we even went and looked at it,” Tonya said.

She made the purchase the day she saw it without any hesitation or doubt even though the truck had some issues. There were some cosmetic things she wanted to correct, and the windshield and mirrors were cracked. She also knew the suspension, steering, and exhaust all needed some love, and the tires needed replacing.

“But I saw the potential in the truck even with all her flaws. I knew she was the one,” Tonya recalled.

Most of the modifications were done by Tonya and her husband. And she’s made some pretty reliable changes! She wanted to know exactly how her ride was performing, so she installed an Edge Insight CTS3 digital gauge monitor and an EFILive tuner coupled with a DSP5 switch from PPEI. Then she slapped on some 20×12 offset Moto Metal wheels with Nitto Tire mud grapplers, which were complemented with the installation of HSP traction bars. And to help improve the overall airflow, she installed an S&B cold air intake and turbo mouth piece, a 4-inch MagnaFlow exhaust, and a 3-inch down pipe along with high flow pipes and manifolds from PPE. After installing an AirDog 100GPH air/fuel separation system, Tonya finished with POWERSTOP truck and tow slotted brakes, train horns by Vixen Horns, and a 6-inch lift by Rough Country.

Tonya says all of the changes she’s made to the truck were to increase its longevity, beefing up the factory shortfalls and making it as reliable and as tough as she could.

But none of these mods are even her favorite.

“My favorite mod is a tie between the EFILive and the AMP Research power steps because I’m short,” Tonya says.

Overall, Tonya says her overall thought behind the build was how she wanted the truck to look as tough and mean as it sounds, and she has never seen a big mean pink truck where she lives, let alone a diesel one.

“It is definitely an attention grabber and stands out everywhere we go,” Tonya continued.

But for Tonya, Pinky is more than just a truck. The important things aren’t what has gone into the build, but rather, what has come out of it. Tonya told a story of driving down the road in the truck with her family, when a little kid walking on the sidewalk with his parents gave her the oh-so-classic truck driver arm pump. But at that time, Pinky still only had the old factory horn.

“So I honked, and all we heard was a weak meep meep and immediately my husband, kids, and I busted out laughing because I’m sure the kid was expecting a good loud horn and all he got was a little meep meep,” Tonya recalled.

When she got home after that, they ordered a train horn from Vixen Horns to give the next kid a better sound show. Later, Tonya and her family were sitting in a parking lot waiting to leave Monster Jam, and traffic was a complete mess, so they started a horn battle in the parking lot to kill time, eventually getting 10 to 15 others to join in going back and forth with each other.

“The build means a lot to me because where I live there aren’t many women driving older lifted crew cab trucks, just the new trucks that look like everyone else’s. I don’t want to be like everyone else,” Tonya said.

And there’s no doubt Pinky definitely stands out!

Tonya plans on eventually upgrading her intercooler piping because the stock parts are too small and restrictive for a bigger turbo, and she also plans on swapping for a bigger turbo for the extra power, and doing a straight axle conversion to improve Pinky ’s strength and reliability.