What Your Truck Needs Is a Set of Sidewinder Missile Running Boards
You could go for the classic chrome look with big hoop steps, or you could snag these bad boys instead.
Spend enough time on the internet looking at trucks and you'll find all kinds of accessories. Better yet, you can find pretty much every one of 'em with an American flag printed somewhere because we used to be a country, gosh darn it. That's all well and good, but I'd rather snag a set of these AIM-9 Sidewinder missile replica running boards for my daily and call it good.
I'll be the first to admit I'm no military expert. I leave that to the extraordinary crew at The War Zone. But when my pal Andrew Collins sent over a photo of these on Slack this morning, I reckoned they were worth blogging about. I wouldn't feel that way if they were cheap and thrown together, but from what I can tell, they're actually pretty high quality.
A company named Nose Art Displays builds them and sells them online. Lawrence Guynes is the man behind them and he looks to be a true-blue gearhead with a Porsche 917 replica in the works. That's his Nissan Frontier in the photos, dressed in full Top Gun garb.
The running boards are handmade from aluminum with all the lettering and designs done by hand. What's more, they're customizable so you can have them dressed up however you want. They're approximately 6 feet, 4 inches long and 12 inches wide at the rear fin, meaning they're about 3/4 scale of a real AIM-9. Those are apparently 9 feet, 11 inches long.
This eBay listing says they can also be used as wall art for your home, which makes sense. I'm sure I know a few guys who would hang a set of chrome running boards from their Chevy Squarebody on the wall, but these are cooler.
At $2,000 per side, they aren't cheap. Still, they're a lot more affordable than the real deal; legit AIM-9 missiles cost as much as $399,500 each from what I've found online. Maybe it's because those can shoot as far as 22 miles.
If you'd rather yours be a 1:1 scale replica, the business sells those too for $6,200. Sadly, those won't fit your Nissan Frontier. If you're just a little on the short side and need a step to get into your pickup, there are definitely less expensive options out there for you.
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