When Braxton Sickel bought his 1980 GMC C25 service truck he inadvertently tapped into a thirsty market. The Calgarian is passionate about GM trucks, especially the generation of GMCs and Chevrolets commonly referred to as ‘square bodies.’ He enjoys customizing the trucks with improved suspension and brake systems coupled with more powerful engines and better transmissions.
In 2022, Sickel had just purchased a 1982 Chevrolet half-ton short box truck as a project when, while perusing Facebook Marketplace, he spotted an ad for a three-quarter ton GMC with a utility box on the back of the chassis. “I thought that looked cool,” Sickel says of the truck. “It was something different in the truck world, because it seems everybody likes to build short box GMs. I’d seen pictures of modified service trucks, and they look really cool when they’re lowered.”
Sickel contacted the seller of the service truck, went to see it, liked what he saw, but didn’t immediately buy the vehicle. “(The seller) had come up with the idea of putting a beer keg in the back of the truck, and had started to box in a beer tap on the back passenger side of the service box,” Sickel says. “I thought that was a neat idea, but I sat on it for a while without buying it. Eventually, the price was lowered a couple of times, and in the meantime, I’d been chatting with him. Finally, we worked out a deal and I brought the truck home.”
Sickel quickly deemed the idea of a beer keg and tap had merit. “Why not make a beer truck, and pour some beers at private events, held on private property?” Sickel reasoned. With the truck in his suburban two-car garage, he proceeded to install CO2 tanks in one of the service cabinets. To keep a 20 or 30-litre keg cold, he insulated a cabinet on the passenger side of the box and finished setting up the tap. He had the system working in the summer of 2022 and experimented pulling a few beers for friends that fall. Then, early in 2023, he booked a private event during Stampede week.
“I knew one keg and tap wasn’t going to be able to keep up,” he says, “so I repeated what I’d done on the passenger side on the driver’s side.” He fabricated a metal box to contain the tap and welded it into the left-hand utility box at the back. Meanwhile, a cabinet on the driver’s side was insulated and plumbed for another beer keg.
Voila, Tapped YYC was born. All business has been via word of mouth, but every event he attends from a wedding to a corporate gathering has led to more work. He likes to support Calgary’s craft breweries, often getting kegs from Annex Ales, Village Brewery and Vaycay Brew Co. His wife, Tracy, helps at events and the largest number of people they’ve served is just over 400. Sickel says it is by no means a full-time gig, as the journeyman mechanic is quite happy working as a technician at Village Honda in northwest Calgary.
His 1980 GMC Tapped YYC beer truck, with its 350 cubic-inch engine and standard transmission, didn’t require much mechanical attention. The motor is all original, but Sickel did change the spark plugs, cap and rotor while also refreshing the oil and filter.
Where he focused most of his attention was on the suspension as he lowered the GMC with a C-notch frame and rear differential flip kit. Drop spindles and shorter springs went in up front, and Sickel cut the springs at all four corners to lower the ride height even more.
“It runs very well, and I drive it lots around town and even the 150 kilometres out to Pine Lake where we have a family vacation spot,” he says. “It always grabs attention.” He suspects the orange paint on the cab could be factory original. There are a few dents and scratches but that only adds character. The utility box was likely painted orange to match the cab after it had been installed by the original supplier.
“The truck would have been ordered as a cab and chassis, with the box added shortly after delivery,” Sickel says. “It had been used as a tradesman’s truck, as the guy I bought it from had purchased it from the original owner who had put it to work. We’re still putting it to work, just in a different, and probably more fun, kind of way as Tapped YYC.”
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or [email protected]
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