A Bright Idea Comes to Light in the Form of a 1972 Suburban built by Protouring Texas
Congrats to Rickey Bright being named a Finalist for the Goodguys 2025 Truck of the Year (Late) with his 1972 Suburban built by Protouring Texas.
Rickey Bright has always had a thing for cars, starting in his early teens with a ’56 Nomad when he was just 14, which was followed by a ’63 Chevy II and on to a ’69 Camaro drag car. He worked side by side with his father at their transmission shop which he eventually took over and continued to operate to support his own growing family.
About 15 years ago, Rickey stumbled upon a 1972 Suburban at a lot in nearby Weatherford, Texas, and thought it would make a cool ride to enjoy with his family. The three door ‘burb was driven home, but like many projects, it sat not quite half finished as life and work took precedence. Finally, understanding that he was never going to have the time to see the Suburban through on his own, Ricky enlisted the crew at Protouring Texas to create a cool cruising family Suburban.
As you can see, things went a little further than a simple cool cruiser. It seems that the chemistry between Rickey and the Protouring team was strong and the ideas, the “Bright ideas” that is, just kept flowing. Rickey is quick to point out that his wife Brenda, and kids, Charles, Allie, and Magan, all kicked in their own ideas and support along the way – one big Bright family idea after another!
One of Rickey’s ideas came in the way of a 376c.i. LS prepped by Protouring Texas. Leaning into his good ol’ drag racing days, he wanted to make sure his family-hauling Sub had a Texas-sized kick, so a ported supercharger was bolted on to stuff more oxygen into the cylinders – to the tune of over 800 horsepower on the dyno.
A Roadster Shop Revo chassis is fitted with an adjustable air suspension setup from Air Lift which drops the body cleanly over the 19-inch Billet Specialties wheels. The body has numerous subtle mods throughout and is covered in a BASF Abyss Gray Pearl, applied by the Protouring team and then highlighted with bright green side stripes.
The Bright family loads into four leather-wrapped TMI bucket seats into an uber-comfy recline, keeping cool with the Vintage Air blasting. The custom interior, with contrasting green stitching highlighting the gray and black leather, is the handiwork of Brusome Design and, judging by the speaker system, Rickey enjoys his music as much as a high horsepower engine with open headers!
Sure, the 1972 Suburban may have gone a little further than originally planned, but when you have one “Bright idea” right after the other, you just have to roll with it – and Rickey is glad he did!
Photos by John Jackson, Todd Ryden
