Truck Features
- February 10, 2012
California all-star customizer Jeff Botelho’s show truck and working rig, 5150, inspired by grief of father’s passing
by Todd Dills
“Up until recently,” says Jeff Botelho, customizing trucks was more a highly advanced hobby than anything else for himself and crew at the Botelho’s Custom Trucks shop in Los Banos, Calif.
He runs his family’s Botelho Bros. Trucking business and custom shop out of the same facility, from which the shop’s unofficial name, Tin Can Customs, comes.
“My shop’s kind of like a tin ...
- February 08, 2012
A game of one-inch-upsmanship between two longtime friends results in one rocking work-in-progress
By Todd Dills
Truck names come from a host of different origins – the occupation of the owner-operator, remembrance of a loved one, a favorite color, a movie hero or any number of other reasons. Two very custom rigs on the circuit take a different tack, getting their moniker from the wheelbase: Project 350 and Project 351. The latter takes its name from something of a challenge.
After Richie Acosta ...
- February 06, 2012
Travis Lyon’s 1987 Kenworth K100E brings the demented Decepticon Motormaster from comic book ink to real-world form.
by James Jaillet
By his own admission, Travis Lyon was “a man in need of a project,” and on a long drive down Tennessee highways “to just get out and clear my head,” he stumbled upon an old junkyard ’87 model Kenworth K100E Aerodyne that, several years before, he wanted to buy and turn into an actuality based on comics and cartoons he revered as ...
- February 03, 2012
One of the most wicked ash haulers on the road is a rare 2005 Peterbilt 379X called Haulin’ Ash, owned by Burningham Enterprises of American Fork, Utah, located about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.
- February 01, 2012
SRS National fleet owner and part-operator Jerry Beaudoin drives his company's calling card
By Todd Dills
Many big-rig customizers back their way into building a dream truck. After years of on-road hauling, all the while slowly acquiring the technical know-how to take a working tractor and turn it into a project truck, they hot-rod an old family workhorse or turning a junkyard find into a machine that gleams like new.
Jerry Beaudoin, owner of the Southington, Conn.-based SRS National fleet of 10 company-owned ...
- January 30, 2012
By James Jaillet
Sanger, Calif., resident and single-truck owner Stephen Ashburn’s 2005 Peterbilt 379, pictured here under the lights on the north side of the Las Vegas strip, presented an ideal starting point for his truck-showing career.
The car hauler “was wanting to build my own truck, but just didn’t know where to start, to be honest,” he says, and when he saw the truck for sale online in 2007, “It was everything I loved.” The truck didn’t have many miles on ...
- January 30, 2012
When the company Robert Ewing works for, Hi-Plains Leasing, bought a ’97 Mack previously owned by the United States Post Office, turning the truck into a show rig was one use he hadn’t envisioned for the box-bodied, snub-nosed “Gone Postal.
- January 29, 2012
Sherry Martinez's 1990 Peterbilt 379, affectionately known around Southern California as either The Mean Bitch or 666, is visually hell on wheels born from personal trials and tribulations...
- January 29, 2012
By Bruce W. Smith
It’s a beautiful spring morning as Robert “Bobby” Mulvihill Jr. rolls up to his shop in the New Jersey countryside, drops the air suspension so his truck is sitting bad low, and blips the throttle a couple times. The rumble from the 550-hp 502 Chevy Big Block is just as sweet as the classic ‘72 Chevy C-10 it powers.
What’s even sweeter a few steps away in a shop filled with cool rides is another classic truck Mulvihill ...
- January 23, 2012
By Christi Cowan
Small fleet owner and frac sand hauler Kenny Yeary’s 2010 Kenworth W900, which he bought new in March 2009, is the brainchild of his son Gary and son-in-law Jimmy Wiley, who convinced him to turn the stock rig into something different.
“You do what they want sometimes, you know,” Yeary says of keeping his family happy. Fortunately in this case, though he’s quick to point out that customizing trucks is not his line of work, he’s not unhappy with ...
Feature Stories About Customized Trucks
We cover the coolest trucks, their awesome owners, and the people that do some of the greatest custom work in America. What you’ll find online will be some incredible stories and pictures of rigs that we’ve chosen to spotlight. If you’re looking for even more feature coverage, check out a Custom Rigs Magazine subscription – it’s only $19.95 for a 1 year subscription and that gets you 4 full issues. If you really want a deal, a 2 year subscription is only $29.95 and that gets you 8 full issues AND a FREE CustomRigs t-shirt!
