By Todd Dills

“We’re not 100 percent done with it,” says Bryan Martin, Joplin, Mo.-based Chrome Shop Mafia boss and perhaps the most well-known personality these days in the truck customizing world. He’s talking about the 1966 needle-nose Peterbilt 351 whose custom grille is staring you down in the picture above.

Though it looks almost black in this picture and in person in certain light, the base paint on Bryan Martin’s 1966 Pete 351 is a “deep indigo blue,” he says, “with Seminole red, and old-school red pinstriping.” The interior is heavy on button-tuck -- “very Kenworth-y,” Martin says -- done early on in the project’s long history by Truck Interiors of Seattle. And done over the phone. “At the time,” Martin says, “they’d never made an interior for a 351. I sent them some pictures, and they got on the telephone with me. When they sent it to me it fit like a glove.”

Some talk about the truck as Martin’s own personal project, and he admits that, “when we take it to shows or do a local parade with it, typically I’m the one who drives it.” All the same, he rarely uses the first-person singular when talking about the two decades of work put into it.

“It’s a truck that we started restoring and customizing about 23 years ago,” he says. “It’s always been one of those project we had to pull off of to work on a customer’s project.”

But its story is as much his as his team of customizers’, and begins when the 351 was a local tow truck in Joplin Martin long had his eye on as a young man.

“I’d got out of diesel school in 1986 and started work as a mechanic in Joplin,” he says, “and that’s about when we traded for that truck. It was a tow truck with no sleeper, and the engine was blown up. I traded a running dump truck for it.”

Martin removed the tow body and outfitted it with a flat-top Peterbilt sleeper, mid-1980s-era 400-hp Cummins BigCam, 13-speed Fuller tranny and 3:70 Rockwell rear end.

“Laid out in the 1980s,” Martin says, the stretched 248-inch wheelbase “looks pretty short by today’s standards.” All the same, it was the first truck Martin ever had a hand in lengthening, laying the groundwork for the Bossman’s well-known history to come.

At first glance the Bossman’s Pete might look finished, but Martin says “it still lacks electrical wiring and all the weather stripping” to really put a cap on the two-decade restoration, alterations that might get him a little more time behind its wheel.

Martin, no doubt would love more seat time in the old truck. As he says, “The world never looked better than through the windshield of a needle-nose Pete.”

Bruce Malmgren plucked a truck from his Utah fleet and built a winner

By Max Kvidera

In 2007 veteran driver and Utah trucking company owner Bruce Malmgren chose from his 30-truck fleet an ’06 Peterbilt 379 to play out his show truck dream.

He checked out a Salt Lake City truck show, found the competition to his liking and set out to add modifications to the truck, which had roughly 214,000 miles’ worth of nationwide flatbed hauling under its tires.

Malmgren decided three heads were better than one and enlisted the help of his sons, Dustin and Wes – who has modified his own 2004 Pete 379. “It was kind of fun, so we decided to go ahead and do it,” he says. “It’s something for me and my sons to do together.”

They all contributed ideas of what they wanted in the truck, mapping everything out in detail to make sure they did it right the first time, Bruce says. “The biggest thing was less is more. It was not to make it a gaudy truck. We concentrated on the details.”

Over a six-month period, the trio modified the truck inside and out at the family’s shop. They replaced the bumpers, hood, grille, stacks and fuel tanks. They installed stainless steel deck plates between the fuel tanks and from the back of the sleeper around the fifth wheel to the rear of the truck.

The only aluminum remaining is the wheel covers.

CTW Chrome Shop supplied all of the chrome, including the 22-in. front bumper, which  Wes installed. Front fenders are from FiberTech Lowriders, and rear fenders are from Cool Concepts.

Aranda supplied the rear bumper light bar. The 7-in. exhaust stacks were replaced with 8-in. stacks from DynaFlex. Roadworks supplied the blind mount visor and low-profile ovals for the air cleaner tops. Ghost flames were painted on the fenders, panels, fuel and air tanks.

The Malmgren sons stripped the interior, installing a granite floor and new leather seats in navy blue and silver to match the exterior tones. They repainted the dash in the same colors, as well as the vinyl around the gauges, and the door panels were repainted to match. Cab and sleeper panels were supplied by FiberTech. The Malmgrens also added a custom Grant steering wheel.

In 2009 Malmgren drove the newly-christened rig to the 2009 Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas, where he took first in Working Bobtail .

The following year at the GWTS, he earned second place in the same category. Malmgren says he took 2011 off, but he plans to return to GWTS and other shows this year.

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Spec’s:

Owner: Bruce Malmgren

Model: 2006 Peterbilt 379

Wheelbase: 280 in.

Engine: Cat, 475 hp

Transmission: Fuller 18 speed

Exteriors mods: Chrome front and rear bumpers, front and rear fenders, 8-in. exhaust stacks, visor, air cleaner tops, stainless steel deck plates and panels

Interior mods: Granite floor, 6-in. cab and sleeper panels, painted dash and door panels to match exterior paint

Jeremy Leavitt’s big red 379 does double duty as a hay hauler and show rig

By Max Kvidera

Almost from the day he bought the 2005 Pete 379, Jeremy Leavitt began customizing the truck. He had added touches here and there to previous trucks he owned but nothing like this one. “We’ve always had nice equipment, but I wanted to build a fancier truck that could work but still be taken to the shows,” he says.

In 2006 Leavitt spent more than five months in his Le Grand, Calif., shop transforming the truck and his 2003 Western 48-foot stepdeck trailer. Leavitt did the customizing and fabricated the metal, while friend Richard Galindo of Cen Cal Creations performed the painting. Leavitt, a third-generation trucking company owner, was inspired to create a truck that would have made his grandfather, nicknamed “Red,” proud.

Leavitt’s handiwork started with the headlights and grille, spread to the air cleaner, exhaust stacks and visor, and continued along the trailer. He replaced battery and tool boxes with stainless steel versions. Galindo created the old school red and orange hot rod flame paint treatment on the truck and trailer.

Inside, Leavitt moved the stereo and CB, installed new seats and changed the toggle switches and dash screws to complement the exterior alterations. Chrome and wood pieces were added as highlights. “I wanted to keep a truck look instead of a European sports car on the inside,” he says.

On the trailer, Leavitt polished the aluminum deck and posts. He cut off the rear dock bumper and welded on stainless steel pieces to fashion a shiny new replacement. He sanded, stained and refinished wood sections.

Since this is a working rig, Leavitt made adjustments to the trailer. He removed winches and moved the J hooks to better positions for tying down loads. Big Red Hay Sled was born.

Most weeks Leavitt’s Valley West company hauls hay to California dairy farms. But when he schedules a truck show, he carries freight to pay the travel costs. This year he plans to compete in nine or ten shows.

For the most part, hay is a gentle load for the tractor and trailer, except when sand and gravel from the roadways bite into the undersides. To get to one of his major hay accounts, Leavitt has to travel 12 miles each way on a gravel road.

Leavitt says he tries to introduce a new feature for each show he enters. For the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas in June 2010, he was planning to jazz up the engine compartment, an area where he says he’s lost competition points.

“It’s almost there, but it’s a never-ending job,” he says about the customizing work. “There’s always something to do and a dollar to spend.”

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Spec’s

Owner: Jeremy Leavitt

Model: 2005 Peterbilt 379

Wheelbase: 268-in.

Engine: 550 hp Caterpillar

Transmission: Eaton Fuller 18-speed

Exterior Mods: Traditional double round headlamps within JJ brackets, grille bars, 5 in. chopped from air cleaners, butterfly drop visor, mirrored stainless steel steps, exhaust stacks extended to just under 14-ft. with Chino hay hauler cut, swan hood ornament, beehive marker lights

Interior Mods: Stereo moved from overhead to under dash; replumbed fittings on air brake valves; adjusted ducting for HVAC; rewired CB mic to remove hanging cord;rosewood, leather steering wheel treatment; replaced toggle switches and dash screws with chrome and red jewel effect; chrome door panels

Custom rigs call for custom hooks. Homer Schultz III has just that.

Staff Reports

When Homer Schultz III sets about to clean and polish his truck for a show, his process looks way different than most Pride & Polish competitors in the Working Truck class.

While others might quickly wipe down the deckplate and polish the rear bumper, Schultz is hanging over the rigging of his tow truck’s boom using a toothbrush and rag to make sure the pulleys and hydraulic cylinders are spotless. Then he moves on down to address hydraulic hoses, protective plates, cylinders and controls before he even reaches the deck.

But he does’t mind the extra work at truck shows, or out in the real world, where his customized ’93 Pete 379 spends the majority of its days helping fellow truckers in distress.

As Schultz will proudly tell you, “I’ve got the hook for the job.”

Schultz III — and his Homer’s Custom Chrome Shop — know custom rig building and driving. Based in Milwaukee, Wis., his family of truck drivers, owners and customizers have long added at least a few custom touches to nearly every truck  they’ve used. “We love trucks — that’s what we do,” Schultz says.

With the’95 Pete, however, Schultz says he went the extra mile.  “We started out with a simple plan, and all of a sudden the little job turns into a big job. We went more toward the extreme end with this one than we do with most of them.”

Schultz and his crew of 15 began working on the rig in 2005 in their shop with the original intent to “just make a nice, clean-looking tow truck.”

Four years later, nearly every square inch on the Pete has undergone an upgrade or customization. Schultz and crew added lights; upgraded the grille, bumpers, visor, hood and exhaust; and fancied the interior with African Rosewood floors, blue marbleized dash panels, diamond plating, custom upholstery and new electronics.

The work wasn’t done in vain — Schultz uses the baby blue 379 wrecker as a full-time working rig, driving around the country for jobs.

“We built the truck to use it,” Schultz says. “The goal was to have a functional tow truck that looks good, helps promote the chrome shop and still gets the job done.

Schultz says he generally has between three and eight jobs in a day towing other big rigs, but that doesn’t stop him from toting the wrecker around the beauty show circuit.

Cleaning and preparing the rig for shows is more work than actually using the truck, Schultz says.

He does the best he can to not beat up the truck too much on jobs, and Schultz’ attention to detail and time spent polishing his custom tower have not gone unaccredited — he and his rig have brought home several Pride & Polish awards, including Best of Show Working Bobtail at both Mid-America and Great West Trucking Show events in 2009.

Schultz says the truck’s uniqueness does spark reaction from both customers and bystanders. “Everybody gives you a thumbs-up,” he says. “People notice it’s unique and it’s different, and everybody looks at it. Customers see it and they can’t believe I use it. They get in it just in awe. I’ve had guys afraid to touch anything.”

Schultz did nearly all of the truck’s custom work in his chrome shop. The camaraderie there — everyone on his crew coming together to build the rig — is part of what make this truck special to him, Schultz says. “Everything we’ve done with the truck has been so enjoyable,” he says. “Just being able to get in there and drive it every day — I love it.”

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Spec’s:

Owner: Homer Schultz III – Homer’s Towing & Service Inc.

Model: 1993 Peterbilt 379 (312-in. wheelbase)

Engine: 430-hp Detroit 60 Series

Transmission: 15-speed

Interior mods: Rockwood floor and dash panels, custom interior upholstery, custom pedals, Grant steering wheel, custom-built head liner, 26-in. LCD television mounted to wall, custom diamond plate in sleeper, custom-built diamond plate speaker boxes, Kenwood touch screen navigation system, 3 amps, 15-in. kicker subwoofer, 12 smaller speakers

Exterior mods: Flip bumper, Jones hood, strapless air cleaners with billet screens, custom visor, Streetrod headlights, custom-built headache rack and boxes, component fenders, custom deck plate, NRC quick swap unit, cat-eye lights, custom under lighting and strobes, billet grill, drop one piece mirror brackets, dark concord blue paint by TA Truck Painting, stretched chassis, chopped front end

Hot Shot’s Secret, marketed by Lubrication Specialties, Inc., removes the build-up of coking and varnishing left behind from the overheating of engine oil, the company says.

The product is made to inexpensively prolong injector life, as well as fix slow start-up, rough idling, hesitation and lack of power. The product was tested for two years before final production.

For more information, visit Hot Shot’s Secret.

The SmartWay-verified Multi Energy D drive tire delivers enhanced fuel efficiency, optimized traction and long tread life, the company said. “This tire strongly addresses the mileage, fuel, traction and scrub concerns of the regional trucking application, as well as what we see as an emerging super regional application — trucks that operate approximately 100,000 miles per year  often within a 500-mile radius,” said Ted Becker, vice president of marketing for Michelin Americas Truck Tires.

Michelin’s Dual Energy Compound Tread has a top layer of tread rubber balanced to deliver fuel efficiency while exhibiting the needed wear properties to resist tread scrub. The bottom layer of tread rubber maintains cool casing temperatures for low rolling resistance and extended casing life, the company said.

Becker said, “X One wide single tires continue to offer huge benefits to the trucking industry. The Michelin X One XDN2 retread combined with the weight and fuel savings of the Michelin X One casing offers even better grip and fuel efficiency.”

The all-weather drive tread design now available in the X One XDN2 retread delivers traction and mileage, the company said. The retread’s Matrix Siping Technology provides traction on dry and slippery surfaces. Full-depth sipes supply traction, while the three-dimensional Matrix sipes lock together for the stability normally associated with solid tread blocks.

The Michelin X One XDN2 Pre-Mold is only available for retreading on Michelin X One casings. It also qualifies for the Michelin on Michelin Guarantee, which pledges 30 percent more mileage than competitor retreads and a second X One trailer retread on  a Michelin casing.

Visit michelintruck.com for details.

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 it, and the previous owner had already started fabricating, including a few interior touches, the hood’s flames and a few mod’s that increased the truck’s car-hauling prowess.

Stephen Ashburn says he got the idea to light up his interior with bright blue LEDs from another truck on the highway. “I liked it, and I wanted to do it to my truck,” he says. The car hauler went to a shop that had Woody’s lights, and he bought six of them to replace the lights already hung in the interior. When trimming later, he added two more blue oval lights.

And for the first year he owned it, he ran it as was, “running it hard,” he says, as the foundation of his Southern California car-hauling operation.

The second year, though, Ashburn began fiddling with the interior, and he started by hanging mirror-finished stainless around the cab and finishing them with a few flames. “Ran it like that for 6 months,” Ashburn says, “that’s when I met Jeff Botelho,” owner of Botelho Brothers Trucking and founder of Tin Can Customs.

He befriended the show and custom truck veteran on his first trip to Vegas for the Great West Truck Show Pride & Polish competition in 2009, and “that’s when we sort of got a lot of the bigger stuff going,”

“He had a lot of the ideas,” he says. “I just kind of took advice from him, and he made it all happen,” – to the tune of ripping out the hardwood flooring and replacing it with aluminum, redoing the truck’s exterior flames, hanging custom 5-in. sidewall fenders and replacing the already-aftermarket bumper with an 18-in. blind-mount Aranda bumper, painting the dash and stripping off a good bit of diamond plate on the deck plate and trailer and replacing it with stainless to match the rest of the truck.

To polish it off, Ashburn’s wife Lindsay came up with a fitting name. “We were sitting around joking at the first Vegas show,” Ashburn says, “The style of the car hauler – it is called a screw truck, and with the head rack on there, she goes ‘you should call it a Screw ‘n a Nice Rack,’ and everybody thought it was hilarious. It’s never been posted on anything, but we just joke around with it.”

Spec’s:

Owner: Stephen and Lindsay Ashburn

Model: 2005 Peterbilt 379

Engine: 475hp C15 Caterpillar

Wheelbase: 265-in.

Exterior Mods: Custom flame paint job, nearly 300 6-in. Maxima LED lights, custom-cut stainless steel over truck and trailer, custom-built 18-in. Aranda bumper, stainless steel battery boxes, custom visor, chopped top

Interior Mods: Painted floor and dash that match exterior, stainless ceiling and door panels, custom sanded and painted dash and gauge panels, painted aluminum floor, custom-cut and –painted door panels, blue LED lighting throughout, Silva custom toggle switches and brake knobs, RoadDawg flamed-polished aluminum steering wheel

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 takes out on sunny days: an identically painted, totally custom ’66 351 Pete powered by 851 cubes of “Big Cam” 400 Cummins.

The classic Pete, known as “Hillwick ’66,” isn’t nearly as fast as the short-bed Chevy, but it sounds every bit as nice to truckers who appreciate classic iron. The old Pete, far more customized than the C-10 Cheyenne, always draws a crowd at truck shows and turns heads when it rolls down the road.

Mulvihill owns a fleet of dump trucks and combos hauling stone, salt, sand and rock for Hillwick Inc. in Hackettstown, New Jersey. He says he’s owned “at least 20” custom bikes, street rods, classic cars and other vehicles over the years. “But ‘Hillwick ’66’ is special because it’s my trucking company showpiece.”

The old Pete was a far cry from a showpiece when Mulvihill drug it to Elizabeth Truck Center’s Staten Island, New York, customizing shop, Car Craft Truck Works, a couple years back. It was a dirty basketcase with a gutted cab perched on a barely rolling chassis weighted down by a silent, rusty Cummins.

Mulvihill’s input on the project amounted to specifying he wanted the finished truck to be painted to match his beloved C-10 and favor the street-rod/hot-rod motif. Other than that, Car Craft Truck Works was given pretty much free reign on the  restoration and design.

The Hilwick ’66  build, well documented on ETC’s website, required a complete disassembly followed by a laundry list of custom modifications and one-off custom parts built inside the Car Craft walls. “What separates ETC Custom from everybody else in the [truck customizing] industry,” says Anthony Pesce, manager of the Car Craft facility, “is every square inch of every project like Bobby’s Pete is designed, planned, fabricated, constructed, bent, twisted, welded, sanded, painted and polished all under one roof and all under one project supervisor who works closely with the truck owner.”

The result of such consolidated teamwork is a one-of-a-kind custom rig. From the body panels to the air-ride suspension, from the extended hood to the vintage interior, Hillwick ’66 is classic custom all the way.

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The line includes 15 different designs and are offered in conjunction to its full line of axles, which includes standard, drop-center, steerable, in-line and others.

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A New England dump combo with the looks to kill

By Bruce W. Smith

The party room features a custom window in the back, brass stripper pole and a blending of speaker enclosures with the custom upholstery work.

A new  association can join the ranks of more morbid widow makers, albeit for another reason: it’s a custom rig with killer looks.

At least that’s how Todd and Beth Roccapriore see their newest creation in the Clean Slate Environmental fleet – their aptly named 2004 Peterbilt 379 EXHD, Widow Maker.

“The whole name and design of the truck came from the shape of the windshield glass, which is angled to look like some mean eyes coming toward you on the highway,” explains Beth, who owns the Hebron, Conn., hazardous waste transporter. “The whole truck is designed to show its bad attitude.”

And show it does. Widow Maker won Best of Show Working Combo, Best Interior — Cab Only, Custom Paint – Combo and Lights — Combo at the Wildwood 75 Chrome Shop Pride & Polish show in April 2010, where it was entered by Denis Chupron, the driver who helped create the beast.

The striking House of Kolor lime green and black Pete, pulling a matching custom dump, also won Best in Show, Best Interior, Best Theme, Best Chrome, Best Lights and Best Engine categories at the 2010 Shell/Rotella SuperRigs.

The Roccapriores, along with Chupron, designed, fabricated and painted the Pete in their shop. Time put in over the winter on the job included long hours fabricating custom parts, from mirrors to speaker enclosures, shaving the frame of bolts, building shorter, strapless fuel and air tanks, suiciding doors, shaving door handles and customizing the fenders, all using in-house shears, breaks, lathes, rollers and welders.

They installed the “Widow Maker” windshield glass and an eight-inch exhaust system topped with Outlaw Custom’s’ “Widow Maker” stacks, slipped on a custom grille above the tilt front bumper, made custom side skirts and slid on a pair of Maltese-cross motorcycle headlights with matching turn signal indicators.

Inside, the Widow Maker is even more impressive — especially at night. The interior is as plush as a fine cocktail lounge, complete with four color-matched, custom-upholstered Qualitex seats, a billet steering column, a steering wheel featuring a spider-web-and-Maltese-cross design, custom dash and stainless floor. Brass knuckle door handles top off the truck’s interior flare.

Step into the flat-top sleeper and it’s even more fun. There’s a brass stripper pole running from floor to ceiling between the bucket seats (they say it’s fully operational) and speakers mounted ceiling to floor.

In fact, musical entertainment on the road and at the jobsites comes from 64 speakers positioned in cab and sleeper — all in custom enclosures and powered by 6,300 watts pumping from the Fusion Electronics sound system. (Every inch beneath the upholstered cab and sleeper walls is covered in sound deadening material.) There’s even a pair of DVD players in case video is on the menu.

And for setting the mood, red LED lights are hidden around the interior of both cab and sleeper. Todd loves his lights:at last count there are more than 400 Trux Stealth LEDs on the truck and matching 2010 Mac frameless trailer.

Under the hood, the 1000-hp Cat 3406E sports a custom turbo, hand-fabricated intake, chrome trim and stainless braided hoses. The block and radiator are painted to match the exterior theme.

The Mac dump is just as custom: It features Maltese-cross landing gear, custom bulkheads, painted and pinstriped belly panels, custom-cut full fenders attached to the lift axle, hidden light wiring and a custom tailplate.

The kicker? Widow Maker is a fully functional working rig. The Pete hauls contaminated soil every day in and out of nasty landfills and construction sites in New England. When equipment operators and fellow truckers see Chupron roll in their eyes are glued to what he’s driving.

Henceit’s the rig’s foreboding name: Widow Maker.

Why did the Roccapriore’s build such a custom working rig? “We just love to build trucks; plain and simple.” Beth says.

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Spec’s:

Owner: Todd & Beth Roccapriore / Clean Slate Environmental, Hebron, Conn.

Model: 2004 Peterbilt 379 EXHD

Wheelbase: 300”

Engine: 1,000-hp Caterpillar 3406E

Transmission: Eaton Fuller 18-speed

Exterior mods: Suicide doors; shaved door handles; custom visor; tilt bumper; air suspension; custom mirrors/brackets; motorcycle headlights/turn signals; stepped-out back sleeper panel; shortened and strapless fuel tanks, strapless air tanks/air cleaners; boltless frame rails; custom tailplate; custom “Widow Maker” windshield glass; Lifetime Products name plate; custom cab/sleeper skirts; motorcycle pip on fuel tanks; air-actuated hood release; customize Mac dump trailer.

Interior mods: Custom dash; Qualitex bucket seats; 6,300-watt Fusion Electronics sound system with 64 speakers in custom enclosures; sound deadening; brass stripper pole, iPod docking station; twin DVD players.