SECOND TIME AROUND

Changing upholstery and upgrading other interior features give cabs a new life

By John Baxter

Photos by Bruce W. Smith

Few custom upgrades give as much of a mental and physical uplift to the owner-operator than a cab interior make-over. When one spends the majority of their workday inside a cab those surroundings have a lot to do with the occupant’s state of mind and physical well-being.

So it’s no surprise owners of custom rigs focus a lot of their customizing attention on items inside the cab and sleeper to make their office a lot more comfortable for themselves-and more appealing to show judges.

Such make-overs are not easy and to do so is probably going to require some outside help from a truck customizer or custom upholstery shop. But whether you tackle the job yourself or let a professional handle the task, make sure you really have a good feel for the products and services you are getting.

“Get referrals,” advises Bryan Martin, owner of 4 State Trucks (888) 875-7787) of Joplin, Missouri. “Ask the shop to give you contact information for at least three recent customers. Then ask the shop to show you photos of their work. This way you are politely verifying their level of professionalism.

GUARANTEED WORK

Martin says it’s just as important to discuss their written guarantee.

“Anything we do, we apply a one-year warranty on both workmanship and materials,” says the Chrome Shop Mafia’s boss. “If an upholstery job fails within one year, we will re-cover it with a different material we feel will be more durable. We’ll keep doing this until the customer is satisfied. And that includes having the job look the way you intended when it’s finished.”

Most good shops will provide a similar guarantee according to Martin, and having it gives the customer some “peace of mind” about what they are buying and the quality of the work.

Speaking of quality, a good baseline for a shop’s work is how long they’ve been in business.  Martin advises proceeding cautiously when dealing with a new, un-established shop. And, if you do, to make sure everything is spelled out in writing before work begins-including the warranty/guarantee.

Elwin Eash, senior vice president of sales at Indiana Custom Trucks (800) 800-3244) in LaGrange, Indiana, adds, “Once a successful upholstery business develops a good reputation it will soon develop the resources to promote itself aggressively. Most reliable shops will display at trade and [custom truck] shows and advertise.”

So it may be smart to use a business you have read about in the magazines and trade publications, or perhaps even talked to at a major industry event.

ADD A LITTLE COLOR

A quick and easy way to improve the appearance of your cab interior is changing the color.

“Color changes can be accomplished by replacing or applying a dye,” says Eash. It’s pretty simple and inexpensive to do, he adds. “But existing scratches, dents, and wear spots can still be seen.”

Naturally, a much better approach is getting worn upholstery, door panels, and headliners replaced with a different color, texture or upgraded material. Carpet and other factory flooring material are also great candidates for “color and texture” upgrades.

A typical scenario is upgrading an interior just before the truck hits a particular show or truck beauty contest. Both 4 State Trucks and ICT offer not only such upgrades and related products, they also offer exotic upgrades with unusual custom treatments.

For example, 4 State offers silver/black two-tone designs, which look nothing like typical original equipment, and ostrich leather upholstery.

MIX & MATCH

If you decide to do more than just recolor or replace existing upholstery, the sky is the limit. Eash says new floors are a favorite starting point at ICT, which is known for their custom sleepers. The most popular is a wooden floor, and there are many designs available.

Such flooring generally looks best when installed by a pro, and Eash’s company has five specially trained people doing that kind of work.

“You need a smooth sub-floor to start with, which is installed and screwed down,” he says. “Then our technicians put down wooden strips and fasten them to the sub-floor with a powerful adhesive. When the installation is finished it ends up looking just like the wooden floor in a house.”

Linoleum, marble and granite floors are also growing in popularity among the show truck crowd. Replacing the existing rubber floormats or carpet with an aluminum panel that covers the floor is also finding favor among custom rig owners.

Another popular approach, says Martin, is matching the upholstery to a “fancy paint treatment that’s on the outside of the truck.”

“A truck owner might say, ‘I want black and silver with a maroon accent in order to complement the present colors of the truck.’ We’ll then embroider a Peterbilt or other truck brand logo, or their company name, somewhere tasteful as the final custom touch.”

Asked which truck brands seem to get the most attention, Eash says his customers don’t discriminate. “All truck brands can be worked on for these additions. Obviously, the larger sleepers allow for more additions and features.”

Martin says customers coming to their Joplin shop tend to be owners of Peterbilt, Kenworth and Freightliner rigs.

“Peterbilt and Kenworth are No. 1 and No. 2, the Camaro and Mustang of trucks, when it comes to customization, with Freightliner not far behind,” he says. “Those are the brands we work on most-and the brands with the most conversion products available. But we see our share of Volvos, Western Stars, and Internationals.”

NICE INTERIOR TOUCHES

Whether it’s greater livability, more utility, added show points, or a combination of all you’re after, a walk along the isles of any well-stocked chrome shop reveals a seemingly endless number of options.

Martin says, in addition to the do-it-yourself upgrades and add-ons, the Chrome Shop Mafia custom installs GPS units, radios, video and stereo sound systems.

You could, for example, have them make a special, custom glove-box door; custom-mount a big flat-panel TV; build special enclosures for speakers and subwoofers; or even polish, custom paint, or install something unique the customer found in a salvage yard or pulled from the family treasures.

With 65 employees, the CSM staff  “will hit the truck owner with ideas to see what he might like to do, because we have a passion for this kind of work,” Martin says.

“We care about their needs. Because this kind of one-of-a kind work costs money, we’ll be happy to do it in stages so they can plan and control the cost to fit within their budget.”

While Martin and other truck customizers typically concentrate on upgrading smaller items on the tractor, Eash says ICT focus is on “adding features to existing sleepers.”

A typical ICT’s sleeper ‘conversion’ transforms the truck’s interior to something one would expect in a RV, with storage cabinets, appliances like TVs, microwave ovens and sound equipment, and even a toilet and shower.

Custom cabinets are a favorite item that can be attached securely to the structural members in the sleeper walls, or, in some special designs like the T2000 composite design, to the floor, since structural members are not present.

They also add showers, or a special item to larger OEM sleepers called a gaucho bed-a poplar fold-away bunk, which magically transforms into a table giving you a dinette inside the sleeper.

Another favorite is a flat panel TV to save space, and related items include surround sound, satellite TV systems, Internet in motion, or even a total business office. Complete kitchens including a two-burner stove are available, as well.

Basically, only three things limit the extent of customizing your rig’s interior: 1) the physical confines of the tractor; 2) the breadth of your imagination; 3) and the depth of one’s wallet. All of the other ingredients are already in place.-CR