Charlie McDaniel with his restored 1969 Peterbilt 359.

The story behind Charlie McDaniel’s ’69 Pete 359

Take the time to walk among the 53 custom rigs in the Great American Trucking Show’s Pride & Polish display area and you’ll see a wide variety of fine rides.

One that caught our eye here at the 2010 GATS is the red & black ’69 Pete owned by Charlie McDaniel. It’s a step back in time.

“I used to lease out a 359 just like this one back in the early ’80s to a big trucking company called J.H. Rose in Houston,” says Charlie McDaniel, owner of Amigo Truck Ltd in Houston.

“Rose had some 800 trucks in their fleet and every one was painted with this red and black paint scheme just like you see here.”

McDaniel really liked his old Pete and had fond memories of working for J.H. Rose. So when he came across this one three years ago, he purchased it and immediately began restoring it in the Amigo shop.

When they had it well along they drove it to Truck Works in Cortland, California, to finish the restoration and paint. The complete resto job took 2-1/2 years.

Very few people have seen the finished truck, says McDaniel who brought it to GATS and enter in his first Pride & Polish truck beauty show. His 41-year-old Pete standing tall right along side customized trucks from the modern era.

“The only difference between my first 359 and this one is my old truck had white pinstripes instead of silver. And my first Pete was brand new at the time,” Says McDaniel.

As to the paint scheme, Emmett Fay, who is here with McDaniel and also worked for the big trucking company, remembered how passionate the owner was about the company colros.

“I remember one day a kid in the [J.H. Rose] paint shop asked Mr. Rose what color he wanted a new truck painted,” says Fay. “Rose said ‘I don’t care what color you paint it son, just as long as it dries red and black.’” Apparently that love of a certain color still has deep roots.

And that’s how it is here at GATS–there’s a story behind every truck on display. — Bruce W. Smith