By James Jaillet

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.

Other than a paint job, Ewing and Hi-Plains used the truck as purchased for nearly three years before taking it out of service, putting it into the shop and, ultimately, leading it onto the truck beauty show scene.

“It becoming a show truck was no where on the radar,” Ewing said. “We bought it for the sole purpose of filling a niche we had at the company. It just sort of turned into a project we wanted to do. We wanted something everybody at the company could be involved in and be proud of.”

Hi-Plains owner Gary Disher purchased the truck at an auction in 2006 for its ability to be used hauling construction equipment and moving large machinery in tight situations.  The three-axle set up, automatic transmission, short turning radius and ease in maneuverability made the truck useful to the company, Ewing said.

A trip to the Mid-America Truck Show in March of 2009, however, steered Gone Postal’s utility in a different direction.

“[The show] really got my boss going,” Ewing said. “He got really fired up at the uniqueness of all of the trucks, and we thought this would be a unique piece to throw in with all of the Peterbilts.”

After the show, Ewing went to work under Disher’s direction, and for the next four months he spent 40 hours a week in the shop converting the old USPS truck into a show rig.

Before the real customizing process could even begin, though, Ewing said some changes and relocations of certain parts had to be made.

“The truck was still put together the way the factory turned it out,” Ewing said. “It was built totally for utility purposes. The exhaust, batteries, fuel tanks – everything on this truck was built for ease in production and maintenance.”

Ewing said most of the custom parts were used, and they picked up almost all of them in the Denver area. The 80-in. visor was made at Outlaw Customs and modified and mounted at Hi-Plains. Outlaw also supplied the wheel covers, toolboxes and tank straps.

Interstate Turbo supplied the truck’s fenders, which had been in inventory for more than a year when Ewing and crew. got their hands on them.

The rest of the custom parts, Ewing says, were either shelf items at Western Truck parts or parts taken off of other Hi-Plains trucks.

Ewing finished the first round of Gone Postal’s renovations in July of 2009 , and he and the Hi-Plains crew began to escort the truck to shows around the country.

However, after only a short road tour, the rig went back into the shop for another round of modifications. .

Ewing said this time they’re concentrating on a few interior changes. Because the truck’s exterior features some aluminum diamond plating, Ewing said he wants to finish the truck’s interior with diamond plate floorboards and door padding. They’re also looking to add an 18-in. Texas-style fiberglass bumper before it’s unveiled again.

Some engine modifications – to make the truck more powerful – may be on the way, as well. Ewing said Pitt Power has been doing work with the E7’s to give them a power upgrade.

As for the future of Gone Postal, Ewing said he and Disher plan to take the truck to the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas in June and the 2010 Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in August.

“After Dallas, I think we’re done,” Ewing said. “But it all depends on what the boss wants to do.”

Post-Dallas, however, Ewing and his boss are in sort of a disagreement about how to use the truck once it settles back down in Denver.

“It’s kind of a tug-of-war between myself and the owner. I want to get the truck on the street, running around town where a lot of people could see it. He really doesn’t want to put it back to use immediately,” Ewing says. “But, I think I’ll win it.”

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Spec’s

OWNER: Gary Disher, Hi-Plains Leasing

MODEL: 1997 Mack MR 688 S

BUILT BY: Robert Ewing, Hi-Plains Leasing drivers and shop crew

ENGINE: E7 Mack 350

TRANSMISSION: Allison AT 540

PAINT/GRAPHICS: Rush Peterbilt, Denver, CO;  Stan’s Signs, Henderson, CO

EXTERIOR MODS: relocation of air tanks, install left-hand fuel tank, lowered headache rack, dual side pipes, full drive axle fenders, extensive exterior lights, polished dual intake pipes, lots of chrome

Sherry Martinez and crew exorcised the demons of a troublesome truck, known as “666,” with some devilish customizations

By Ashley Vice

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.

Martinez says her Pete, the first of three tricked-out trucks in the Mira Loma, Calif., based Jessica Martinez Trucking fleet, was designed to match the tough times that came with going independent.

“Its looks reflect the hell me, my husband, and my family went through when we first got it,” says Martinez, adding that they’ve owned the truck for ten years. “Everything that could go wrong with it did. But now it’s a part of my life and I wouldn’t give it up for any other truck.”

Martinez and her husband, Paul, flatbed mostly pre-fabricated concrete, like highway dividers and underground vaults used for sewer, water and power systems. Martinez says she’s the last person expected to hop down out of that cab.

With long brown hair and carefully manicured nails she admits, “I’m a little woman in a big man’s job.The best part is when I get to a job, get off my truck, walk about seven steps, turn around and watch everyone stare,” says Martinez.  The most common response to her Pete is “That’s your truck?”

She got into trucking being offered a permanent position driving after doing some customer service work for the company her husband drove for.  “Paul told me ‘Come on you’ll be good at driving,’” she says.

Co-workers placed bets on how long it would take Paul to teach her how to drive a truck when she started.  “I don’t take bets well,” says Martinez, a fiercely independent person. “I try to never lose; isn’t that the point? From beginning to end I think it took me two weeks.” She won every bet.

Martinez says that her truck, with its showy looks and chrome “666″ on the hood sides, is first and foremost a working truck. “If the local shows ask us to show up then we will, but I’d rather work.”

Transforming her truck into a showstopper was a family affair, says Martinez, who took a hands-on approach to customizing her rig. The 425hop Cat engine and the running gear are stock, but that can’t be said for the exterior.

Martinez, Paul, and Ernie and Jermaine Rubio painted the truck candy cobalt blue in the open shop behind their house while SoCal pin-striping legend Wild Bill airbrushed ghost flame and skull graphics.

“I kind of took him out of his comfort zone,” says Martinez of Wild Bill’s airbrush work. “He’d never really done something this big.”

Paddy Lyons of P&A Lyons Industries, (951) 658-2514, and his son Nigel crafted the side mirrors, a combination of ghost flame skulls and spider webs, to match the truck’s hellish theme and paint job.

“We’ve scared a lot of people with those mirrors,” says Lyons, who also crafted an aluminum piece that says “Mean Bitch” attached to the back of the truck. “There was a lot of design work to come up with what she liked, and then we had to get the size right so the mirrors were legal,” says Lyons.

The headlights and taillights also incorporate webbing. “My nephew and I made the headlights from different parts from different stores,” she says, adding that the webbed attachments were done by Lyons.

In all, 50 lights give the truck an eerie blue glow at night, including the clearance marker

lights on top of the truck, which Martinez can turn from amber (legal) to show glow blue with the flip of a switch.

The nightmarish theme doesn’t end with this Pete’s exterior though. Opening the suicide doors installed by Jermaine Rubio reveals more ghost flames and skulls on the interior door panels designed by Isaac Espinoza.

Inside the truck Martinez enjoys BMW seats and a Sony audio/visual system, including a complete stereo system and custom speaker boxes with 12-inch kickers.  Jermaine also crafted a custom dash for Martinez by pulling out all of the stock controls and replacing them with new switches.

“We also put in a lot of three-way switches, so it went from one switch operating one thing to one switch operating two or three things.” To finish the look the dash was painted candy cobalt blue to match the truck’s exterior.

The Martinez family affinity for custom rigs doesn’t end with her truck.  Customizing is less of a hobby and more of a lifestyle, she says. “We like to look good in whatever we drive.” Since the family does most of the custom work themselves, Martinez says it’s very affordable.

In addition to its three tricked-out trucks, the Martinez family has several other custom vehicles including mini-pickups and Harley-Davidsons. Of course Sherry’s hog is painted to match her rig — right down to the skulls.

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Wes Malmgren used bits and pieces of trucks he’d seen through the years to design and build his personal 2004 Peterbilt and its eye-catching paint job

by James Jaillet

It’s not so much the graphics that capture the attention as it is the color combo of Wes Malmgren’s Peterbilt 379. The black and lime green flattop, an in-house build done at the Malmgren family’s company headquarters in Aurora, Utah, is the rebel amongst a fleet of more refined workhorses.

Though Malmgren’s trucking roots only trace two generations, the steel hauler says it seems like his dad’s “driven a truck forever.” His dad, Bruce, actually started driving locally when he was 18 and moved into long-haul, over-the-road applications not too long after.

In 1983, Bruce “decided he’d driven a truck for so long, he wanted to do it for himself,” Wes says, and what started then as a one-truck operation then has since become a 32-truck flatbed fleet, hauling steel and other materials out of Salt Lake City and into southern California.

Malmgren, who was just a small child when the family’s Malmgren Trucking was born, had his career goal set already. “I pretty much always knew I wanted to help him out with it,” he says. “I went to college, got back and started helping out. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Malmgren’s long had another ambition as well. A long-time truck show visitor, Malmgren says he’s seen “bunches of different trucks,” and made mental notes of ones he liked and “things they’d done that I thought looked sharp,” and after he came across an ’04 Peterbilt in 2006 smashed up from an accident, he was able to put the notes to good use.

“I’ve basically always wanted to build one,” he says. “When we found that one that had crashed, I thought that was the right opportunity to build one for my own.”

During the next year, Malmgren, his dad and his brother stripped the truck down to the bare frame and built it anew, starting with cutting off the 70-in. sleeper and closing off the top with a 48-in. flattop.

“That was the first thing we had to do,” he says. “I love the way a flattop looks, especially the 48. I wanted a small flattop on my truck, and the high-roof sleeper had to go.”

After the bulk of the build had been done, including rebuilding the 525hp Caterpillar, Malmgren says he had to find a paint job that suited him. “I wanted something flashy, color-wise, something that people could see,” he says.

Malmgren says he worked with an artist three days straight, “figuring up designs, combining different things, trying to find something we thought would work.”

The result was the PPG green and black combination that Malmgren says is “probably my favorite part about the truck,” partly because he based the truck’s interior and engine paint job on what was drafted and executed on the exterior. “We wanted a mirrored look,” he says, “and the interior is an exact replica of the outside.”

Though a show competitor and custom-built rig, Malmgren says he runs the truck about 150,000 miles per year, which is something he says he kept in mind as much as its show appearance when building it.

“Our mindset with every piece of the truck was to just build it cool, but make it usable,” he says. “We kept looking at what we could take off to make it look cleaner and smoother and have it still be usable. I think we ended up with a good balance of both.”

The Interior Process

Malmgren, along with help from his brother and his dad, designed and built the interior of his 2004 Peterbilt 379 himself, including painting it to replicate the truck’s exterior paint job.

The dash was a small challenge in itself, Malmgren says, and he rebuilt and repainted it four times before settling on the current setup.

“We were having trouble getting it the way we wanted it,” he says. “So we kept saying ‘let’s try this instead,’ then it was ‘well, no, let’s try that, now.’ What we ended up with works well, though.”

Malmgren says he’s still not done tweaking the interior, and he has a few upgrades to “make it a little more livable,” he says, like adding a sound system, TV or video system in the sleeper and a refrigerator and microwave.

Specs:

Owner: Wes Malmgren, Aurora, Utah

Model: 2004 Peterbilt 379

Engine: 525hp Caterpillar

Wheelbase: 270 in.

Exterior Mods: Custom paint job, shaved door handles, custom-painted engine, 48-in. flattop conversion from 70-in. sleeper, 12ga Customs visor, Fibertech front fenders

Interior Mods: Paint job mirroring exterior, custom hand-built and custom-painted dash, low-back seats

Jeff Silberstorf has put his 1972 A-model Peterbilt to work hauling a Brenner X Ring SS 7,800-gallon tanker around Chicago and surrounding areas. Silberstorf said his boat building and repair business was hit fairly hard by the recession, forcing him to go back into trucking.

Silberstorf drives for PAR Trucking, out of Lombard, Ill. The company hauls bulk liquid commodities nationwide to plants and distribution centers.

The truck has about 20,000 miles on it, Silberstorf says. When winter comes, however, he says he’ll probably start driving a company truck to avoid risk of having an accident in ice and snow.

To see the feature on Jeff’s antique Pete published in the winter 2009 issue of Custom Rigs, click here.

Below is a video interview and walk around of Jeff and his truck.

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Owner-operator/custom shop owner looking for the final puzzle piece in a custom restore of a special 1970 Kenworth W900A

By Todd Dills

Mercer-leased over-the-road owner-operator and Fast Transport custom shop owner Ted Streit is on a quest to find the “right engine” for his 1970 Kenworth W900A extended hood. “It came with an Allis-Chalmers in it,” he says, “and that’s what I’m looking for – an original Allis-Chalmers 25000 with 450 horses.”

If this sounds weird, that’s because it is: Farm equipment maker Allis-Chalmers was only in the highway-engine business for a brief period in the late 1960s-early ’70s, during which time some appeared in experimental units, including a few used in trucking.

Streit saw his first Allis-Chalmers-powered KW sitting on the lot of Gene’s Truck Stop located by the Spokane, Wash., scale. The truck stop owner had quit driving and gone to selling fuel and coffee, parking his white 1970 K100 cabover (both a former show truck and test model for Allis’ brief on-highway adventures) for all to see. It struck a chord with Streit.

In 1995, Streit went to work leased to John Sandburg’s northern Illinois-based small fleet. Streit and Sandburg hit it off, discovering both had a passion for classic trucks.

“I ran a restored 1985 Autocar and took it to shows,” Streit says.

Coincidentally, Sandburg owned the stable mate of the rare ’70 KW he saw in Washington: a W900A conventional, one of the two original A-C show trucks. Says Streit, “John always would point to it, saying, ‘Me and the boys will restore it someday.’”

Streit's '70 KW during the early stages of the long restoration.

But fate took a slightly different twist. A shop fire four years ago at Streit’s location destroyed his beloved Autocar. So he set his sights on Sandburg’s KW as his next restoration project. Over a dinner Streit finally convinced Sandburg to sell the Kenworth so Streit could “make it what it’s supposed to be.” And that he did.

During the four-year-long restoration he confirmed the W900A’s exact original color, A-C purple, by an otherwise hidden area of painted cab paneling near to the rear roll-down window in the sleeper cab.

He was also able to confirm the prototype trucks originated via Rihm Motor Co (now Rihm Kenworth) and the two purple Kenworths, the cabover in Washington and his conventional, were probably on display together at the Minnesota State Fair in 1970 when they were new.

He plans on continuing the show legacy now that his purple restoration project is finished, minus the gold-white-black stripe package (Streit’s still looking for a good photo to help re-create it accurately).

“I don’t know if it’s exactly road-worthy,” he says, but he’s got plans to take the W900A to events of the American Truck Historical Society (www.aths.org) in the near future—and he hopes it’ll have that Allis-Chalmers engine under the hood.—CR

PURE MAYHEM!

Jersey’s Elizabeth Truck Center-led builders weave the hottest mods into an ’08 International ProStar for some truly twisted results

By Bruce W. Smith

(Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Truck Center)

Jersey isn’t the first place one would think of being a hotbed for customizing trucks. Gangsters ripping them off and hijacking their loads? Sure. But truck dealerships ripping a new rig apart and transforming what was once ordinary into an extraordinary work of rolling artisanship and craftsmanship? Fuhgetaboutit.

Such misconceptions are quickly dispelled the moment one lays eyes on Mayhem, James Carello’s totally tricked-out ’08 International ProStar.

Carello, the man behind Regional International in Henrietta, New York, wanted a showpiece rig for the corporation. It had to be aerodynamic and fuel-efficient, exude high-tech thinking and turn heads. The ProStar was the perfect base truck – and New Jersey’s Elizabeth Truck Center, custom paint maker House of Kolor, and Cenzi Custom Cycles of Spencerport, New York, the perfect customizing partners.

Together they have created what may be one of the most eye-catching aerodynamic custom rigs on the road.

First off, Mayhem’s frame was stretched from 220 inches to 340, topped off with a one-piece stainless deck plate while the rear of frame was filled and a custom rear light bar fabricated. While the craftsmen at ETC were at it, they flipped every huck bolt so the frame rails looked clean, shortened the hood, and dropped on a custom sleeper.

Not satisfied with the ordinary, they took a few cues from car customizers, adding lengthened Lamborghini-style gull-wing doors, converting the single exhaust to duals, adding custom fairings all around, and building a one-off visor and fifth wheel.

Then they had a friend CNC Mayhem’s Alcoa wheels on his machine for an even cooler look, complemented by Firestone 285/75R24.5s and one-off fenders by Cool Truck Components.

Mayhem's sleeper features a custom wrap-around sofa and a 6,000-watt sound system with 37-inch flat-screen for entertainment.

No custom rig is complete without something special on the inside. Mayhem boasts a totally custom interior, including a wraparound couch in the sleeper, but it’s the killer sound system that impresses most.

It’s anchored by a Kenwood head unit dumping into a 6,000-watt Kicker system consisting of no less than four 12-inch subs (beneath the couch), perfectly tuned to eight speakers all in custom enclosures.

Of course, both cab and sleeper are wrapped in Dynamat sound-deadening insulation.

When it’s time to watch videos, Carello has his choice of sitting back and enjoying a 37-inch flat-panel HD in the back, a seven-inch LCD in the dash or a 12-inch above — all tied in to Mayhem’s sound system.

To top off all the custom work, Tony Cenzi of Cenzi Custom Cycles traveled to ETC’s paint shop to put his extraordinary motorcycle painting talents to work on a much larger canvas. Using House of Kolor paints, they turned the bland ProStar into a kaleidoscope of color.

But the painting didn’t go quite as planned. According Carello’s son Jason, who is Mayhem’s handler, and Anthony Pesce, the head of customizing at ETC, this is the step leading to the truck’s name.

“It seems nothing went to plan building the truck,” says the younger Carello. “The paint job wasn’t cooperating and things overall were not going smooth as we rushed to get it completed before the 2008 Mid-America Truck Show. So in the end we named it Mayhem because that’s exactly what it was around the ETC shop.”

Mayhem made a minor debut at the International exhibit next to the Overdrive Pride and Polish lot at Mid-America last year, but its show-truck grand entrance came three months later at the Pride and Polish at the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas. To no one’s surprise, it cleaned up, taking First in Limited Mileage Paint Bobtail, tying for First in Limited Mileage Interior, and taking Second overall in Limited Mileage Bobtail.

Word has it Mayhem’s newest role will be hauling a brand new International LoneStar to shows later this year. – CR

(For in-depth images of the ETC build in-progress, click here.)

OWNER’S NOTEBOOK

TRUCK NAME: Mayhem

OWNER: James Carello, Henrietta, New York

MODEL: ’08 International ProStar

BUILT BY: Regional International & Elizabeth Truck Center

ENGINE: 525-hp Cummins ISX; painted; custom 8-inch dual exhaust

TRANSMISSION: Eaton Fuller RTLO18913

SUSPENSION: Factory air front/rear

PAINT/GRAPHICS: House of Kolor products; Graphics by Tony Cenzi, Cenzi Custom Cycles; Paint by Elizabeth Truck Center

INTERIOR MODS: Full custom with wraparound sofa in sleeper; 6,000W 12-speaker Kenwood/Kicker sound system; 37-in. flat screen; multiple DVD screens; sound deadening throughout

EXTERIOR MODS: Shortened hood; tandem front/rear light bars; one-off skirts and fenders; 340-inch stretched wheelbase; frame filled and hucks reversed; custom fifth wheel; extended Lamborghini doors; custom visor and rear panel; CNC’d Alcoa wheels; much more

CHARITY ORGANIZATION DELIVERS THE GOODS

Illinois-based Haulin’ For Humanity provides cargo delivery services for other non-profits

In a time when truckers and trucking companies are facing tough times and every operational dollar is watched under a microscope, Haulin’ For Humanity is delivering the goods for free. John Gervase, a Burr Ridge, Illinois, owner-operator says  “We’re a new non-profit trucking organization focused on helping other non-profits by hauling cargo free of charge.”

The rig Gervase’s is using to haul goods is a full-on custom 2000 Pete 379 extended hood donated to their cause by an unnamed source who believes in Haulin’ For Humanity’s cause.

“Our truck is available only to nonprofit organizations and churches,” says Gervase. “ We can provide hauling for cargo such as food, clothing and building supplies with a 53-foot van trailer or flatbed as appropriate. Our travel radius is 300 miles but arrangements can be made for needs beyond that range.

Gervase says the organization’s creed is simple: “If the need is there, we are there.”

As every trucker knows it costs money to keep a rig in operation. “To help cover trip costs,” says Gervase, “we ask for a donation that is appropriate to your organization’s financial situation.”

Haulin’ For Humanity is currently looking for partners, sponsors and donors to help them meet the financial needs to keep the truck running such as fuel, maintenance, and insurance.

“We are a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt charity and 100% of all proceeds go directly to the operation of the truck,” explains Gervase. “No salaries are paid. All financial records are available for review.”

If you would like to be a part of this charitable organization, or just find out more about its services, call John at 708-205-1516 or email him at john@haulinforhumanity.com.

By Lanier Norville

“Hot rodding has no limits.” This, the motto of Flaming River hot-rod shop, is epitomized in its latest revival: the transformation of this 1987 Pete 379 Flattop into the smokin’ hot gangsta rig known as Blackbird.

Flaming River of Berea, Ohio, frequents hot-rod trade shows, showcasing its products and custom work, which is catered to early models of hot rod cars.

“We had a smaller truck, a GMC top kick,” to haul products from show to show, says Brett Domin, sales manager at Flaming River who oversaw Blackbird’s custom makeover. “The GMC really wasn’t meeting our needs. The Pete seemed to be a better fit.”

The hot-rod shop gave the old Pete a second chance at rollin’ in style by modeling it after the Lockheed SR-71 Mach-3 spy plane, which was used by the U.S. Air Force until 1998. The boys in the shop at Flaming River drew inspiration from the jet’s sleek, low profile minimalism – a look that translates well to big rigs — and named it Blackbird.

The redesigned Pete boasts custom machining, hot rod stainless pipes, a new interior and unique graphics that showcase the shop’s finest work.

On the outside, the frame, tranny, and final drive were soda blasted and painted to match the body. No, they didn’t shake up cans of soda and spray down the parts, though the process is not far off from that.

Soda blasting is a cleaning method that can remove dirt and rust without damaging metal or glass. The process involves shooting baking soda through a tube at high speed using compressed air. Know how baking soda shines up teeth? It works on trucks, too.

Once clean and rust-free, the frame, transmission and final drive received a matte black paint job at Priebie’s Collision Center to match the body.

The color, Jet Black, is a Dupont Finishes Hot Hue. The Flaming River team removed the fuel tanks; steps; trim molding; mirrors and brackets, cleaned them, and had Creative Powder Coating of Elyria, Ohio, give them a black powder finish.

The original aluminum wheels got a custom treatment with bead blasting, black powder coat and new chrome hub center covers and lug caps. The original 8-inch visor was replaced with a 14-inch black powder coated visor.

“The truck just looks so aggressive rolling up from behind,” Domin says.

New black bucket-style halogen headlights from Southern Rods and Parts contrast nicely with the classic long-nose design, while integral top mounted turn signals add extra custom flair. The exhaust system tubes received chrome plating and a new direction, rerouted to the side dump Lakester-style, a popular ‘50s style. “We wanted to give it that hot-rod look,” Domin says.

The Flaming River team removed the original Peterbilt logos, replacing them with billet aluminum ovals engraved with “Pete 379” and backlit by LED lights.

The custom integrated fuel tank and exhaust brackets also shine with billet aluminum and polished stainless steel. The custom bumper, made by 32 Chrome Shop of Pulaski, Wisc., is 22” deep and ridin’ low, at 4” below stock.

They left one vestige of the old truck intact: the bird-shaped hood ornament that the last owner had added. “We had changed so much on the truck that we just decided to leave that on there,” Domin says.

The team stripped and refurbished the cab and sleeper, including the upholstery. They installed four new Air Ride seats, a Flaming River steering column and steering wheel, a new headliner, interior door panels, and side/rear interior treatment in the sleeper. They even added a new dash cover and new wood cabinetry to give it a high-class look.

But Blackbird doesn’t just have looks to die for, it’s got the entertainment to match. The audio system includes Sirius satellite radio, CD and cassette players, MP3 player compatibility and new speakers.

Then there’s the Magellan GPS navi system, flat screen TV, DVD player and Playstation 3 that the team picked up from Best Buy.

To ensure a clear sound, Design Engineering Corporation of Avon Lake, Ohio, installed sound deadening insulation in the sleeper and the cab.

Though the truck hasn’t been seen on the big-rig show circuit yet, it’s something Domin sees in its future.

And the winner is … John Lacusky!

OHIO TRUCKER WINS SEQUEL  SWEEPSTAKES

Custom Rigs reader will be driving home the Sequel after winning rig at GATS

Thousands of CDL holders filled out entry forms during the past three months for a chance to win Custom Rigs “Win big With Custom Rigs” ’98 International 9400 customized by the Chrome Shop Mafia and powered by a Detroit Diesel “reliabilt” replacement engine, covered by a three-year, 300,000-mile warranty.

But only one trucker was handed the keys along with the custom rig’s title – John Lacusky.

The Cortland, Ohio resident, and owner-operator of Lacusky’s Trucking, wasn’t present at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas when his form was pulled from the clear plastic box filled with other hopeful’s entries. Nor did he hear Ice Road Trucker Alex Debogorski (see our web video) announce he was the winner.

But he was overjoyed when Custom Rigs’ publisher Brad Holthaus called him with the great news.

“It wasn’t until the Monday after the show, when I as on the phone with Brad Holthaus [Custom Rigs' publisher], I realized what I did and then my hands started shaking.”

Lacusky was actually at the Dallas show but left just before the noon drawing.

“You see my daughter lives about 20 miles outside of Dallas and my wife and I drove down there from Ohio to see the grandkids. We went to the truck show Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Lacusky's daily driver/work truck is in really fine shape for its age. The Sequel winner will now have two nice rigs in his company's stable.

“I’d walked up and filled out the entry form on Friday,” he says of the events leading up to the drawing.

“Saturday we walked around until about 10 minutes to 12 and left because my granddaughter needed to be put down for her nap. So we left show 10 minutes before the drawing…and I missed it all.”

“The odd part about all of this is I really like Internationals. My everyday work truck is an ’88 1900 Series with a dump box,” says Lacusky during a phone interview from his home.

“When I get this truck [Sequel] it’ll a big step up-a lot bigger and way more fancier than what I’m driving right now.”

Lacusky says all he I was hoping for was maybe winning a couple steering tires.

“Now I have eight more in the rear and a really nice truck on top of it all! I tell my wife when we go to the casinos, ‘someday my picture will be there on the wall as one of the big winners.’ Now I win a $55,000 custom International.”

“The ‘Win Big’ sweepstakes was a great success,” says Custom Rigs publisher Brad Holthaus. “Giving away a fully customized truck created a lot of buzz during the past three months and introduced a lot of new readers to our magazine. We’re looking to do more sweepstakes in the future.” – CR

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By Bruce W. Smith

Ten years and a million miles do a wear-and-tear number on just about anything in a working rig. Just look down by your feet. The floor covering, which was once pristine, probably looks as if half those miles were driven over it.

Even if you’re diligent keeping the cab floor clean, years of exposure to extreme temperatures and climate conditions take their toll, as does moisture from wet boots, spilled drinks, dropped burgers and other hazards of everyday use. A less-than-spotless-looking floor is perfectly acceptable in a regular working rig. But in a working-class show truck, never.

One solution for a cab floor for both work and show is diamond-plate aluminum. Diamond-plate withstands the rigors of hard use, wears well, is relatively easy to install and requires very little work to maintain. Also, installing a new floor cover is usually the first of many interior upgrades to follow.

We put a new covering in a ’98 379 Pete, replacing a once-beautiful laminate wood floor that had succumbed to the working elements. The truck was being given a second life, so a little more show and less go was the order of the day. A pre-cut, two-piece diamond-pate aluminum floor kit ($575) from the Chrome Shop Mafia was the perfect place to begin the truck’s refurbishing process.

Replacing a floor cover with diamond-plate is easy. But beware: It’s an all-day project. Everything north of the original factory metal cab floor has to be removed and the floor itself cleaned.

The good news is that the time spent is rewarding in the long run. The photos below show the step-by-step involved. (Click on an image to see it full-size.) – CR

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