“They could tell right away … that I was bad to the bone.” –From the song “Bad to the bone” by George Thorogood & the Delaware Destroyers
You know, there are times when all you can do is just sit back and simply say: “Dude, your trucks are awesome.”
I had a moment like that a while back when Brad Jansen out of San Diego, CA, sent me some photos of his two Peterbilt 379s – one a model year 2000 tractor painted a sun-bright yellow, the other a 1989 model year sky blue dump truck. Yes, that’s right – a Peterbilt Model 379 turned into a dump truck, one with over a million miles on the odometer. Looking at how Jansen takes care of his iron, though, you’d think that now 20 year old piece of sky blue steel and chrome just rolled off the assembly line.
“My blue truck we ordered new has over a million miles on it in town miles,” Brad told me by email. “It’s got a 3406 with a 15-speed transmission. The cab lights are shaved as well as the blinkers. The ‘hot rod’ front fenders that are flamed, with the rear fenders full and shaved and painted to match. The interior is grey and black tweed with black low pro wide ride seats.”
Yeah, man! That truck ROCKS! But that’s only one-half of Brad’s fleet.
“My yellow truck has 550 Caterpillar engine with an 18-speed transmission. It has many extras, too,” he told me. “My shifter is six inches from the roof and all my roof lights are shaved. My blinkers are shaved off, and my headlights and my fender brackets are shaved off, too. The rear of my fuel tanks and the face of my rear ends are paneled.”
His tractor’s front end is lowered and air bagged, with eight-inch exhaust pipes standing a whopping 13 feet tall. Talk about a big rig with chops!
“My flatbed trailer is a Wilson combo, with fenders and paneling just like the truck. The tractor has rouge body paint and the trailer side skirts are polished stainless steel, along with the tailgates as well. The trailer has polished fenders light bars and panels, with the tail lights Double J brackets with LED [light emitting diode] lights everywhere.”
Both of Brad’s trucks sport some SERIOUS chrome, let me tell you – bright enough to make them seem to shimmer in the hot California summers.
Now, are these truly practical trucks for the everyday trucker? Probably not. Yet Brad makes a good living with them – and looks pretty dang sharp in the process, too.
Roll on my friend!
