If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Eddie Amaral Jr. (50) of Gustine, California owns this well-kept old Peterbilt cabover with over a million miles – and it’s still going strong. As a second generation trucker, Eddie loved driving trucks so he started his own business, Amaral Transport, in March of 2003. And, since then, things have only got better.
After buying his first car, Eddie decided to trade it for his first truck in 2003 – a 1995 Freightliner cabover. He made that first truck of his into a 2-axle to pull doubles, and started hauling hay and other freight. Later on, Eddie sold the Freightliner for an extended hood 1996 Peterbilt 3-axle, which he also used to haul hay and various freight, but this time with a stepdeck trailer. A little later, Eddie bought a dry van trailer to haul wine and wine bottles.
In 2006 Eddie met Sonya Souza, and in 2009 they were married. Later that same year, they bought their first reefer trailer. Now, married to his business partner and wife Sonya, Eddie says it can be hard when having a big family (four kids, ranging in age from 13 to 26 years old) and trying to run a growing company at the same time but, through hard work, Eddie finds a way to get it done.
Starting Amaral Transport from scratch, the company now has five highway trucks, 15 reefer trailers, one dry van, one food grade tanker trailer and a stepdeck trailer. In addition to all of the company rigs, Amaral Transport also has 20 full-time owner operators. Eddie would like to give his wife a lot of credit for helping him grow their business at a nice (but slow) rate. “Without my wife, I wouldn’t be this far in our business,” said Eddie.
Having all conventional Petes, Eddie wanted something older and to stand out from the rest of the fleet, so he purchased the blue 1987 Peterbilt 362 cabover seen here. Featuring a 444 Cummins engine and a 13-speed transmission, the classic rig also has a modest 200-inch wheelbase. Running the western states on a weekly basis, the cabover has 1.4 million miles on its motor, and this baby is still running strong – and it has never been rebuilt. Eddie wants to keep his cabover as original and clean as possible, and, in addition to working it every day, take it to some truck shows, too.
For as old as this cabover is and for how hard it still works, it is still in very good shape. The cabover got painted seven long years ago by Bill Rocha in Oakdale, CA but the paint still looks brand new. The truck’s original owner worked it for just over a year and then decided to park it. After Eddie bought it, he washed it and was amazed at how good the paint still was, saying, “It looks like it just got painted yesterday.” He went on to say, “Older does not necessarily mean anything!”
In addition to all of his work trucks, Eddie also has some project trucks – like a 2-axle 1968 Peterbilt conventional, a 2-axle 1980 Peterbilt cabover, and a 1982 Road Runner hay squeeze. As you might have figured out, Eddie likes to start projects, but he often has trouble finding the time to actually finish them!
This clean cabover is a really good older truck and Eddie would like to keep it as long as he can. And, if it keeps running strong, like it has for years, Eddie Amaral will have no reason to get rid of it, keeping that “old school” style of trucking alive and well – for as long as possible.
