“Rollin’ Lo” is more than just a phrase for Trux Accessories – it’s also the name of their latest line of accessories and their latest show truck. And, with an eye-popping purple and magenta paint job and out-of-this-world styling, this rig will surely be turning heads wherever it goes. Inspired by a host of classic influences, from various genres, this rig was envisioned and designed by Josh Foster and Dave Merovitz of Trux out of Quebec, painted and customized by the talented team at White Trash Customs in Fredericktown, Missouri, and put together and finished by K&W Truck Repair out of Searcy, Arkansas.
Trux Accessories was founded in 2000 by two brothers, Dave and Rick Merovitz, that began supplying just a few parts, chrome pieces and lights to the trucking industry. Today, based out of Quebec, Canada, there are over 6,000 items in their catalog, and they are now one of the largest after-market truck accessory companies out there, selling their products worldwide. In addition to their signature “Dual Revolution” LED lights, which can be switched from standard DOT-compliant colors to either blue, green, purple or white (great for the shows), the company now offers drop-in replacement premium LED headlights, work lights, stainless trim accessories for just about every make and model of truck, fenders (both poly and stainless), exhaust products and more. The Trux team is constantly inventing new items to feed the growing chrome industry.
And what better way is there to highlight their products than on an actual show truck? There isn’t! So, for the last several years, Trux, like other accessory manufacturers, have built a special rig to take to the shows that year and show-off their latest and greatest products. Such is the case here. But, this latest show truck went a little further than just highlighting their latest products – it is covered with many accessories and ideas to make you think differently about customizing a truck. At first glance, to some it might look like a mis-matched carnival of ideas, but upon further inspection (and explanation), it is actually a very well-thought-out and creative design.
Acquiring the 1999 Peterbilt 379 extended hood from a friend who had started rebuilding it but never finished, Josh and Dave opted to tear it down completely and start all over again. Stripping it down to bare frame rails and then building from there, the two men had a vision. They wanted to build something with a retro/throwback design, but with futuristic twists. Much of the design was inspired by hot rod pickups from the late 1950s and 60s, when customizers began smoothing-out and rounding-off all the vehicle’s hard edges. As seen on this truck, the visor, battery box covers, T-bars and front bumper all have “soft” edges.
In addition to the retro/throwback styling, the paint is pretty inventive, too. Inspired by the California Low Rider scene and their souped-up Impalas, Buick Rivieras, Cadillacs and Mercurys, the exterior features a highly-detailed and metallic-embellished “panel” paint job. To make it even more interesting, Josh told the painter at White Trash Customs, Dave Couch, that each panel needed to be filled with a different design (there are flames, lace, marbled, patterns, and psychedelic lines and designs, just to name a few). Each “panel” represents a different genre or era of the custom paint scene. The base color, a deep purple with lots of fine metallic and some silver pearl, is not a color you will soon forget. As an homage to old-school pinstriping, Kelsey Dum of Dum Designs in Little Rock, Arkansas, added a few bits of hand-brushed accents, here and there.
Some of the innovative accessories that were created for this rig include the 2” half-round horizontal grill bars with beveled ends (inspired by something they saw on a 1953 Chevy pickup), the “experimental” body drop panels (which may or may not be on the truck when you see it next), and the hood, which has no grill surround and a scoop on the top. It looks like the grill surround has been painted, like many people do, but in this case, it was completely removed and then glassed-over with fiberglass and smoothed out (a steel reinforcement structure was built underneath to give the hood the support it usually gets from the surround). It was a very big job – but one we could see others repeating, in the future. Valley Chrome built the 22-inch front bumper, the mirror brackets and tank straps are from 12 Ga. Customs, and the hood ornament and a few other pieces came from Roadsknz.
Of course, being a TRUX show truck, the truck has been fitted with many new items from Trux, including about 600 lights, most of which are part of their newly-extended line of Dual Revolution LEDs, including hundreds of their new single-diode “button” LEDs with a revolutionary new thread-mount design and their new “watermelon-style” Dual Revolution LEDs, all of which can run DOT-compliant or purple. The rounded box covers, T-bars and visors are all part of their newly expanded “Rollin’ Lo” line, which has made and sold fenders for years (including the stainless steel full fenders on this truck). The entire “Rollin’ Lo” line is being unveiled at MATS, March 22-24, 2018, in Louisville, Kentucky.
The truck, which gets its power from an “upgraded” 550 Cat and an 18-speed transmission, also features 10-inch Trux pipes, an oval-punched grill from Trux, fiberglass front fenders, window chops, a painted deck plate and their latest and greatest H100 Series Premium LED headlights – the first dual 4×6 high-powered “drop-in” headlight replacements. Many of you may also notice that the truck is an UltraCab, but the 48-inch sleeper has been converted to a flattop. Some might think this is a weird combination, and maybe it is, but Josh really likes the way it looks and has always wanted to try it on a truck.
The interior of the truck features Bostrom Wide Ride seats, mounted on the floor, along with a bunch of purple and white crushed velvet, harking back to those Low Rider influences. Mike at Steering Creations in Florida built a custom steering wheel and shifter knob for the truck, and he hit a home run, without ever actually seeing the truck in person. The rig’s flashy interior, which was also done by White Trash Customs, includes about 30 purple lights and three disco balls, but it was still a work in progress during our photo shoot.
Over the years, Trux has had many show trucks, but K&W Truck Repair has only been a part of the last three. Before that, their show trucks were “sponsored” trucks, owned by customers, with extra Trux accessories on them. Wanting more control and access to their show trucks, they decided to start building their own three years ago. Since then, Josh and his friends at K&W, Kenneth Jackson and Neal Emerson, have been in charge of the builds. K&W is not a “customization” shop, they are a complete repair facility located in Searcy, Arkansas. So, once a year, they get to step out and be part of a fun project (they also do some product testing for Trux). In addition to this latest head-turner, their last two trucks were a matte green and black Kenworth T660 and a matte black Volvo VN.
Hoping to take the rig to about 10 or 12 shows this year, the truck recently made its debut at the HDAW show (an industry event) in Las Vegas, NV last January. Although Trux is based out of Quebec, Canada, Josh has been working remotely for them for the past three years from Arkansas. Josh’s family has been involved in trucking since the 1940s, so he grew up in and around trucks. In the 80s, his grandfather opened a used truck dealership in Arkansas, and Josh learned a lot working there as a youngster. Over the years he has fixed trucks, driven trucks, owned trucks and customized trucks, which is how he eventually got hooked-up with Trux, where he is now in charge of their business and product development. He wanted to make sure that we gave a shout-out to his wife, Charissa, for putting up with all his late nights at the shop during this build.
Working with an excellent team, Josh Foster and Dave Merovitz, along with everyone else at Trux, K&W Truck Repair and White Trash Customs, are pleased with how their latest show truck turned out. True, it might not suit everyone’s tastes (nothing does), but it’s hard to deny its unique designs, the quality of the craftsmanship, and its innate ability to turn one’s head. “Rollin’ Low” is more than just a truck, and more than just a new line of parts – it’s a state of mind for Trux Accessories!
