It is thought that you learn from your parents, good or bad, and that includes who you are as a person, your work ethic, and what you believe in. I think this holds true for all walks of life, and even more so within the trucking industry. Chris Gebhardt (46) of Gebhardt Enterprises, a trucker, a good-timer, and most importantly, a father, instilled work ethic and a love for old trucks into his son Dalton (28), with the continued traditions of keeping old school alive with the love of their nearly matching 1986 Peterbilt 359s.
Ever since he was a kid, Chris knew he wanted to drive a truck from as far back as he can remember, and he can rattle off the specs of every truck he ever drove. He learned a lot about trucking watching his stepdad, who he spent a lot of time riding with, going out to the west coast. His dad and stepmom lived in California, so there were trips Chris was even able to visit with them, when riding along with his stepdad.
His stepdad worked for Larry Johns, and there was a time Chris rode out with Larry to Denver, CO. The truck was a teal blue 1986 Pete 359 extended hood with a 425 CAT, 15-over transmission, 3.70 rears, and a 265” wheelbase. With painted breathers and painted tanks, this was a super nice truck back then. During that trip, at age 13, Chris was behind the wheel quite a bit, and this one particular time Larry was taking a nap – or trying to. The interstate they were running on was being paved, and there wasn’t any topcoat of asphalt leading to the bridge approaches. Even though the truck rode good at 55 mph, they definitely felt those bumps, and he remembers (with a laugh) Larry kept yelling at him to slow down.
With his CDL fresh in hand at age 18, the first trucking job Chris got was for a company hauling hopper bottom loads during the day and washing out the bulk pneumatic tankers at night. After about eight months of trucking three days a week and doing the trailer washouts, the company had him in a truck full time. From 18 years old to 21 years old, Chris was basically on a dedicated run to Chicago. By then he was also married and had two infant children, Dalton and his younger sister Tayler.
When Chris turned 21, he hit the road with a load to California. He remembers the older generation of truckers saying that if you’re trucking, you’d better be driving. He definitely drove on that trip with a delivery in Missouri, a wash out, then dropped down to Tucumcari, NM, spent the night with minimal sleep, then drove straight through to Sacramento, CA.
Over time, Chris moved onto hauling grain, then ran a refrigerated trailer for about nine months, but missed being with his kids, so he went back to hauling grain, which he made even more money doing. By this time, Dalton started getting the bug when he was able to ride along with his dad. Chris stayed at this company for 12-13 years, able to run different types of loads, as the truck he drove would get leased out to pull trailers for other companies.
Chris found his first truck (Dalton’s current truck) located just two miles down the road, and Chris knew the guy that owned it. The truck, which hadn’t run for 10 years, was in sad shape. The frame was rotted out underneath the fifth wheel, it was missing belts and batteries, the headliner was out of it, and it smelled like mice. This guy, named Steve Gordon, knew Chris and knew how he took care of the equipment he was operating, so he let Chris take the truck without paying him for it up front. And after Chris spent about $40K fixing the rig and customizing it, Steve gave him a break and let him make two payments, equaling only $8,500, to buy the truck (he originally was asking $35K for it).
Some may not know this, but Chris also does truck interior work including upholstery, painting dashes, doing “big openings” in older sleepers, adding insulation, and floor installs. Through the car club his parents belonged to is where he found the interest and got started in it when he was around 20 or 21 years old. He would do a little work here and there, but it didn’t really take off until he got into the truck show world around 2014. Chris has more of an original style of doing things that keeps his work period correct and as OEM as possible, which includes not using glue, but rather doing a lot of sewing and making pleats.
Starting the truck rebuild in 2014, Chris planned to run the old Peterbilt part time when it was finished and then work in the upholstery shop the rest of the time. While building the truck he was driving part time for a company. Wanting the truck to look period correct, he began gathering used parts, including a 379 standard air leaf cut off (rear frame). By then, his dad had moved back from California to Missouri, so he helped Chris do the cut off. Then, they took the truck to Jay Romack’s shop south of Neoga so Chris could do the paint work.
Jay and Chris went to the same school and grew up together, hanging out with their parents in the aforementioned car club they were both part of. When Chris started painting the truck, it was a bone-chilling minus 10 degrees outside, and the shop’s wood stove was struggling, barely keeping it at 60 degrees inside. Chris painted the roof caps and front and rear fenders, and at that temperature, it took three days for the paint to dry! He was scheduled to start hauling ammonia at the end of February 2015, so Chris had to get the truck done. Jay let him finish the rest of the truck build in his shop.
Taking the truck out on its first load of ammonia, it did not run well at all (the timing advance needed to be rebuilt). After that, he barely worked two weeks that spring because the company that he was leased to wasn’t working him. After spending all that money buying and building this truck, Chris needed to make some cash, so he parked the rig and went to work for Bart Williamson, a friend, hauling asphalt with a tractor-trailer that summer. Everything seemed to have fallen into place because Bart had just had a driver quit so there was an open truck.
That summer, Chris made enough money that he decided to get his own authority, around the end of August 2015. Bart sold Chris a dump trailer on payments to get him started until he had enough credit built up that the bank would give him a loan to buy the trailer. He ran that dump trailer for a couple of years, but didn’t really like the dump trailer gig, so he bought a stepdeck, ran that for about a year, then sold that and picked up a flatbed, that he still has and pulls occasionally, to this day.
His son Dalton wasn’t sure if he would get into trucking, but somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew one day he would. While working at a body shop in 2018, Chris approached his son about working with him during the busy season, driving a truck, while still working at the body shop. Dalton agreed, and at the end of 2018, he began riding with his dad for three or four months, learning to drive, then went and got his CDL. They bought a daycab Freightliner in March of 2019, spent a month or so getting a few things done to it, and then Dalton started trucking… and never looked back.
In 2019, Chris met up with our friend Arlyn Workman at the Top Gun Largecar Shootout in Rantoul, IL. Chris’ daughter Tayler had never seen a big bunk, and Arlyn’s 359 Peterbilt had a big 110-inch Double Eagle sleeper, so Chris asked Arlyn if they could look inside. Chris and Arlyn got to talking and Arlyn mentioned how he was thinking about getting a new truck. Chris told him right then and there, “If you ever want to get rid of it, I want to have first dibs.” And not long after that, Chris and Arlyn made a deal, and Chris became the new owner of that truck, minus the big bunk (Arlyn was buying a new 389 from our friend Clint Moore and wanted that big bunk on it). Arlyn re-installed the original 63-inch sleeper the 359 came with when he sold it to Chris.
The timing for the deal was perfect. Towards the end of 2019, the Freightliner Dalton had was having some issues, so he was driving his dad’s truck (the one Dalton now owns), because Chris was busy in the upholstery shop. Dalton was to the point where he needed something with a sleeper. He had started hauling feed and often slept across the seats of that daycab Freightliner. One night, he just made the decision, “Nope, I’m not doing that again.” Chris and Dalton talked about getting a sleeper for the Freightliner, but it all just worked out perfectly for Dalton to buy his dad’s red 1986 Peterbilt 359 and Chris to buy Arlyn’s truck – which just happened to be another red 1986 Peterbilt 359!
The first truck show Dalton went to was MATS when he was around 5 or 6. He doesn’t remember much of it, but he remembers the CAT Scale booth and their cat mascot, Wade Wright. The first show Chris took a truck to was the Top Gun Largecar Shootout in Rantoul, IL in 2015. He showed bobtail with (now Dalton’s) 359 and took 3rd place in that bobtail class. He knew our old friend Troy Huddleston well, so Troy gave Chris some truck showing pointers. That year, Chris tore the truck down, repainted the frame, installed new fenders, and did some other things to it. The next year he again entered as a bobtail in Rantoul, but this time he took 1st place.
As mentioned previously, the pictured pair of rigs are both 1986 Peterbilt 359s. Dalton’s truck (all red) boasts a 400 CAT with an 18-speed transmission, 3.70 rears, a 278” wheelbase, and can be found hooked to a 2006 Benson 48-foot flatbed trailer. Chris’ truck (red with black fenders) is powered by a CAT C-15 with an 18-speed transmission, 3.55 rears, a 312” wheelbase, and is usually hooked to his nice 2020 MAC 48-foot flatbed trailer with a Quick Draw tarp system.
Both of the “offices” these men work in are period correct with a nostalgic feel as you step (without your shoes on) inside. These trucks are always as clean on the inside as they are on the outside, and both maintain a rolling example of what having “pride in your ride” looks like. Both trucks have tank and fender covers that Chris made, and he also did Dalton’s interior, which includes the floor and upholstery.
For Chris, he has always looked up to his grandparents for both their marriage and their work ethic. He said, “I wouldn’t have anything if I didn’t have that.” He holds his kids in high regard as two individuals that have inspired him since their birth, because they always gave him the drive to do what he was supposed to do. Lastly, thanks to his father, who he has always looked up to as a huge influence, teaching him manners and respect, his cool cars and trucks, and for teaching Chris the simple moniker, “If you’re doing it, you better do it right.”
According to Dalton, the people who have been most influential in his life and who he is thankful for would be, first, his dad, because he couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without him. Another is his grandpa Don (mom’s dad) who has been there every step of the way in support. Dalton thinks his grandpa loves this life for Dalton even more than Dalton loves it for himself! Don finds great joy in seeing his grandchildren doing good. Talking with Dalton, he is actually the 5th generation in trucking. Don has old invoices from his late wife’s (Dalton’s grandma) side of the family tracing their freight relocating lineage back to the horse-drawn carriage hauling days of the late 1920s or early 1930s. That is a pretty cool bit of history, there!
Today, residing outside of Neoga, IL, the duo has settled into a nice trucking gig while going to truck shows when they can. Chris does his dedicated run and is usually home in the early afternoon, then goes into his upholstery shop for the rest of the day. Their favorite part of the shows is the people, always the people, whether it is lifelong friends or new friends they’ve made. When they aren’t trucking, they can be found tinkering with their trucks, working on the project cars they have, cruising in their cars, and some side-by-side riding in between. Both said that trucking takes up the majority of their time, along with taking care of the farm and home.
Special thanks from Chris to so many that helped him through his journey so far including his parents for their guidance, grandparents for his work ethic, Steve Gordon, Bart Williamson, Jason Baugher, Ole Mooch, CJ Behl, Arlyn and Linda Workman, Matt Neblock for wanting everything perfect, Michelle Hennesay for keeping tabs on his books, and to many other friends and family who have supported him. Most importantly, to Dalton and Tayler, for the drive in life they gave him, making sure they were taken care of.
Special thanks from Dalton to Chris for giving him the opportunity to buy his old 359 and lease it on with him. Not only that, but more importantly, to continue their father and son relationship into their business relationship. Some people aren’t lucky enough to work with their dads, but he is, and Dalton doesn’t take that for granted. Also, thank you to his family and friends for their ongoing love and support.
It was time well spent for me in southern Illinois, and I got to learn some of the history surrounding that area. We were lucky to find several different spots we photographed at, but I think my favorite was right there in their own hay field. Another location was the Cross at the Crossroads which, if you’ve ever driven on I-57 through Effingham, IL, you can’t miss it as it is a huge cross positioned just north of the I-70/I-57 split. Other locations included the Cumberland County Covered Bridge in Toledo, IL, rolling shots on I-57, and photos in front of the Neoga water tower. The weather was hot and humid, and it seemed that each location had a different looking sky, because rain was coming. Heavy rains did finally come in the early afternoon, and we got stuck in it on our way back from Effingham, after trying our best to beat it home and get the trucks parked safely inside the shop where they would stay dry while we waited out the passing shower.
Thank you to Chris and Dalton for the continued friendship, hanging out, the laughter, and the opportunity to tell your stories. It is apparent that Chris and Dalton have a lot of pride in their trucks and what they do, and it is visible wherever you catch them – on the road or at a truck show. This father and son duo may not be carbon copies of each other, but their love for their trucks is strong, built on continued traditions of keeping old school trucks alive and looking good. As always, to all the drivers out there doing the deal, truck safe.
