Social media is always a great place to find photos of some amazing trucks across the country. Many of them, people have seen before, and others, you come across by happenstance. The only time you see these trucks is in person – it isn’t showing off at a show, but instead showing out while rolling down the road. 27-year-old owner operator Ryan Spartz and his 389 have been doing just that, never attending a show, until this year.
The third generation in trucking, behind his grandfather (Tom) and father (Kurt), as with most drivers in a multiple generation family of truckers, Ryan knew since he was a toddler that he would one day be driving, as well. The family company was started as a partnership in 1980 by his grandpa Tom and his business partner Chuck, calling it T&C Trucking LLC. Mind you, Tom was trucking long before T&C was started, running a straight truck from Minnesota to South Dakota, hauling livestock.
In 1997, Kurt bought out Ryan’s grandpa and six years later, in 2003, Kurt partnered with his brother Kevin and bought out Chuck. Kurt and Kevin were the ones mostly responsible for teaching Ryan how to drive. In 2015, at the age of 18, he got his CDL and started hauling gravel with a dump truck hooked to a pup trailer. At the interview for that job, he told them up front that his goal was to drive for the family business. About six months before he was 21, he was hauling hogs locally, before he changed courses and went over-the-road.
In the spring of 2019, he started his own company, R.L. Spartz Trucking LLC, leasing on with T&C Trucking LLC, and then purchased the truck you see here – a 2019 Peterbilt 389 glider. Ryan ordered the chassis brand new from Elkhorn Valley Truck Sales out of Fremont, NE. Tony’s Diesel Service out of Worthington, MN took care of putting in the engine and transmission. The truck has a 1999 CAT 6NZ under the hood, an 18-speed Eaton Fuller transmission, 3.36 gear ratio, and a 295-inch wheelbase.
12 Ga. Customs has outfitted plenty of parts on this truck including the grille, fenders and visor, and Borman Custom Steel out of Rock Valley, IA is behind some of the other custom parts, including the exhaust and mirror brackets. Within the last year, Highway 20 Customs out of Fort Dodge, Iowa, repainted the truck which, as you can see, is not a common scheme. The stripe design took months of drawing, thinking of different ideas, and without any exaggeration, Ryan drew up about 700 different designs. When it finally came to crunch time, he opted for the current design, and it was one of the last ones he drew.
I asked Ryan what the best advice he has received from his grandpa and dad, and he said it was on his first trip to Georgia. He was going down the grades around Monteagle, TN (who most have traveled on I-24 know about), and was told, “You can go down a hill too slow as many times as you want, but you can only go down too fast once.” That statement is one he will never forget. He said he really appreciates being able to work, not only for the family business, but right alongside each other, as well.
Like many other small trucking companies, Ryan does his own service and maintenance to help keep costs down, only utilizing outside companies for the big jobs, like working on the engine and transmission. If you’ve ever seen his truck, Ryan is a stickler for keeping it washed and cleaned regularly. There is a lot of pride he takes in his truck, and to him, the importance of having it look good while out on the road is “right up there with breathing air.”
This year marked a first for Ryan and something he hadn’t necessarily considered doing. When the truck had paint work done in August of last year, he was asked if he was thinking of going to the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY. He hadn’t thought about it – but that got the wheels turning! It only took him a couple months to be certain, get registered, and start making plans to participate in one of the most well-known and strictly judged shows of the year. Even more remarkable is that this would be the first show he has ever attended or shown a truck at.
Going into this, he knew he wasn’t completely prepared for not only what to expect, but also all the cleaning he would need to do. Hooked to a 2024 Muv All RGN, he arrived on that Tuesday evening before the show, which he learned he will need to get there much sooner than this the next time. One thing he said is that he had a lot of fun, and it wasn’t chaotic like he expected. He said he met a lot of great people and was parked next to some cool folks – one of which who just happened to be our March 2024 cover trucker Bruce Campbell, and the other one was Anthony from Holly Trucking.
Going back isn’t a question, it will just be a matter of when. Ryan wants to get the interior completely finished and the outside repainted, at which time he will make his plans to return. He talked to plenty of people, took plenty of mental notes, and paid attention to the other trucks that were showing, to better equip himself the next time he brings this rig back to Louisville.
Wanting to give a shout out to the following companies for their help in making his truck what it is today, Ryan wanted to thank Ron’s Repair out of Worthington, MN, Tony’s Diesel Service in Sioux Falls, SD, Highway 20 Customs, 12 Ga. Customs, and Borman Custom Steel. Also, thanks go to Patrick from Reflection Detail out of Sioux Falls, SD for the amazing polishing work. Ryan said they really go above and beyond, plus offer other services, including paint restoration and enamel coating.
Today, he and his girlfriend Feenie (Josephine), who have been together since August of 2022, reside in Sioux Falls, SD. He had wanted to move to South Dakota, and Sioux Falls just worked, because that is where Feenie works. His company, as well as T&C, are based in Wilmont, MN, with T&C owning the trailers and running all owner operators, which currently totals 16.
Ryan used to run a 2023 Merritt livestock trailer, which you see in the pictures, but he has since switched gears to running a lowboy. It is interesting because he and his uncle run on the lowboy side of operations, while his dad and cousin run in the livestock division. Ryan will haul livestock when the help is needed, but regularly hauls construction and agriculture equipment. He mentioned that he had loved hauling livestock, and in the beginning, he didn’t care about coming home or not (he remembers the longest time he was gone trucking was about 65 days). He would haul anything in the four-deck trailer he pulled including cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs. He said there are pros and cons to both pulling a livestock trailer versus an RGN, but these days, he is enjoying running an RGN, rather than constantly being under the gun, hauling livestock.
Special thanks to his father Kurt, for not only being a great father, but a solid role model in Ryan’s life. With his father included, along with his uncle and cousins for being willing to teach him, show him what it means to work hard, how to maintain his equipment, and always be early rather than late. Thank you to Feenie for her love, support, and understanding in what he does, and to his mother for all of her love and support throughout his life.
I found Ryan’s truck on Instagram and started following him to check out more of his truck. He actually reached out to me first in a message with some photos in November of 2019. Even though I lived in Georgia at the time, I just knew, with visits to Wisconsin, that I could make it to Minnesota and schedules would align – but boy, was I wrong. Almost four years later, and after my relocation back to Wisconsin, we finally made it happen.
Thank you to Ryan for having the truck cleaned up and ready to go when I made my way out to Minnesota. It was great being able to meet him, Feenie, his dad, and grandpa while I was in town. I’m looking forward to seeing his truck show up again at the Mid-America Trucking Show, all dialed in, and ready to show out. As always, to all the drivers out there doing the deal, truck safe.
