After a 13 year hiatus, the Big Rig Build Off held in conjunction with the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, KY, was reborn in 2024! Making a strong comeback with three completely different types of projects, this event is scheduled to continue in 2025 and, hopefully, will include even more trucks. This year, the contenders were four builders – Davis Brothers Designs, Dickerson Custom Trucks, Johnson Hill Customs, and Troy Massey. Unfortunately, Troy did not finish his build in time, so his truck did not make it to Louisville. He did, however, have other trucks at the show that earned some big “Best of” trophies, so all was not lost!
The Big Rig Build Off first debuted in 2005 and featured four competitors. That first year, the folks at Elizabeth Truck Center (ETC) took home the trophy with their groundbreaking “The Beast” build. Other notable trucks over the years included “Mob Sled” from 4 State Trucks (which is now mounted high up in the air in front of their chrome shop in Joplin, MO, and acts as a sign for their store), Jeff Botelho’s convertible Peterbilt and black and green “limo” truck (built for PDI), and Adrian Rocamontes of ACW Specialties and his “Sledgehammer” – a champagne colored Peterbilt with a chopped top, maroon tribal stripes, and a completely chromed V12 Detroit Diesel under the hood.
The Build Off went for six years, until 2010, and over that time period many cool creations were unveiled. Some might remember Phil Langevin’s 1980 Freightliner cabover that was completely wrapped with polished stainless steel, First Class Service’s stunning burnt orange and maroon 1986 Peterbilt 359, and two entries from the guys at Outlaw Customs in Colorado, who won the last two Build Off competitions, including their slate gray “Vigilante” truck and a copper and tan colored Peterbilt with a highly customized interior. S & J Truck Sales also made a big impression in 2007 when they took top honors for their bright orange Peterbilt.
The purpose of the Build Off – then and now – is to highlight the talents and creativity of the premier truck builders out there and to inspire others to think “outside the box” when building custom trucks. Some of these wild “creations” were outlandish and, as some might describe, over the top, but that was the point. These rigs, much like a concept car for the automotive industry, introduce crazy new ideas that, hopefully, one day find their way into mainstream use or even OEM manufacturing.
After several people asked Jason “JC” Alt (the show manager for the PKY Truck Beauty Championships for the past few years) about bringing the Build Off back to MATS, he asked the show producers to do it. And, after several meetings and a lot of negotiating, they made it happen. The rules for the invited builders were simple: they had to start with a Class 8 truck that had never been shown at MATS before, and they needed to pay $5,000 (that money would be pooled together and given to the winner). From there, they sent out several invites, and four threw their hats into the ring. So, let’s look at the three amazing builds that made it!
“LESSONS LEARNED”
The entry from Brian and Tom Davis and their entire crew at Davis Brothers Designs out of Owensville, IN was called “Lessons Learned” based on their previous experiences building trucks – which includes what to do and what not to do. They began building trucks for themselves and their own trucking company, RK Transport, back in 2011. In 2013, they hired Kevin Johnson as a part-time helper and stepped up their game. In 2015, Kevin came on-board as a full-time employee, and that year they built their first truck for an outside customer. Known very well for their wild interiors and outrageous sound systems, “Lessons Learned” did not disappoint.
Starting with a brand-new 2024 Peterbilt 389 that was delivered at the beginning of December 2023, the truck came with a 70” standup sleeper, a 295” wheelbase, and was powered by a 565 Cummins X15 hooked to an 18-speed. After tearing everything apart except the drivetrain, they pulled the stock sleeper and purchased a 2006 model to gut and rebuild in its place (once the truck completes its show commitments to its sponsors, the brothers plan to reinstall that stock sleeper and put this truck into everyday service). At this point they painted the motor Viper Red, smoothed out the chassis, and then began building it all back up.
Although these trucks were supposed to just be bobtails, the Davis Bros. decided to build a trailer, too. They offered to uncouple it once at the show for judging, but the event producers said they didn’t need to (the judges were instructed not to judge the trailer). The trailer is a 2024 MAC step deck, polished and painted everywhere, with tons of lights, and an integral part of the rig’s sound system. Up on top of the deck, the brothers loaded two restored farm tractors, owned by their neighbors.
The exterior modifications to the truck include double round headlights with painted buckets sitting on chromed Double JJ brackets, a 12 Ga. stainless steel grill crown and custom one-piece grill insert with the Davis Bros. logo, a custom 12 Ga. front bumper with rounded corners to match the radius on the stock chrome plated fender braces, and all the straps were removed from the breathers and air tanks. Quilted stainless covers were made by 4 State Trucks for the step boxes, and subtle quilting was added to the rear Hogebuilt stainless steel fenders. Every light on the truck came from 4 State Trucks’ new “Legendary” line of glass watermelon LEDs – both mini and full sized.
Continuing with the exterior modifications, an 8-inch Dynaflex “dummy” exhaust was added, the large doors on both sides of the sleeper were made “suicide” style, and all the stainless drop panels on the cab and sleeper were fully encased so no wiring showed (this was also done to the underside of the sleeper). The DEF tank was hidden in one of the painted fuel tanks, which feature smoothed-out welds on each end. A shock box, air bag covers, and a deck plate from Iowa Customs were installed behind the sleeper, along with several “I” panels built by 4 State Trucks. A “block-out panel” was built by a local company and then mounted underneath the frame and driveshaft, with no visible fasteners, and several speakers mounted to it.
Speaking of speakers, let’s talk about the sound system in this beast. With just shy of 40,000 watts, the entire combination has 78 total JL Audio speakers, (5) SounDigital amps, and (28) batteries, because, as Kevin put it, “29 batteries would have been ridiculous!” In the trailer, there are (16) 13.5” sub woofers and (24) 8.8” M6 marine speakers, and in the truck, there are (8) 12” sub woofers, (24) 7.7” marine speakers, and (6) 6.5” speakers. There are 24 speakers in the sleeper alone, and when you walked near the truck while the music was cranked up, it literally made your ears itch!
Under the hood, as mentioned before, the engine was painted Viper Red and fitted with a Dynaflex chrome air intake kit, along with a PDI intake and exhaust manifold, and the wiring harness, along with almost everything originally mounted to the firewall, was either moved or cleaned up. The inside of the hood was fitted with a smooth aluminum cover, and then painted white. The paint work was all done in-house by Brooks Martin and features seven different colors including white, three shades of red, orange, yellow, and black (outlines). The final exterior touch was pinstriping done by Darin Bean of Darin’s Customs in Maceo, KY.
Moving inside the cab of the truck, a custom aluminum dash, made to mimic a jukebox, was made by JMCO Technologies, and then everything was moved to that center console, including all the controls that were on the stock steering wheel. All the gauges and switches were done by NT Lites. Down on the floor of both the cab and sleeper, a wood floor was installed with red LED strip lighting in the gaps, and then a thick coat of resin was poured over it. Going for an old bar vibe, speaker boxes were made to look like old Fender amplifiers and mounted on the inside of all the doors. These replica amps were filled with actual speakers and trimmed with lights.
Back in the sleeper, along with all the speakers and lighting, sits a brown leather couch, trimmed with beveled mirrors, and bar top armrests on each end. For the seats and door panels, twelve complete leather hides were used, including real “hair on hide” accents and inserts. One of the coolest things they did inside was create “floating” front seats. Removing the stock seat mounts, they engineered and then built “U” shaped brackets, with 90-degree turns and gussets, out of 1/2-inch thick stainless steel, and then polished them. With no visible bases except at the back of the seats and everything polished to a mirror finish, the reflections helped hide what little could be seen and truly gave the illusion that the front seats were floating. Everyone loved it, and stuck their hands in there, trying to figure out what was actually going on.
Offering their customers full services that include fabrication, paint, electrical, mechanical, lights, sound systems, and interior work, it is all done in-house – and their fit and finish is second to none. In addition to building trucks, the Davis brothers also run RK Transport, which currently has about 50 trucks, and also manage about 3,000 acres of beans and corn. After 4,000+ hours of work were put into this combination, the boys were honored to be invited to the Build Off, and ecstatic about what they accomplished. To get more info, visit www.davisbrosdesigns.com, check out their socials (Davis Brothers Designs), or call (812) 874-2230.
“STORM SURGE”
The entry built by Dustin Dickerson and the crew at Dickerson Custom Trucks (DCT) based in Thorntown, IN is called “Storm Surge” – and boy what a storm surge it created! Dustin has been building trucks since 2013 when he made a blue and silver Peterbilt with a matching end dump called “Bilt To Be Noticed” as a rolling business card for his new venture (it was also featured on our November 2013 cover). Since then, Dustin and everyone at DCT have built several well-known and popular trucks that have placed them firmly in the center of the truck building world, but they pride themselves on their paint work, fabrication, and lighting the most.
This wild ride created for the Build Off really stretched people’s imagination and introduced some unique modifications to the world of truck customizing. Things like an independent front suspension, a completely touchscreen dash, and a monster motor under the hood, set this rig apart from just about anything we’d ever seen. Featuring 10 coats of clear and paint, the main pearl and candy “Bomb Pop” color sometimes looks black, while other times it looks blue, purple, or brown. And the four striking stripes, designed by Dustin’s 14-year-old daughter Kyndal, painted with a modified Kawasaki green color outlined with silver, really set everything off.
Starting with a stock 1996 Peterbilt 379 that was in “good” condition, not much of this truck is “Peterbilt” anymore. With several trucks in the shop being customized for customers, they did not start working on this truck until early January 2024. In fact, they did everything in just 10.5 weeks! And even though the truck was in good shape, they wanted it to be perfect, so every exterior panel was replaced or rebuilt.
After stretching the truck four feet (to 318 inches), they notched the frame to get it lower and then boxed in the rails to clean things up. Custom rear suspension mounts, dreamed up by Dustin with a sort of old locomotive look, were built and installed. Wanting no deck plate and a level driveshaft running between the frame rails, DCT built “cradle style” crossmembers that are mounted underneath the driveline. But one of the “biggest” things they did (literally) was drop a 1,000-hp V12 Caterpillar 3412 out of a D11 dozer, painted green to match, with over 3,450 ft-lbs. of torque, into the truck.
Much of the “eye candy” on this truck could be found under the hood. In addition to the giant green engine, which was fitted with totally custom stainless header pipes, leading to dual turbos, one on each side, with K&N style under hood intake filters, and ultimately exiting the engine compartment via a true dual exhaust, the truck was also fitted with a totally custom independent front suspension, complete with “A” arms and no axle, like most high-performance automobiles. Made from a highly modified retrofit kit for a Prevost bus, this suspension is rated for twice the weight of a standard 12,000-pound front axle – and looks pretty darn cool, too.
Another striking feature on this rig were the wheels, tires, and rear fenders. The 28-inch rims from JTX Forged, which were powder coated green in certain places by Lacey Blair, are wrapped in heavy duty, low profile, Venom Power dually tires, sized at 325/35R28. The rear Hogebuilt fenders feature four polished long drop stainless singles, covered in another set of four cut, modified, and painted fenders, for a sort of layered or stacked look. But the most unique and jaw-dropping feature wasn’t anything mentioned so far – it was the dash inside.
Unfortunately, the dash was not finished for the Build Off, which really hurt Dustin’s judging scores, but the concept is amazing, and by the time you read this, the DCT team should have it fully functioning. This unique truck does not have a single sensor or a stitch of wiring to operate it – everything runs off a computer monitoring system, and the dash is a giant 4K touchscreen that controls it all. Upon startup, just like many new cars today, a short video sequence plays featuring the owner’s logo spinning in with lightening and storm effects, and then the DCT logo takes center stage, before the dash lights up with all the actual virtual gauges and switches, which operate by touch. I can’t wait to see this thing in action after it is completed!
At the time of the Build Off, the truck was fitted with a brown and tan suede interior, which Dustin hated, and has already been ripped out and replaced. There is just so much to talk about this truck, we can’t mention it all, but we will say this, because inquiring minds want to know… the front bumper is 15 inches wide! Although disappointed they did not finish everything, they are excited about what they accomplished, and look forward to taking “Storm Surge” to lots of shows this year, not only for themselves, but also the truck’s co-owner, Hurricane Specialized out of Franklin, IN. For more information about DCT, visit www.dickersoncustomtrucks.com, check out their socials, or call (765) 436-2586.
“WESTSIDE GOLDMINE”
The entry for Adam Johnson of Johnson Hill Customs (JHC) out of Spring Valley, WI is called “Westside Goldmine” based on an inside joke between Adam and Don Wood. Bringing an old cabover to the Build Off was a bold move for JHC, but these guys have never shied away from a challenge. Adam’s dad began building trucks as far back as the 1960s, but JHC didn’t officially become a bona fide stand-alone business until about 2020, after building lots of their own trucks and doing modifications to many of their leased operator’s trucks at K&D Transport, their trucking company. Today, JHC and their crew of six full-time employees can do it all – paint work, fabrication, mechanical work, installations, and just about anything else.
Starting out with a twisted (literally) 1980 Kenworth K100, this truck was a pulling truck for several popular pulling teams in the area – most notably, Lonny Sailor out of Minnesota. They wanted to build this particular truck because it was very similar to Adam’s grandpa’s last truck and his father’s first truck (although theirs was a 1977 model). This was the first cabover that JHC had ever worked on or built, and with a twisted frame and no drivetrain, it took Adam and his crew almost two months just to get it running and drivable. After fitting it with a Cummins N14 Celect Plus, painted gold with black accents, hooked to a 10-speed and 3.70 rears, it was time to start customizing.
Since there aren’t any parts or accessories available for these old trucks, the team at JHC had to machine and hand-make almost every single custom part. Going for that “restomod” look, they did the entire interior in bright red, harkening back to the days when all the cool hot rods had a red interior. They also added peep windows to both sides of the doghouse, to show off the engine, without having to lift the body, and moved the short shifter, made by SH Tube, onto the doghouse, as well. SH Tube also made a one-piece grill for the front of the KW.
The chassis was painted black, and then several custom exterior panels were made, which included Freightliner-style cab extensions behind the front wheels to fill that gap all K100s have under the sleeper. There is also a cool filler panel between the fuel tanks, another in front of the rear suspension, and a painted gold deck plate. Everything came to fruition when the striking gold paint job was added, embellished with bold black stripes, outlined in red.
Some of the other exterior accessories added include a 5-inch Lincoln Chrome exhaust, pieced together from several different kits, along with Hogebuilt single rear fenders, painted to match, and a Lincoln Chrome front bumper. The lighting is a mix of “Hero” watermelon lights from RoadWorks and glass lights from United Pacific. Brunner Fab made the polished headache rack, and the center section is dedicated to hiding the batteries, power steering reservoir, the electric motor to raise the cab, and more.
Adam and his crew are extremely satisfied with what they built and were honored to be included in this Build Off rebirth. Although this truck is a fully functioning rig that could work every day, it is currently up for sale. They can’t afford to keep a truck like this just sitting around, and after 3.5 months of hard work building it, they can’t see themselves putting it to work, either. Adam’s hope is that someone buys it, stores it in their barn, and takes it out for parades and truck shows.
If it doesn’t sell, Adam is also okay with occasionally using it as a spare truck in their fleet, which today includes 11 company owned trucks and about six owner operators, that mostly pull covered wagons, flatbeds, and step decks. They would like to thank the companies that helped out with the build, including RoadWorks, Lincoln Chrome, SH Tube, Hogebuilt, Brunner Fab, Lee Forney, SuperSignMan, EAG Upholstery, Hovde Enterprises, United Metal Works, Lifetime, and PDI. For more information, call (715) 977-8106 or visit www.johnsonhillcustoms.com.
THE BOTTOM LINE
To judge this monumental event, three world-class builders were brought in from California, Arizona, and Texas – Jeff Botelho, Rod Pickett, and Adrian Rocamontes, respectively. Both Jeff and Adrian had previously entered trucks in prior Build Offs, and Rod Pickett of Pickett Custom Trucks is a well-known and respected builder who has been around for a long time. These “celebrity” judges were brought in specifically to judge the Build Off trucks – none of the trucks entered in the PKY Truck Beauty Championships – and they spent six hours going over the three trucks thoroughly.
If you haven’t already heard or figured it out, Davis Brothers Designs and their “Lessons Learned” were crowned the champions of the 2024 Big Rig Build Off! For that, we awarded them and their truck our cover and centerfold this month. Truth is, we have never had a Davis Bros. truck on our cover, so it was probably time. This was a winner take all competition, so they got the trophy, the $20,000 cash, and the cover. The others went home empty handed – well, they did get to take bitchin’ rides home with them! Next year the plan is to invite more builders and have more trucks, so we hope Jason and his crew can accomplish that task, because we can’t wait to see what shows up. Congratulations to all the builders – you all brought amazing stuff and should be proud of what you did!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Stephanie Haas and Jacob Gunderson for providing some of the pictures for this story, as well as Dustin Dickerson and Adam Johnson for providing the portrait shots of themselves for this feature.
