What started out as a bit of joke has become a major apparel company and a fantastic truck show! With the advent of Facebook, various truck clubs began popping up around the country. There was a West Coast Large Cars club, an East Coast Large Cars club, and as a joke, JR Schleuger of Lifetime Nut Covers in Iowa started the No Coast Large Cars club. Most of these “clubs” were just Facebook pages that eventually began selling apparel, but the No Coast “club” actually took root and became more. Now, each year around Labor Day, Lifetime hosts the No Coast Large Cars Truck Show, and guess what, no coast was in sight!
Held at Heritage Park in Forest City, IA on Labor Day Weekend (August 31 through September 1), we decided it was time to stretch our legs and check out this show in person. In past years, our Midwest contributor Eric Hill has attended this show a few times on our behalf by himself, but we wanted to support our friends at Lifetime and come out ourselves, along with Eric to help, of course. And with plenty of “Midwest cool” trucks to look at, food trucks to visit, live music, and new and old friends to talk to, it was a great weekend – and the weather was perfect, too!
Landing in Minneapolis on Thursday, Miss Shannon and I drove south down to Forest City late that afternoon to meet up with Eric and get checked into the hotel. Leaving the dry and hot climate of Central California, Iowa’s lush green fields and moderate temperatures were a welcomed surprise. Typically, it would be hot and humid there, but it was not. With temperatures in the upper 70s in the day and dropping into the low 60s at night, we really couldn’t have asked for better conditions. For the first time in a long time, it felt like summer was finally over, and fall was upon us.
On Friday, we had planned to scope out a few photo locations for a shoot we had scheduled for Monday and to visit the Lifetime shop, but we got caught up with work in the hotel room, and didn’t leave until about 2:00 PM. Also, everyone at Lifetime was busy getting ready for the show, so we didn’t really want to bother them for a tour. Heading over to the show grounds, we went ahead and set up our booth, which was located right next to our friend Gary Pons of Valley Chrome. That evening was a BBQ hosted by Lifetime that included ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and a few sides. Although it started a bit late (9:00 PM), everything was really good.
Saturday was the first official day of the show, and having a golf cart to ride around in made things easier. In addition to running the booth and handing out posters and magazines, we drove around, took pictures, talked to folks, and visited some of the food and drink trucks. Lucky Wife was a popular booth, as it was selling wine slushies, along with Cosmic Smash Burgers, Gettin Toasted (grilled sandwiches), Mama Dees Taco Truck, Smokin Joe’s BBQ, Titanium Lunchbox (pizza), The Wandering Brew (coffee drinks), and Woody’s Hot Dogs. All day, B&B Sound & Lights played music, which could be heard through most of the show grounds. Aside from some wind, Saturday was a good day. But it wasn’t over yet.
Come Saturday night, the live band “IV Play” took the stage and performed some amazing cover songs from all sorts of genres, including rock, country, pop, and even some old 80s tunes. And their stage and setup were first class all the way. We watched a team of people build the stage right in front of our booth all day long. Complete with lights, video screens, and great sound, it was a top notch setup, for sure. The truck light show was happening that night, as well, so we made sure to go around and get some great light shots. The band played from 9:00 PM until midnight, and we sat in our booth and watched and listened until about 11:00 PM, when we called it a night (it was a long day).
With about 130 trucks on the show field, there was plenty to see, marvel at, and photograph. At this event, we were handing out our own award – “10-4’s Best of the Best Pick” – which is a nice trophy that also comes with a feature in the magazine of the winner and their truck. Driving around in the golf cart on Sunday, we narrowed our lists down to four of our favorites, and then made our final decision from there. We had some sweet rides in our final four, but we chose one that had that “California cool” look as our winner – Brad Weilert of Fiedler Farms and his gray 2020 Peterbilt 389 hooked to a livestock trailer. Look for a feature of this clean setup in an upcoming edition of 10-4.
Judging occurred on Sunday from 11:30 AM until about 4:00 PM. The awards ceremony began around 5:00 PM and featured various sizes of laser cut, polished stainless plaques, made by the folks at Lifetime, of course, except for our trophy, which was made of beautiful, polished wood, red paint, and a printed plaque affixed to the front, made for us by our friend Carl Carstens at Rockwood Products. After the awards, the “after party” officially began since the next day was a holiday, but we took that time to breakdown our booth and prepare for the photo shoot we had scheduled for the next morning with the Emmons boys (our October cover feature).
We love attending a show for the first time because we always see new stuff. Some of the standouts for us were Sam Iverson of Hayfield, MN and his white and maroon 1999 Peterbilt 379, which won Best of Show Bobtail, along with Matt Strottman of Figanbaum Trucking out of Sumner, IA, and his two-tone green and tan 2024 Peterbilt 389, who also got a few awards (Figanbaum had three really nice trucks at the show). Another beautiful truck was a recently redone 2001 Kenworth W900L owned by Mike Hawkins of Corwith, IA. Painted red and black in a classic Seminole scheme with gold outlines, this rig was looking good. And Mr. Trump even made an appearance at the show – sort of – in Mike’s passenger seat!
We also got to meet Joe Eldridge (AKA Truck Show Joe) and check out the black Peterbilt 389X he drives for Southern Transport. Other head-turners were TJ Kounkel’s blue 2024 Pete 389 hooked to a cattle pot, Ben Schultze’s cream, brown, and teal 2003 Kenworth W900L, and PJ Brink’s totally custom two-tone green with a silver stripe 2023 Kenworth W900L, built by our friends at VDZ Customs. Tanner Lambrecht, who was a past winner of our “Best of the Best Pick” award and later featured in the magazine (February 2022), was also lookin’ good with his bright orange KW with blue stripes – he also bagged 1st Place in his class and the Best of Show Combo award.
And no “No Coast Large Cars” show would be complete without a bunch of sweet rides from the folks at Lifetime themselves, along with an entire section dedicated to just IMT Transport, which included a newly built bright orange A-Model Kenworth that was getting a lot of attention. They also now own the 1986 Peterbilt 359 that Jake Bast used to own, which was on our cover in July 2019, and it was at the show, as well. It was also nice to see our friends and past cover truckers from Delabarre Trucking out of Bismarck, ND. Bringing out their three working show trucks, including the one that was on our cover in October 2022, these guys always look good, and their iron never disappoints.
After a great photo shoot on Monday, we headed back north to Minneapolis to fly home the next morning. We would like to thank Nicky and JR at Lifetime for treating us like family and making us feel so welcome in their neck of the woods. And thanks to the fine folks at Shooterz, a local bar and grill, who fed us almost every night we were in Iowa. The food was great, and it was directly across the street from our hotel, so that was nice. We met great people, saw lots of trucks we had never seen before, and had a good time hangin’ out in Iowa with our Midwestern friends. Nothing beats that Midwest feel and nowhere will you find friendlier folks or more pleasant surroundings. We hope to see you all next Labor Day Weekend for a party in Iowa – with no coast in sight. And this year’s winners were:
BOBTAIL (1998 & OLDER): 1st Scott Anderson, Ennis Corp. (1985 Peterbilt 359); 2nd Cody Jaeschke, Jaeschke Trucking (1998 Kenworth W900L); 3rd Frank Collins, F&C Truck (1973 Peterbilt 352).
BOBTAIL (1999-2007): 1st Sam Iverson, Iverson Transport (1999 Peterbilt 379); 2nd Jake Robak, Robak Auto Transport (2004 Peterbilt 379); 3rd Ben Schultze, Commercial Services (2003 Kenworth W900).
BOBTAIL (2008-2016): 1st Spencer Mann, Mann Trucking (2010 Peterbilt 389); 2nd Gerald Curry, Curry Ag, LLC (2012 Kenworth T800); 3rd Pat Hoffman, Pat Hoffman Trucking (2014 Peterbilt 389).
BOBTAIL (2017 & NEWER): 1st Andrew Worth, Jade Transport (2024 Kenworth W900B); 2nd Matt Strottman, Figanbaum Trucking (2024 Peterbilt 389); 3rd Mason Schwake, Figanbaum Trucking (2024 Peterbilt 389).
LIGHTS BOBTAIL: 1st Mason Schwake, Figanbaum Trucking (2024 Peterbilt 389); 2nd Jake Robak, Robak Auto Transport (2004 Peterbilt 379); 3rd PJ Brink, PJ Brink Trucking (2023 Kenworth W900L).
COMBO (1998 & OLDER): 1st Chuck Raska, Al Uhrhammer (1985 Freightliner FLC); 2nd Don Emmons, Emmons & Sons (1979 Freightliner F196); 3rd Brandon Emmons, Emmons & Sons (1985 Kenworth W900B).
COMBO (1999-2007): 1st Tanner Lambrecht, Jeff Lambrecht Trucking (2004 Kenworth W900); 2nd Clinton Schutjer, Schutjer Trucking (2006 Peterbilt 379); 3rd Jesse Lambrecht, Jesse D (1999 Kenworth W900).
COMBO (2008-2016): 1st Nate Klett, E&E Beshey Trucking (2016 Peterbilt 389); 2nd Justin Juett, JJ Trucking (2009 Kenworth T660); 3rd Conner Thompson, Lewis Farms (2016 Kenworth W900).
COMBO (2017 & NEWER): 1st Joe Eldridge, Southern Transport (2024 Peterbilt 389X); 2nd Chad Kounkel, Kounkel Trucking (2018 Peterbilt 389); 3rd Zach Roberts, E&E Beshey Trucking (2018 Peterbilt 389).
LIGHTS COMBO: 1st Douglas Prier, Prier Trucking (2022 Kenworth W900L); 2nd Brad Weilert, Fiedler Farms (2021 Peterbilt 389); 3rd TJ Kounkel, Kounkel Trucking (2024 Peterbilt 389).
LIMITED MILEAGE: 1st PJ Brink, PJ Brink Trucking (2023 Kenworth W900L); 2nd Darek Joubert, Tralo Companies (2008 Kenworth T660); 3rd Douglas Prier, Prier Trucking (2022 Kenworth W900L).
LOCAL BOYS: 1st Clinton Schutjer, Schutjer Trucking (2006 Peterbilt 379); 2nd Nate Klett, E&E Beshey Trucking (2016 Peterbilt 389); 3rd Shaun Miller, IMT Transport (2024 Kenworth W900).
FARTHEST TRAVELED: Chris Barrick, RML Tranpsort, LLC. (2022 Kenworth W900L) – 1,150 miles.
MR. CLEAN AWARD: Joe Eldridge, Southern Transport (2024 Peterbilt 389X).
B&B SOUND & LIGHTS AWARD: Ben Schultze, Commercial Services (2003 Kenworth W900).
BUTCH SCHLEUGER MEMORIAL TROPHY: Andrew Worth, Jade Transport (2024 Kenworth W900B).
10-4 MAGAZINE’S “BEST OF THE BEST” PICK: Brad Weilert, Fiedler Farms (2012 Peterbilt 389).
LIFETIME’S CHOICE: TJ Kounkel, Kounkel Trucking (2024 Pete 389).
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Tim Porter, T&S Porter Trucking (2024 Peterbilt 389).
BEST OF SHOW BOBTAIL: Sam Iverson, Iverson Transport (1999 Peterbilt 379).
BEST OF SHOW COMBO: Tanner Lambrecht, Jeff Lambrecht Trucking (2004 Kenworth W900).
