“THE WOW FACTOR”
THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE
This month’s “creation” was built for Scott and Cindy Ruwe of Arlington, Nebraska. Over the years, Scott (42) has owned a lot of trucks, but this latest one is certainly his favorite - and the most efficient, by far. Like many truckers, Scott was introduced to the industry at a young age by a family member, and he knew, right from the start, that trucking was what he wanted to do.
Scott grew up on the family farm. He will never forget his first trip in a truck with his uncle Jack. Scott was 10 years old, but he remembers driving in that box truck like it was yesterday. “We got to the 76 Truck Stop in Ogalla, Nebraska at 2:00 in the morning and the place was packed with trucks all lit up with lights.” He thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen, and from then on, trucking was all he wanted to do.
Being an athletic guy, Scott played football for awhile and even got a scholarship to Wayne State College. At night and on weekends, Scott drove a delivery truck, hauling eggs. But after getting hurt on the football field, he went to trucking full time and never looked back.
Scott’s first tractor-trailer job was hauling cattle for Bell Creek in Arlington. After a year, he decided to give bedbuggin’ a try. In 1991 he went back to hauling cattle, but this time for himself with his own truck - a 1978 International Transtar II cabover with a 350 Cummins. After that he bought a used Freightliner FLD, then a new Freightliner FLD, a new 1996 Peterbilt 379 and then a new 2000 Pete 379. In 2005, he bought a new 2006 Peterbilt 379 from Kansas City Peterbilt - that is when Clint met Scott. At that time, he told Clint that his next truck would be tricked out, so they kept in touch.
When it finally came time to order his next ride, Scott called Clint. They had always talked about building a long hood Peterbilt, but with fuel prices and the economy, Scott decided that he wanted something more efficient - and something a little different - so they ordered a 2009 Pete 386 with a 70” high roof and a factory two-tone paint scheme in Radiant Fire and Black Cherry to match his Harley at home. The truck is powered by a 525 Cummins ISX, hooked to an 18-speed transmission, sitting on a 252” wheelbase.
Once the truck came in Clint went to work, painting everything, including the dash and trim panels, the mirror brackets, the drop visor, the screens in the hood vent holes, the door handle inserts, a flush deck plate that he added, and a set of WTI fiberglass fenders. They even painted the steering wheel to match the truck’s paint scheme. Late one night after a hard day’s work, Clint added a strip of gold leaf and orange tape between the two colors to break them up. In the morning, everybody liked it, so it stayed.
When it was finished, Scott loved it but he wondered where the lights were. And since that was the single most important thing that made him fall in love with trucks, he wanted lights. So, over the next few months, Clint will be working on a solution and then get more lights on the rig.
Scott and his wife Cindy have been married for 15 years. They grew up in the same town, but for years she refused to go out with him. She went off to college, but while home on a break, Scott convinced her to go on a date. They have been together ever since, and today have two daughters, Mikayla (12) and Mallory (6).
Although Scott’s latest truck is not the long hood Peterbilt that he always dreamed of, he thinks that this rig turned out pretty cool. A plaque on the dash says, “Custom Built for the Wow Factor” - and this baby sure does have plenty of that!