THE CHROME CREW
THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE
This months “creation” was not built for a person, but for a company instead. For the past few years, Roadworks Manufacturing out of Lafayette, Indiana has built a special truck to show off their line of stainless steel accessories at trucking events across the country. Clint has had the pleasure of building two of these trucks, including their latest, which will soon be hitting the road for the 2008 show season.
Roadworks was founded in 1994 by a small group of people in Indiana. Susan Linson was one of the original investors in the company, but in 1996 she found herself taking it over - and she is still running the company today. Susan found her passion for trucks, truck people and machine work back in the early 1970s while working at an IHC dealer. Her office window looked out into the machine shop, which sparked her interest in machining and manufacturing.
For the past five years, Roadworks has been a sponsor of the Stars & Stripes Truck Show Series (now the Pride & Polish Truck Show Series) and wanted a truck to take to the shows - not to compete, but to display their products. Their first one was a black and white 2005 Peterbilt they called the “Chrome Police” truck. The following year they repainted the truck orange and gave it a new theme based on their updated “Chrome Crew” slogan. In 2007 they decided to replace the truck with a new one so they called Clint.
Originally, Clint ordered a Peterbilt 379 for the folks at Roadworks, but while waiting for it, Peterbilt offered them one of the first model 389s ever released to the public. Clint was excited to build a truck that nobody had seen. The truck was hidden until the Louisville truck show in March of 2007, where it was unveiled. That truck was orange with blue fenders and, of course, covered in stainless. It toured the country in 2007 and is now for sale.
For the 2008 season, Roadworks decided to buy another new truck from Clint. Their new Peterbilt 389 (pictured here) is black and orange and features a 63” flattop sleeper and a 300” wheelbase. Clint and his crew painted and then installed the front fenders, which are made by Fibertech out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the rear fenders, which are from WTI. Clint powdercoated the tanks and then installed Double JJ headlights, brackets and blinker bars, along with a few other items. After that, the truck was taken back to the shop in Indiana where it was fitted with the latest and greatest stainless steel accessories offered by Roadworks and tons of clear LED lights.
After renting a not-so-big building for many years, the company purchased a 20 acre lot and built a new 30,000 square-foot facility in June of 2006. Today, Roadworks employs 26 people that make up the Chrome Crew, and all of them love trucks - but probably none of them as much as Mike Horan. Mike is one of the lead designers at Roadworks, and he also gets to take the truck to the shows. Over the years, Mike and Clint have become good friends.
Susan feels blessed to have such a great company and to have had the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people over the years. Roadworks is a small company with a big heart, and they are the type of people that you want to do business with. Look for Mike and Susan at the shows and give them a handshake for being one of us - they deserve it. This truck will make its debut at the truck show in Louisville, Kentucky in March, so look for it outside with the rest of the cool show trucks on display there.