TANKER YANKER
THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE
This month’s “creation” was built for Bruce Long (61) of Warsaw, NC. With over 5.5 million miles under his belt, Bruce is no stranger to the open road. Clint sold him a 1979 KW W900A with a V-8 Cat, a flattop sleeper and a Movin’ On paint scheme (pictured above) back in 1989. The two men lost touch for several years until recently, when Bruce needed a new truck.
Bruce was born and raised in New Jersey. After getting out of the military in 1968, he went trucking in a 1966 KW cabover, pulling end dumps for his brother. In 1973 Bruce bought his first truck, a Freightliner COE with a 350 Detroit, and started hauling gas for Nicholas Petroleum. In 1979 he began pulling for Dana Transport. Back then Dana only had one terminal in New Jersey. Today, Dana is a huge company with 53 terminals scattered throughout the country. After pulling for Dana for several years, he went to Linden Bulk, where he stayed for 15 years.
After running the 1979 A-Model he bought from Clint for almost 15 years, Bruce traded it in for a 379 Pete and went back to work for Dana in 2004. Two years later, he traded that Pete in for another one, which brings us to when he got back in touch with Clint.
Wanting to fix up his Pete a little bit, he saw a visor that he liked on another truck so he asked the owner where he got it. The truck driver told him that some guy in Kansas named Clint makes them. Bruce got in touch with Clint and the two men got reconnected. Bruce also bought one of Clint’s custom visors for his Pete, had it shipped, and then mounted it himself. Last year Bruce came by the dealership to visit with Clint, who quickly pointed out the fact that Bruce had installed his visor upside down. Bruce said that he liked it that way and it became a running joke between the two of them.
When it was time for Bruce to upgrade his 2002 Peterbilt, he went to Clint. Not wanting to buy a new truck, he found a nice used 2005 Peterbilt on the lot and bought it. The truck was very clean and had a lot of style, but it was not Bruce’s style, so he had Clint remove the horns from the roof and add two more cab lights, he changed out the visor and bumper, replaced the quarter fenders and rear light bar with fiberglass full fenders from Cool Concepts, removed a large stainless wing from the roof and swapped out the stock, single square headlights with 359 double rounds on Double JJ brackets.
Bruce has been married for 32 years, but he almost lost his lovely wife Maureen when she was involved in a terrible auto accident three years ago. Now, he considers every day that he has with her a blessing. The couple has three grown children and nine grandchildren. Five years ago they moved from New Jersey to North Carolina and found that it is a completely different world there. Bruce likes the laid back attitude down south, but every now and again the Jersey attitude leaks out. Bruce loves his “new” truck, and his latest Clint Moore visor, and has no plans of turning it upside down anytime soon.
~ If you would like Clint Moore to order and/or build you a new custom truck, contact him at Kansas City Peterbilt via e-mail at clintmoore@kcpete.com or call him at (913) 441-2888. You can also visit his website at www.custombuiltfor.com and check out pictures of other custom trucks he has built.