MID-LIFE CRISIS
THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE
This month’s “creation” was built for Steve Wren of Clifton, Kansas. Actually, it was originally built for someone else, but halfway through the project, the would-be owner decided he wanted something else. Once the project was finished, Clint featured this truck in his article in our June 2007 edition, hoping to find a good home for the truck he called “Goldie” for obvious reasons.
Goldie sat on the lot for a few months, but Steve Wren’s son Jake saw it on the internet and downloaded a picture. Jake liked the truck so much that he made the picture of it the screen saver on his computer. Steve liked it, too. In fact, the more he looked at it, the more he liked it. He found himself day-dreaming a lot about Goldie as he drove down the road in a nice W900L until he finally told his wife Rachelle (AKA “The General”) that he had to have it.
Steve said to his wife, “It’s like this, Honey. When men reach their middle age some buy a Harley, some jump the fence and some get a bunch of tattoos, but I want a new Peterbilt.” “The General” conceded, and in September of 2007, Steve got a new Peterbilt - something that he had always dreamed about. Since then, he has brought it back to Clint several times to do more work and/or repairs, and he had a custom tanker trailer built to match. This truck works every day, in harsh conditions, but Steve keeps it looking like brand new all of the time.
Steve started working for Dale Barnes of DBT in the early 1980’s, hauling propane and both liquid and dry anhydrous ammonia. Dale, who had been doing this haul since the 1960’s, eventually sold the company to Bill Cyphers (his son-in-law) and Steve, who have been partners ever since. The company is still called DBT, and they still provide on-demand services 24/7 to whom ever needs product, like they have for 40 years. Dispatcher Larry Golladay, who has been with the company since 1959, finally retired at the end of June. Now that is longevity!
Steve ran a red 1986 Kenworth W900B for 18 years, until he updated to a black 2003 W900L with shaved cab lights. But once he saw Goldie, he just had to have her. Goldie is a 2007 Peterbilt 379 Extended Hood with a 625 Cat, a 300-inch wheelbase, and a factory three-color paint scheme featuring Gold Pearl with Cream stripes broken with Burgundy Metallic pinstripes and frame (that’s right, we said a factory-painted metallic frame). This flattop truck might sit low, but it certainly stands tall in a crowd.
After buying the truck, Steve had Clint do a little more work to it, including replacing the half fenders with full fenders (with hidden brackets), changing out the single square headlights with double rounds, recovered both seats in leather, replaced both inner door panels with old-style Peterbilt panels, and changed out the grille. Steve also had Clint paint the floor of the cab to match the exterior, as well as the dash.
Last year, Steve decided to have a matching trailer built to pull behind Goldie. Starting with a 1963 Lubbock tank, he had the boys at Knox’s Shop in Clifton fabricate him a cool new bottle. This trailer has way too much going on for us to try to describe it all here, but it is awesome - and it looks great hooked up behind Goldie!
Steve and his wife have four kids, but only Jake, their 17-year-old son seen in the picture, is interested in trucks. Steve’s wife Rachelle has worked at a hospital in Belleville, KS for the last 12 years. She says that people at the hospital are always asking her about Steve’s truck but, as she puts it, “They just don’t get it!”
Steve says he still gets a rush driving the truck, especially when the guys going the other direction snap their necks to check it out as he passes - he says that the looks on their faces are priceless. Steve’s mid-life crisis may have been more expensive than most, but at least it didn’t get him into any trouble. In fact, he loves driving Goldie so much that he probably does nothing but work, and there’s nothin’ wrong with that!
~ 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.