ANOTHER KC PETERBILT!

THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE

This month’s “creation” belongs to Eddie Braun of T & B Transport Inc. in Canton, Ohio, but it was originally built for someone else a few years ago.  After that person’s business closed its doors, the truck ended up back at Kansas City Peterbilt, where Eddie, one of Clint’s longtime customers, decided that he had to have it.  Eddie and Clint have been friends since about 1990, and Eddie has bought a lot of his trucks from both Clint Moore and Kansas City Peterbilt.

Eddie (58) was born and raised in Wilton, Connecticut.  His dad, Edward, was a machinist and inventor.  Eddie grew up around his dad’s machine shop, and much of his entrepreneur spirit came from his father.  When his dad retired, Eddie followed in the footsteps of his twin brother Bobby and started trucking.  At that time (and still today) trucking was one of the only jobs that still offered some true independence.

In 1982, Eddie bought his first truck - a 1977 Pete COE with a 1693TA Cat, and started hauling coils out of Bridgeport, CT alongside his brother.  As time passed, he began running a lot of high-paying loads out of Ohio to California.  Eddie and his buddies, who were tired of paying for motels, all pitched in and rented a house in Ohio.  Eddie eventually settled in Canton.

Running to California every week, Eddie  would go through Kansas City, and he often stopped in at a local dealership that built a lot of cool trucks - this is where he met a young Clint Moore.  In 1991, he sold his COE and bought a 1983 Peterbilt 359 from Clint.  Eddie ran that truck for a long time, hauling military freight for JD Martin with the likes of Jim “3-speed” Snyder, John Angle and Eddie’s brother Bobby.  In 1995, the trips to California stopped and he began pulling an end dump around Ohio.

In 1996, Eddie met Don Schnackel, who owned a small scrap operation called Akron Iron & Steel Company.  Eddie started hauling a lot of scrap for “Schnackel” and as his business grew, so did Eddie’s.  In 2001, Leon Geis, the owner of Kansas City Peterbilt, took a chance on Eddie and personally financed seven trucks for him.  Eddie never forgot that gesture, and has bought nearly all of his trucks from KC Peterbilt ever since.

In 2004, Eddie ordered a truck from Clint and told him, “I don’t care what it looks like - do whatever you want.”  This truck (pictured here) was pretty unique.  It was a 2005 Pete daycab painted Burnt Orange and Black with a painted grille and grille surround, old-school square emblems, a striped bumper, three cab lights, and one Grover horn in the middle.  When Eddie came to pick it up, he hated it.  But, after he left, he stopped at the Oak Grove Truck Stop for some fuel, where drivers lined up to look at it.  They loved it!  From that day on, it has been (and still is) one of Eddie’s favorite trucks.

Eddie was recently in KC and saw the 4-axle lowboy truck (also pictured here) for sale on their lot and decided that he could use a truck like that.  The truck is a 2007 Pete 379 Ext. Hood with a 48” flattop, painted Solar Yellow and Black with a 1980’s paint scheme.  The truck has a 550 Cat, an 18-speed trans, 46K-lb. 2-speed rears and a 20K-lb. pusher axle.  When it was first built, Clint switched out the headlights and bumper, added a drop visor and Hogebuilt “bicycle” fenders, and had Brunner’s install a stainless headache rack.  When Eddie bought it, all they did was wash it and chop the air cleaner screens.

Today, Eddie has 18 trucks and still hauls a lot of scrap for Schnackel.  He also does a lot of “clean-up” work at steel mills that have closed down, hauling away reclaimed “skulls” (leftover chunks of waste steel).  Eddie and his longtime girlfriend Tammy were once married, but that didn’t work out.  Years later, they got back together, but never remarried.  Eddie has a daughter named Jessica (33) in Connecticut, and Tammy has two girls, Ashley (19) and Jordan (15), who Eddie raised like his own.  When Eddie came home with this cool 4-axle, everyone went nuts about yet another Peterbilt from KC.

~ 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) 484-7768.  You can also visit his website at www.custombuiltfor.com and check out pictures of other custom trucks he has built.