10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

GOIN’ DOWNTOWN
ITS SHOW MOVES TO LOS ANGELES

After two years in Anaheim, the International Trucking Show (ITS), presented by the California Trucking Association, made a bold decision to move the show, held September 29 through October 1, to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Was it a good move? Most would say no. The size of the show diminished, the amount of exhibitors (including OEMs) decreased, there were only a handful of trucks participating in the Truxhibition, and, most importantly, there was a drop in attendees.

This year, the show was held Friday through Sunday, instead of the usual Thursday through Saturday. Again, it was a bold move attempting to draw in more attendees, but it didn’t seem to add to the amount of visitors. This has always been a great “business to business” show, and we, as well as others, have been able to meet the right people and get deals done at ITS. This was the case in Los Angeles as well, just on a smaller scale. But we can’t blame show management for not trying – they really stepped up and tried some different things this year.

Even with some problems, we at 10-4 certainly had fun – and we had the best lookin’ truck at the show in our booth. Adrian Rocamontes brought out his “Sledgehammer” Peterbilt all the way from San Antonio, Texas to display it in our booth. Coincidently, his truck was our October cover feature, and that edition just happened to “hit the streets” the day before this show started. Needless to say, Adrian was a “star” at ITS. His truck, which features a chopped top, a 950 HP V-12 Detroit and all sorts of unique accessories, blew the crowds away. We’d like to thank Adrian and his wife Shelly, as well as his right hand man Joe Martinez, for coming way out west to “hang” with 10-4.

Sponsoring a seminar, we invited our resident gearhead Bruce Mallinson to come out from Pennsylvania to deliver his “Hour of Power” message on Friday and Saturday. Bruce presented his ideas about horsepower and efficiency to small groups on both days. But Bruce liked that the crowds were smaller – it gave him the opportunity to put the microphone down, come off the stage and sit with the people he was talking with (see photo). It made for a much more “involved” discussion and more one-on-one questions and answers.

Also in our booth, our infamous caricature artist Greg Dohlen was on hand Friday to draw fun (and free) pictures of people who stopped by. Greg’s caricatures are always entertaining and always make for a great souvenir (see photo). Unfortunately, he had to leave town for a convention in Florida, so he couldn’t be with us on Saturday or Sunday (Greg, we missed you). Of course we also had magazines, posters, laminated centerfolds (placemats) and t-shirts to sell and give away, so we were busy.

Notable exhibitors in attendance included International, Freightliner, Kenworth, Detroit, Alcoa and Michelin. We were also happy to see many of our advertisers on display at the show. The American Truck Historical Society had a large booth that encompassed an entire corner of the show floor and featured about 15 neat antique trucks. R.J. Taylor, along with his helper Sam and his Kenworth Ol’ Blue, hosted safety seminars for visitors that stopped to listen and participate.

Spread throughout the show, seven trucks competed in the Truxhibition. Sergio Gonzalez brought out two Peterbilts (including our September cover feature) and took the 2nd Runner Up trophy, while Bill Ward, with his company-owned Volvo, was awarded as the 1st Runner Up. The Best of Show title went to Chris Cox and his yellow and white Peterbilt (see photo). Hawthorne Power Systems came and flaunted two of their Freightliner trucks, as well as some Caterpillar equipment. Jimmy and the crew from J & M Towing came out to the show on Thursday to bring a much-needed part for Adrian’s “Sledgehammer” truck. When they saw the truck show being set up, they decided to pull their cool 1974 Pete 359 wrecker inside and stay for the Truxhibition. Adrian wanted to send out a special thank you to these guys for all their help and we wanted to thank them for providing us two awesome motorcycles to park in our booth.

The show had its high points and low points, like any show, but overall it was a good time for us. We’ll see if they keep it in L.A. again next year or if they try to move it somewhere else, because it sure seemed like most people did not want to go into downtown Los Angeles for a trucking convention. Stay tuned.