COVER FEATURE - JULY 2004

BACKWOODS BEAUTY

By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

In a time when big chrome, big lights, big murals and big bunks is what’s happenin’ in trucking, Bryan Martin and the rest of “The Boyz” at 4-State Trucks in Joplin, Missouri, decided to build just the opposite for fun and promotion. Their creation, known as the “Outlaw” truck, features practically no bright chrome, bumper-mounted headlights, a paint job that emulates primer, a less-than-legal amount of lights and markers (none) and real bullet holes. Debuted at the Mid-America Trucking Show last March, the truck was the most talked about rig at the show. Setting out to build the ultimate eye-poppin’, head-scratchin’, low-ridin’, hot-rod rig, it seems “The Boyz” accomplished their mission - and then some.

The initial idea for the truck came to Bryan while at Biketoberfest, a huge motorcycle event in Daytona Beach, Florida. Marvelling at the thousands of beautiful, custom-built bikes, one caught Bryan’s eye - but not because of the chrome or flashy paint - in fact, just the contrary. The bike had a minimum amount of everything and a dull, unfinished-looking paint job, but Bryan was drawn to it. He told his wife Lisa, “This is the coolest bike here!” This got Bryan, a self-proclaimed hillbilly from Missouri, thinking about building a “moonshine runnin’ - backwoods - lights out” type of show truck. So, with help from C.B. (4-State’s shop foreman/master builder) and many of 4-State’s brilliantly creative customers (you know who you are), they threw out the rule book and went to work.

Looking all over for the perfect specimen, Bryan found a 1999 Pete 379 with a “true blue” Cat 550 and a 13-speed tranny. The over-the-road rig had a stand-up sleeper, regular Pete air-leaf suspension, a 260-inch wheelbase and red paint. It looked nothing like the truck you see on these pages. Within four days of pulling the truck into their shop, the sleeper was removed, the tanks were gone, the tool and battery boxes were trashed, the doors were off and leaning against the wall, the exhaust was gone, the roof had been completely stripped off the top of the cab, and the frame was cut off just behind the cab (so the seam could be hidden under the sleeper). These “Boyz” didn’t waste any time at all! They wanted to have the truck done in time for Louisville, which meant they only had three months.

The first thing Bryan and his crew did was stretch the frame to 292 inches. He wanted the truck to be low and long, but he didn’t want to have what he called “a stupid amount of rail.” Bryan grabbed a low air-leaf suspension out of a wrecked 2001 Pete and dropped in a set of 3.36 rear-ends. Next, they installed a 48-inch Unibilt flat top sleeper and custom fiberglass front fenders with a large lip added to decrease the size of the gap between the fenders and the tires. Now it was time for paint. Ordering up a special mixture that had never been done before, Bryan wanted the paint to look like it was just primer, so he sent along an unpainted door directly from Peterbilt and said, “Match this!” He then told the painter, “If you turn me out a nice shiny truck, I’m gonna be upset.” That was the first time this painter ever heard a comment like that from a customer. The paint is PPG with a flattened clear coat - no shine, but you can still rub it down and clean it.

In keeping with the “no shine” theme, all of the bright aluminum was sanded and scuffed (not everyone can say they detail their truck with a scotch-brite pad) and powder-coated black 8-inch stacks were bolted on. As an afterthought, they added grass-burner exhaust out the bottom of the truck. In fact, the upright stacks are just for show. The grass-burner pipes are the actual exhaust - which is a killer on dusty, dirty parking lots!

Brunner’s Fabrication in Joplin, MO helped out by making custom grille sides with no headlight mounting holes, a rear light bar (which has two - that’s right two - LED lights), smooth deck plates, and many small details too numerous to mention. Bryan offered special thanks to David and the crew at Brunner’s for all their extra efforts. Other trick changes “The Boyz” pulled off included extra wide air cleaner bands, hood louvers, limo-tinted glass all around (including the windshield), keyless electric hood hold downs and custom fuel tanks with aircraft filler caps.

Moving to the interior, the cab was kept simple. Many of the gauges were removed or moved to a special overhead console. The dash is painted with the primer-looking paint and has only five gauges and five toggle switches. Chris Higgins of Details, out of Kansas City, produced all of the custom billet pieces including the A/C vents, armrests and door sills, pedals, shift boot ring, seat hiders and the truck’s grille. A 14-inch billet steering wheel was also added. The clutch pedal and shifter knob were made from a pair of billet motorcycle grips, which look like the cylinder of a six-shooter revolver, complete with the bullets. For the floor of the cab and sleeper, Brunner’s cut a diamond-plate floor, which was then powder-coated black. It looks awesome, and is more durable than you might think. Autos by Scott built a set of low-rider seats covered with supple black leather and Creative Car Audio put in a jammin’ sound system. For a truck that looks so plain, it’s amazing how much was done to it!

The final touch Bryan added was a Pittsburgh Power Cat Box. With the simple turn of a dial, Bryan can increase the engine’s horsepower as much as 200 more than it already has. With 750 available horses and straight pipes with no mufflers, the truck now sounded (and was) as mean and nasty as it looked. This rig really rumbles when it rolls down the road - and you better get out of its way. So, now it was finished and ready to go - or was it?

Someone got the bright idea to riddle the right side with real bullet holes. It didn’t take Bryan long to jump on that bandwagon. At this point, the truck was basically finished, so they removed the pieces to be shot (like the air cleaner, fuel tank, passenger-side door, and outer skin of the sleeper) and Bryan took them out back and fired away with a Chinese .762 military rifle. Bryan said it was quite a rush to blast holes through a perfectly good show truck. Afterwards, caps were welded or glued behind all of the holes to avoid dirt and water from getting inside. Even the fuel tank, which has a big jagged hole in its side, was opened up and repaired from the inside so it could still be used. Pretty cool!

Those bullet holes are sure a hot topic for conversation at the shows. We learned this first-hand by having the truck in our booth at The Truck Show Las Vegas last month. Bryan and his mom Linda, as well as Cliff Jennings (he hauled the truck because it’s not street legal), came out to Vegas and spent four or five fun days hanging out with 10-4. After the show, we took (drove) the truck to an abandoned motel and bar just south of the city off I-15. Once a hoppin’ joint called The Rock House, now the place is dilapidated and falling apart. But it was the perfect place to shoot an “Outlaw” truck, because it looked like a gangster’s hideout. Thanks go out to caretaker/resident Maxine Noel for allowing us on the property and telling us about its interesting history. Apparently, the place was built in the 1940’s and closed sometime around the mid 70’s. Maxine has not only lived on the premises for 37 years, but at one time even worked in the bar. The word “EATS” was actually not original - it was added to the building only about five years ago when a film studio came in and shot some scenes for a movie.

4-State Trucks was started by Bryan and his family back in 1986 as a small repair shop. A few years later, it evolved into a full-fledged salvage operation, and then, eventually, into a parts and accessories store. Today, they still deal with salvage, but their store is bigger and better than ever. But their latest focus is on catalog and online sales. Glen English and Brad Taylor are Bryan’s right-hand men. Glen is the store manager and Brad takes care of the catalog and web sales. Brad, who has worked at 4-State since he was 16, went to high school with Bryan and is considered “one of the family”. Currently, 4-State Trucks employs about 32 people and is growing almost faster than they can keep up with.

Following the trends of the day, 4-State does a tremendous amount of mail-order business through their full color, 120-page catalog that features some 70,000 items. More recently, the company began using their website (www.4statetrucks.com) as yet another way of getting customers what they want and need. And just last month, they introduced another website (www.chromeshopmafia.com) that features truck photos, coming events, clothing, how-to articles and more. Check it out - it’s a cool website.

Married for 17 years to his high-school sweetheart, Bryan and his wife Lisa have three girls (ages 14, 13 and 9). With all those girls in the house, Bryan spends a lot of time at work. All of Bryan’s family is active in the Baptist church they have always attended. Bryan is the Treasurer, his brother is a Deacon, and his wife is a Sunday School teacher. Bryan’s mom and dad (Linda & Larry) have been married for 40 years, and have owned and operated many different trucking-related businesses. Their strong work ethic and determination have been a good example for Bryan to follow. He only hopes that one day things will calm down a little so he can slow down, but he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon.

A few years ago, “The Boyz” built a custom truck for a customer. Since then, they built a few more. Although it is not their specialty (nor do they have time to build very many), it is something that they are getting known for - and something they enjoy tremendously. And with projects like the “Outlaw” truck turning out so good, people are sure to start standing up and taking notice of their talents. As soon as the truck show season is over, Bryan plans on selling this truck and starting on another one for next year. He wouldn’t tell us what he had in mind, only that he is calling it “Project X”. We can’t wait to see what Bryan’s imagination dreams up.