COVER FEATURE - AUGUST 2010
THE KING OF CLEAN
CLIFF KING HATES A DIRTY TRUCK!
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor
There are two kinds of clean – clean and really clean. Well, maybe there are three kinds. Cliff King (54) of Castle Rock Transportation in Brechin, Ontario (Canada) goes beyond “really clean” when he prepares his truck for a show. In fact, he goes above and beyond when it comes to his trailer, too. And unlike anyone we have ever seen before at a truck show, Cliff opens the rear doors of his trailer and welcomes the judges to critique not only the outside of his trailer, but the inside as well. Cliff’s combination is undoubtedly beautiful and show-worthy, but it is a true work truck, through-and-through.
Born in Newfoundland, Cliff and his family moved to Toronto when he was still a baby. Cliff has spent most of his life in and around Toronto, and still today lives nearby in Brechin (about an hour and a half north of Toronto), next to Lake Simcoe. Cliff did not come from a trucking family. When growing up, his father worked in a grocery store and his mother was a homemaker (both are now deceased). During and after high school, Cliff worked a lot with his dad at the grocery store, but he knew that he did not want to do that for the rest of his life. At 21, Cliff got a job driving a straight truck, picking up and delivering uniforms locally around Toronto. It did not take Cliff very long to figure out that driving was what he really wanted to do. Cliff has always loved to drive and he has always been very patient when behind the wheel, which made him a perfect candidate for becoming a truck driver.
After the uniform delivery job, Cliff moved on to bigger and better trucks, eventually finding himself as a “shunt” driver (a guy who moves trailers around in a large yard) for another local trucking company. It was there where he gained most of his knowledge and experience in regards to backing and maneuvering big trucks in tight places. After a few years, he got tired of being stuck in the yard all day, so he went to drive for another outfit. A year later, in 1990, he bought his first truck – a limited edition 1990 Kenworth W900L “007” truck – and began hauling general freight (LTL) between Toronto and California.
Running across I-40 and I-80 (depending on the weather), Cliff ran this Toronto/California lane for 17 years. During this time, Cliff owned several trucks. Cliff drove that “007” Kenworth, which was one of only 250 made, for almost five years. In 1994 he replaced it with another new W900. Cliff had the dealer stretch the truck’s factory 60-inch sleeper to 80 inches, and then he customized the interior. The next year, he bought yet another KW and two Western Stars and hired drivers to run them, but that did not last very long (too many headaches). In 1997 he bought another new W900 and switched out the stock sleeper with his previously-stretched bunk. Cliff drove that KW until 2007 when his Peterbilt (the one being featured here) was completed.
About the time Cliff began to get bored and want a change, he met Ron Verge. Ron owns and operates Verge Furniture Logistics in Toronto and was having trouble with his California runs (Verge handles “blanket-wrapped” delivery of high-end and custom office furniture). Ron’s drivers did not like to go to California because it required them to be gone from home too long (about 10 days), so Ron and Cliff struck up a deal. At that time, Cliff went and got his own authority, formed Castle Rock Transportation, and began hauling furniture for Verge.
Since 2006, Cliff has been handling most of the Southwestern runs for Verge Furniture Logistics, hauling multiple drops twice a month to the west coast, and then backhauling loads for another company back to Toronto. It is not uncommon for Cliff to have 25-30 drops in his trailer when he leaves Toronto. When Cliff began running for Verge, he decided that it was time to order a new truck. Since most of his loads for Verge were light and the price of fuel was going through the roof, Cliff wanted an aerodynamic truck for fuel efficiency, but a big sleeper for comfort. In April of 2006, Cliff ordered his new truck without a sleeper. After waiting six months, it was finally delivered. Cliff then drove it directly to ICT where it would spend four more months being fitted with a large sleeper. He then brought it back to Toronto to have the rest of the custom accessories installed. Cliff finally put the truck into service in March of 2007.
The truck is a 2007 Peterbilt 386 with a 102-inch ICT sleeper, a Caterpillar C13 engine, an 18-speed transmission, and 3.36 rears. To appease the strict Canadian length laws, Cliff had to keep the wheelbase pretty short (244 inches), which is another reason why he chose a Peterbilt 386 – it has a set-back front axle which allows just a little more space for his large sleeper. But the main reason he chose the Peterbilt 386 was for the fuel efficiency. Cliff’s truck, on average, which is almost always loaded, gets 7.2 MPG. That’s pretty good for a truck that is covered with stainless and has a large standup sleeper.
Cliff’s Buckskin-colored Pete features many unique items and tons of polished stainless steel. The truck has double straps on the fuel tanks, as well as custom stainless fairings underneath the tanks with LED lights, sleeper extensions with lights, stainless steel tool and battery boxes with lights, a generator, 7-inch stacks, a 13-inch drop visor and stainless steel full fenders. The front bumper is stock, but Cliff added a stainless steel extension on the bottom edge with thirteen lights. The top of the bunk has an aerodynamic fairing with a unique shape, so Cliff had a piece of stainless steel custom cut to fit the shape behind it – and, of course, it has lights, too. Although Cliff has many unique pieces on his truck to catch your eye, the most head-turning feature is not even visible when he’s rolling down the road.
Hidden inside a stainless steel toolbox on the driver’s side of Cliff’s Peterbilt is an electric barbecue that runs on the rig’s generator. The grill pulls out of the toolbox on slides (like pulling open a drawer), and is capable of cooking a full meal. In all of the years that we have been doing photo shoots of trucks, often out in the middle of nowhere, we have never enjoyed a freshly-grilled lunch on site – but we did with Cliff. He prepared a complete lunch for us including grilled chicken, grilled corn-on-the-cob, baked beans and salad, right there on the side of the road, out in the middle of the desert. It was pretty awesome! Alongside the grill, the toolbox also has several storage drawers to hold all of Cliff’s cooking utensils and accessories.
Heading inside the truck is like climbing into a finely-appointed hotel room. The cab’s two-tone brown and tan interior is mostly stock, but it is still beautiful. The cab features a rosewood floor and a few extra pieces from Rockwood, a custom steering wheel, a polished stainless steel shift boot tower and an in-dash Pioneer entertainment system featuring a DVD player, navigation and XM satellite radio. Back in the bunk, you’ll find all the comforts of home including a large bed that folds up against the back wall and allows for a small table for two, a toilet and standup shower, a refrigerator, microwave and two-burner stove. The sleeper also has a coffee maker, a sink, Corian counter tops, and plenty of cabinets and drawers made of solid walnut. At the push of a button, a 26-inch flat-panel TV swivels down from a hidden compartment in the ceiling. Hooked to a Bose surround-sound system, this TV operates using an “in motion” satellite dish that is mounted in a brown-colored dome on the sleeper’s roof.
Once Ron Verge saw what Cliff was doing, he wanted to get involved. Looking to help Cliff and promote Verge Furniture Logistics out west, Ron built Cliff a matching 2006 Wabash dry van to pull behind his truck. Painted the same color as the tractor (Buckskin), the 53’ trailer features painted rails (metallic brown), extra lights, and lots of polished stainless including the front, corners and entire back of the trailer (the frame, doors and rear bumper). The trailer also has stainless-wrapped landing gear and air tank, a self-lubricating system (which helps to keep things clean), a dump valve, light bars mounted underneath and vinyl graphics. Inside the box, the trailer is equipped with four speakers so Cliff can listen to music while working inside, the walls are lined with furniture-grade plywood, and the floor is solid oak (Cliff tries to polish the oak floor before each and every show).
What really separates Cliff’s truck from the rest is its level of cleanliness. His truck doesn’t have head-turning flames, flashy colors or extreme fabrication, but it is always perfectly clean. And, based on his experiences and the trophies he has won at truck shows, both judges and the general public are impressed with his pristine combination, which, by the way, has about 450,000 miles showing on the odometer. Cliff had never attended or competed at a truck show when he debuted the rig at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY in 2007. At that first show, Cliff earned a 1st place trophy in the “First Show Combination” class, and since then has went on to win numerous awards at truck shows across the country (and in Canada).
When preparing for a truck show, Cliff does all of the cleaning himself. He has no “posse” to help him – it is just him. The only person that he trusts to polish his stainless steel is Vic Caliva of Caliva’s Truck Wash & Polishing in Montebello, CA. In addition to thanking Vic Caliva for his fantastic polishing abilities, Cliff really wanted to thank Ron Verge and everyone at Verge Furniture Logistics for all their help. Not only did Ron build Cliff a perfectly-matched and nicely-equipped trailer to pull, but he also allows him plenty of downtime to attend the truck shows. Cliff also wanted to thank everyone at ICT for all of the hard work they put into the sleeper, and John at “Touch of Sparkle” for all of the custom stainless pieces.
When Cliff does find himself at home with some time to kill, he likes to go fishing in the lake across the street from his house (Lake Simcoe). Cliff is not one to sit around and do nothing for long, so when he’s at home, he usually ends up working on the truck or tinkering around with his 1995 Trans-Am. Cliff, who was married once for seven years but has been divorced for some time now, does not have any children.
Being a “clean freak” helps Cliff to always be prepared for the shows, but it also consumes him at times. If he is driving along and sees some dirt somewhere on his truck, he’ll actually pull over to clean it off. Cliff admits that he may have a problem, but when you are known as the “King of Clean” it kind of goes without saying. But, to him, it just goes back to providing “good old fashion service” – which is more than just a slogan for Cliff King – it’s a way of life!