Point me in the right direction - Owning a Truck for Show?

One word of advice, I would rather buy one with blown engine with straight body and clean all together interior than good runner that is ragged out. Interior pieces are the hardest to find and most expensive.

 

True that. My old gal was all around beat into the dirt. Basically all I ended up with was a rebuildable engine and transmission, cab structure and hood. Rest was all pretty much junk. If I didn't get it for next to nothing I would have passed on it.

 

Doing something similar now but not exactly to cure my appetite for trucks. Never took the plunge as a “real” driver so I had to get “creative” in order to sit behind the wheel....call me a steering wheel holder or whatever eleven you want to, I don’t care, I get to drive a truck!
Started with a 87 white Volvo that I bought on line through an auction. Started to “refresh” it to my own liking, by no means a restore but it needed to look cool. Tore the interior apart, used some rattle cans to give it a paint job, bought some 7” Stainless Steel Seamless Tube, and a few other things. Well life got in the way and two years later still not completed so I decided to sell it. Here are photos of before and after....

Pulled the trigger on a 07 379 exhd......I pick the girl up tomorrow morning and so excited I can’t sleep...attached a photo of her as well.

I didn’t get to finish the truck because I was too busy building my “motor home”.....a converted 48’ Kentucky moving van that the Pete will pull. This won’t be a show truck by any means but I expect to be attending a few shows a year. The Pete and I will be at MATS next Friday.

Life is short and this life can be Hell sometimes. We are faced with curveballs everyday and life certainly isn’t “fair” to all of us. So my recommendation is to go for it because if you don’t do what YOU want to do life can really suck! Be happy man and remember you can’t take any $ with you when you leave.

BTW.... I love the classic car comparison!

 

Somebody mentioned insurance earlier as well.

I’m Ohio I have no choice but to plate it commercial, it doesn’t really matter because the price is all based on the vehicle weight anyways so you can call it whatever you want. Plates in this case wer roughly $350 for the Pete. For insurance I had to go through Progressive and with $500K limits on the damage to other vehicles and people with a $5K deductible the cost is $1900 a year

And not to take this thread in another direction, I don’t have a CDL and won’t be getting a CDL because I don’t need a CDL. This is considered my personal vehicle and I don’t even have to have an air brake endorsement. This will probably cause a few replies to tell me otherwise but this isn’t my first rodeo on this setup, 10 years ago I did the same thing and had to sell my rig because I needed the cash. It was a 1989 Internaional 9370 that I drove from Ohio to Arkansas, through the Rockies on my to Montana and back through the Dakotas.

 

ESCAPEES
Livingston, TX

Also called SKP for short. If anyone has figured out Class 8 RV insurance, start there. See online forum

 

Did I mention I pick up my Pete in the morning? Ya, I can’t sleep!

Anyway, I’ve done a fair amount of homework on this. Class 8 insurance can be had with a few modifications. On the inside you have to have a refrigerator, a cooking device and a toilet. On the outside you can’t have a fifth wheel plate. That’s the only way you will get it plated as an RV so the insurance can be for an RV. At least on Ohio that’s the law, other states may be different.

Anybody up for a beer at MATS Friday?

 

I always wanted a nice peiece of land with a big ol ac/heated shop with all the tools a man could dream of, and then when i start to think about how much money that costs it makes me cringe.... Maybe onr day... If i had my choice of building a show truck it would be k100 kenworth cabover or 362 cabover pete, i love them cabovers. Maybe its cuz i havent drove them but man them is what i always thought the coolest trucks was on the road.. Everytime i see one on the road it makes me smile like a little kid...i hope one day we can all live out our dreams but if ur really thinking about it and u believe in it then nothing should stop you from it