Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/269152
CUSTOM RIGS 60 | Overdrive | March 2014 J erry Beaudoin says he built his trucking business, Southington, Conn.-based SRS National, to feed his "disease for chrome," as he jokingly calls his customizing obsession. Of his 10 company-owned straight and trac- tor-trailer dumps specializing in contam- inated soil removal, the 2007 Peterbilt 379 he calls Triple One is the best testa- ment to his "disease." Beaudoin, 38, spec'd his trucks new, but with customizing in mind. "We order our trucks with no visors, no chrome and just basic paint," he says. "Then we take them apart, right down to nothing." Beaudoin says he wanted to make Triple One "long, low and clean," a seamless design from front to back. The exterior paint, finished with "three or four" layers of clear coat for a no-edges finish over the stripes, was laid on by New Haven Truck and Auto Body, which Beaudoin and company rely on for paint and some body work. Beaudoin and his small crew did the rest. "We get approached quite a bit to build trucks for people, which we do from time to time," he says. "I'm not set up to do it as a business, but this may be a platform to get to that point some day, when I'm tired of dealing with chasing work." CUSTOM RIGS TRIPLE ONE: 'LONG, LOW AND CLEAN' By Todd Dills The cab is unadorned with any kind of panel trim, the smooth-paneled doors painted to match the exterior striping. To outfit Triple One with suicide doors, the daycab's air cleaners were moved forward a little, says Jerry Beaudoin. "Then we took the passenger and driver side doors, and we cut the tops off the doors," moving the passenger main panel to the driver side and vice versa. Poppers for door latches give the exterior a smooth handle-less finish. Photos by Bruce W. Smith CR_LEAD_0314.indd 60 2/27/14 8:45 AM