Overdrive

April 2015

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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CUSTOM RIGS 54 | Overdrive | April 2015 L ike fashion, car trends and home decor, show truck trends haven't stopped evolving since truck custom- izing began its rise in the late 1980s and early '90s. Back then, buildup options were limited, says Suzanne Stempinski, a cur- rent Pride & Polish show organizer but a longtime owner-operator and Pride & Polish competitor. Custom and chrome _MZMPIZL\WÅVLIVL\PM trucks on the circuit in many ways paled in com- parison to the mega-custom rigs competing in today's Pride & Polish shows. Stempinski and a few of the early Pride & Polish competitors even had a parts sharing program, loaning chrome pieces to one another for competi- tions while the other would send his or her parts away to be chromed. "It was like a rotating supply," she says. "It was nuts." Brian Martin, head of 4 States Trucks in Joplin, Mo., has seen nearly all of the show truck trends unfold in the last quarter- century. "In the mid '80s, people were just bolting on what was available," Martin says. "If you had a cab and sleep- er panels, a drop visor, an air cleaner and a few lights, you had a custom rig." Overdrive's Pride & Polish – which not only provided the opportunity for custom \Z]KSJ]QTLMZ[\W[PW_Wٺ their work, but also served as a forum for custom ideas to breed – played a big role in driving the evolution of custom truck builds from simple bolt-ons to today's modern show-stoppers. The premier show truck beauty competition cel- ebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

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