Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/490954
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
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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
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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.