Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/778830
Voices 6 | Overdrive | February 2017 BY ROBB MARIANI The past met the present one day in September as vintage truck owners got together in Lincolnton, N.C., to pay homage to the equipment of yesteryear, much of it still in hard- working order. While that happens at truck shows every year, what was special about this was that five of the most famous trucks of 1970s movies and TV shows appeared for the first time together. These classics convened atop a hill since named "Hollywood Hill" on small-fleet owner Brad Wike's 45-acre farm out- side of Charlotte, site of the annual Southern Classic Truck Show. I grew up in the 1970s and '80s playing "Guess The Truck" on long family trips, when trucking was a big part of American pop culture, and I almost always won the game. I'd had plenty of training. In 1971, Steven Spielberg un- leashed a menacing Peterbilt on the world with "Duel." In 1974, NBC on-ramped "Movin' On" as a weekly TV series where Sonny Pruitt and his team driver, Will Chandler, took us trucking with a then-prototype W925 VIT Kenworth. 1977 brought us "Smokey and the Bandit," featuring the Bandit's W900 KW. 1978 saw "Convoy," with the black Mack, the Rubber Duck. By the end of the decade, NBC launched trucking series "B.J. and the Bear" with a 1980 K110C KW. Today there are no TV shows comparable to "Movin' On." The only notable box-office truck has been a Transformer hardly depicting modern-day truckers and saying nothing about the vital job they do 24/7. But the character of the golden age lives on via the vintage truck shows you can attend throughout the year, each like a time capsule. I have attended countless shows, and there is no better one than Wike's Southern Classic. I say that not because Brad and I are close friends. That came about because I was one of many online fans of his "Brad's Classic Trucks" YouTube videos depicting his res- torations and general truck antics. The proof is the show itself, where Celebrity trucks hobnob on show's hill Robb Mariani, the writer of this story and the man behind the erstwhile "American Trucker" TV series on the Speed Channel, is shown here on "Hollywood Hill" with five of the most iconic trucks in trucking's film history. Courtesy of Robb Mariani "Duel" 1960 Peterbilt 281 Power: 365 Cummins, Brownie 5x4 transmission Owner: Brad Wike, Facebook.com/ bradwiketrucks "Movin' On" 1974 Kenworth W925 VIT Power: 400 Cummins, 13-speed Owner: Paul and Craig Sagehorn, TVTruckin.com "B.J. and the Bear" 1980 Kenworth K100C Power: 400 Cummins, 13-speed Owner: Paul and Craig Sagehorn, TVTruckin.com "Smokey and the Bandit" replica 1973 Kenworth W900 anniversary edition Power: 350 Cummins, 13-speed Owner: Brad Wike, facebook.com/bradwiketrucks "Convoy" Rubber Duck 1970 Mack RS731LST Power: 400 Cummins, 10-speed Owner: Anthony Fox, facebook.com/ rubberducktruck1970 " I was at this show and was blown away. Walking up that hill and seeing that beautiful 'bulldog Mack with a can on back' literally gave me chills and had me weak in the knees. " — Stacy King, via OverdriveOnline.com