Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/65581
Evel Knievel I t's a sunny Saturday afternoon in Lincolnton, N.C., and apart from two video cameras rolling and the exclamations of one very excited trucking enthusiast, you wouldn't know anything was different for BPW Transport small fl eet owner Brad Wike and his lead mechanic, Frank Phipps. But after dealing with some exhaust-system issues on one of the fl eet's fi ve Peterbilt 379s — something of a quotidian task for Phipps and Wike, who also runs the Brad's Classic Trucks restoration and resale business on this property — Phipps has fi red up a blowtorch to remove four steel supports from a safe that was found under a cabinet in the large Post Coach dressing room and offi ce behind the cab of motorcycle legend Evel Knievel's 1974 Mack F series cabover haul rig. As the heavy old safe falls with a thump onto the North Carolina soil of Wike's yard, "One bad Evel Knievel safe!" exclaims the trucking enthusiast, none other than "Ameri- can Trucker" (Speed Channel) host Robb Mariani, who featured the be- ginning of the old rig's restoration in the "Finding Evel" episode last year. Hickory, N.C.-based Skeet's Towing hauled the rig to Wike's in time for the annual show of the regional chapter of the American Truck CRANKING IT UP Taking into consideration the fact that the Knievel's Mack and Trailmobile trailer sat in a Florida yard collecting about a foot deep's worth of pine needles for a couple decades, the 300-horsepower Maxidyne engine, made to run again by Brad Wike (pictured) and his lead mechanic, Frank Phipps, sounds great after resurrection. "The fuel tank was dry and full of dirt," Wike says. Once he got some clean fuel going to the pump he realized there were problems there. "We eventually sent the pump off with the injectors and had them calibrated — once we got that primed up, we got it running." The steering was locked up "from all the corrosion and rust built up," he adds, "so we took the steering box apart and got everything cleaned up," hooked all the driveline pieces back up and, "believe it or not," says Wike, the automatic transmission did work. Though the rig had no brakes, they could then at least move it slowly around the yard as needed, making Brad's Classic Trucks' work on the trailer that much simpler. Historical Society last summer, and Wike, with support from Mariani and the rig's Beaufort, S.C.-based owner Jeff Lowe, began performing his piece of a full restoration of the rig to preserve for future generations what Mariani rightly views as a dis- tinct piece of custom-truck history. "I've been looking for this truck for 15 years," he says, noting that as years passed "the truck became something of a phantom for me. For it to be parked and to surface as it did, it's just a miracle." When Mariani found the old truck with its (by 1960s-70s stan- dards) huge attached coach, and the display-type trailer it toted behind, it had been sitting for well upward of a decade in the yard of Clearwa- ter, Fla.-based Jerry's Custom Cars, whose owner was a friend of Evel Knievel's, Lowe says. "The last 12 years of [Knievel's] life, he stored the truck there. ert Craig Knievel in 1938 in Butte, Mont., passed away in 2007. Lowe's association with Knievel stems from a brief time working with him on a museum project that would have been in Gatlin- burg, Tenn., which association led to a relationship to Evel Knievel's son Robbie, himself a well-known daredevil. "He wondered if I could Diversions " Evel Knievel, born Rob- | SAFE CRACKERS EXTRAORDINAIRE | Robb Mariani looks on as Frank Phipps attempts to breach the safe found under the fl oor in the rig's living quarters. For video of the process and a tour of the rig with Brad Wike, check out the "Editorial videos" queue at TruckersNews.com. Scan the QR code with your smartphone to pull up the safe-cracking video direct. Interior of Evel Knievel's 1966 trailer; partial restoration work by Brad Wike included tearing out the rotten wooden fl oor and weather-coating all fl oor cross-members. JUNE 2012 | TRUCKERS NEWS | 15