VIDEO, photos: Robb Mariani’s custom ‘white whale,’ take two

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Updated Jun 24, 2017
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Robb Mariani's 1974 Ford cabover hotrod

I finally got to see former American Trucker host Robb Mariani’s meticulously-built Moby Dick of a hot-rod cabover at Fitzgerald’s a couple weeks back — I somehow missed the truck at the Cobra Electronics booth at Mid-America and, after hearing so much about it from Mariani and from several readers to boot, I’ll just say that it’s as impressive in person as whatever the photos might indicate.

Following find a video window into the rig, in which Mariani explains several aspects of the design choices he made relative to the truck’s vintage, and likewise its genesis as a Tennessee Highway Patrol mobile command unit, essentially, hence the very low mileage that kept it preserved long enough for Mariani to have picked it up via a second owner in 2003. (Among its jobs over the years: law enforcement staging at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.)

In the vid at a point fairly early on, Mariani references an expected appearance “tomorrow,” i.e. Saturday, July 18, of representatives of the Tennessee Highway Patrol to check out their old unit. Though I wasn’t able to be there for it, those reps, namely Ned Martin, who well remembers the truck, were able to attend:

Catch more via Mariani’s Facebook page. And enjoy the video below: