Anyone who saw the show trucks at last month’s Mid-America Trucking Show might recall the unusual front end on this Kenworth W900L.If those odd hood vents on John Jaikes’ 1999 Kenworth W900L look a little out of place, well, they are. Then again, they’re right where he wants them.
“They’re Kenworth sleeper vents,” he says. Jaikes, owner of three-truck Precision Transportation, and Quality Collision, the shop that painted his truck, installed the vents. Gluing them made for “a nice clean look,” He says. “When you rivet them, it’s an ugly look, a cheap look.”
The vents are reversible. Open to the front, they forces air in; open to the rear, they creates a vacuum that draws out hot air.
The additions aren’t the only thing that distinguishes the hood, which he bought from Jones Performance. “I shaved the headlights,” he said. “I lowered the back of the hood.” He also shaved the top of the hood and removed its bezel.
This is one of three trucks in Jaikes’ fleet, Precision Transportation.Jaikes is on his way to show his truck at this year’s first Pride & Polish event, at 75 Chrome Shop, which runs Friday through Sunday in Wildwood, Fla. (Exit 329 off I-75 in central Florida). He also plans to make the year’s four other Pride & Polish shows.
It will be only the second truck show for the W900L. It debuted at last month’s Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., where it came in third in the Lights category. Jaikes also competed there in 2013 with a different truck and won two awards.
Jaikes hauls cheese, mushrooms and other produce to California and elsewhere. He is based in Nanticoke, Pa., where he lives with his daughter, Jennifer Jaikes, in a house she bought when she was only 18.
“She’s just a dynamic kid,” he says. “I’m very proud of her for leading a great life.”
Jaikes’ truck finished third in the Lights category of this year’s PKY Truck Beauty Championship.
