The story behind West Virginia-based Bill Warner Jr.’s rig is fairly exceptional. As he tells it in the video, the prior owner, a small fleet in Pennsylvania whose owner had kept it around for years as a personal truck, used it so little that, to this day, it’s got fewer than 200,000 original miles on the odometer. Powered by a 425-hp Cat, the original motor, through a 15-speed transmission and 3:70 rears, the 1987 Peterbilt 359 has been under Warner’s ownership for more than a decade just waiting to be given the treatment it got for the PKY championship at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March.
Warner and company’s fresh coat of paint on the 359 changed the colors and scheme slightly.As you’ll see and hear in the video, the rig came away with Best of Show in limited mileage / dump combo, likewise garnering a best for its use of chrome.
Warner’s nine-truck fleet has hauled for the the same principal customer within about a 200-mile radius of Circleville, W.Va., for two decades.
How about the interior — nothing quite like a 359 dash, I do say, and Warner’s minor modifications inside were done with a mind to preserve the original character of the unit. As Warner noted in my talk with him (see the video above), his intention for the truck from the day he acquired it was akin to a preservationist’s, given how few of these remain around and in good condition today.
Stitching design detail on the driver’s door.Catch a myriad more views via the stills in the video.
Warner and his winning 359.
