“Anyone on the East Coast will know the red cabover Pete that hauled for ShopRite,” said owner-operator Mike Landis about this power unit, which he purchased from the original owner in 2017. That owner had spec’d his several different cabovers with this paint scheme going back to the mid-1970s, delivering groceries. This one was his last.
In the video up top, Landis told the story of recognizing the 1999 Peterbilt 362 over many years and, finally, meeting its owner, Bennie Thomas of New Jersey.
Owner-operator Thomas (left) was retiring, Landis said, in order to spend more time caring for his ailing wife at home.
Owner-operator Mike LandisRegular readers will know the truck, as I’ve featured some of the details of its history in shorter form in past. The video here, though, includes a myriad of detailed views and Landis’ tale of two men from different generations, from different backgrounds, making a deal to pass a workhorse between them with plenty of hauling life left under its cab.
It’s a special rig.
The unit’s powered by a factory-reman Detroit Series 60 replacing the original with a 13-speed, two-speed rears with 3:55 and 4:83 ratios “you can shift on the fly,” said Landis, for plenty get-up-and-go and power enough to “pull buildings down,” he quipped.
Freight is hauled on a 46,000-lb. heavy-haul rear suspension, built to last, he added.
Landis, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, spoke for this video from this year’s “That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C.” event on the National Mall. Read more about the owner-operator’s participation in the event and other advocacy efforts in the nation’s capital via this October edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast that featured Landis and C.J. Karman’s story of their White House meeting in May around the issue of freight transaction transparency.
Much about the Peterbilt was left unchanged, including its 762 truck number, which Landis noted dovetailed neatly with his and his two sons’ motocross racing experience, where racing numbers are almost always of the three-digit variety (as show here).
