Luke Rethwisch, the 18-year old heir apparent to the throne of Tomah, Wisconsin-based regional fuel hauler Rethwisch Transport, picked up another big truck show win when he stepped out to show his 1987 Peterbilt 359 at the Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show in Epping, New Hampshire.
Earlier in the year, the young Rethwisch captured top honors in the Mid-America Trucking Show's Big Rig Build-Off.
At the Gear Jammer show, Rethwisch won Best Overall, taking home the glory with the 359 that he painstakingly rebuilt and showed after it had hauled just two loads ever.
In a change from when Overdrive caught up with Rethwisch at MATS, his impressive 359 was shown at Gear Jammer hooked to one of the fleet's tankers rather than with the wheels off to display intricate wheel-end work.
The Rethwisch family is no stranger to show quality trucks and bringing home trophies either. The elder Rethwisch, Bill, has historically cleaned up at various truck shows, including the Shell Rotella SuperRigs event, and when Overdrive caught up with him at the most recent show, he said "my boys are taking over now."
And how.
[Related: Longtime custom builder Rethwisch Transport’s comeback 2023 Peterbilt 389]
Luke, now just 18, actually hauls intrastate in the 359 "until I'm 21," he said, when he plans to go over-the-road and "do something other than being in the state, see some other scenery while hauling fuel at the same time."
Rethwisch said his favorite feature on the truck is the interior. It sports the original 67-inch sleeper.
Doesn't look bad at night either.
But even at 18 he's already shown major aptitude, and desire, to make his mark in trucking.
"I bought the truck out of a junkyard in Oklahoma," he said. "I had to reskin everything on it. I put 2021 frame rails under it with all new panels on it."
The truck sports a pre-2000s 6NZ Cat C15 that's "soon to have compound turbos," he said. That's right, in 2025 there are still truckers starting out on paper logs.
There's been a lot of ink spilled on Gen Z's approach to trucking, but Rethwisch said he and his friends put in a lot of good old-fashioned elbow grease to restore the Pete to its former glory, maybe even a little beyond that.
There's lots of nostalgia evident in the '87 Pete 359 build, even if Luke wasn't around back then.
"I had both frame rails completely apart, blasted them all, painted them once, painted the cross members, sanded it all down and then painted it again," he said. "I got all the bolts and everything good, all the bolts on the frame all clocked the same way."
That was a "group of three" of his high school buddies "working on it all day."
The 359's name, "Ol' School Cruisin'" pays tribute to the trucking world his father came up in. He said he'd debated between a 359 and an A-model Kenworth because "they’re just both old and super cool looking.”
Rethwisch said he was still putting some finishing touches on the trailer, but the light bar certainly made it pop at the Gear Jammer "Lights on for Autism" show.
The Rethwisch fleet, now about 45 trucks, includes a lot of old cabovers that no doubt inspired him.
Certainly some of the old timer's wisdom has worked its way into his thinking: Be the change you want to see in the world.
"There’s not very many people in the industry that really care about it anymore. Very few people," he said. "I wish there was more cool old trucks on the road and people who cared about stuff instead of the way it is now. People just trash stuff, it’s insane from what it used to be to what it is now."
See more of Rethwisch's custom 359 build here and in the video below from the big win at MATS earlier this year.
[Related: Built to win: Wheels-off '87 Peterbilt 359 triumphant in Big Rig Build-Off]
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