BryanLee Wagner, originally from Eastern Kentucky and now based in California, showed this beauty of a 2005 Peterbilt 379, which he calls "Purple Storm," at the 2022 Mayberry Truck Show in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
This is the last time the truck was seen before Wagner sold it, appropriately enough against the backdrop of the very real storm of Hurricane Ian as it bore down on the show's location.
Typically, the truck hauled cattle, yet Wagner had at the time we caught up with him ventured into heavy haul, reefer and more.Video and photos by Lawson Rudisill
Wagner has customized just about everything on the truck's exterior from front to back.
Some of the most notable parts are the custom grille and breathers, which feature engraved cattle heads. Wagner also did a "smooth frame stretch" on the truck, making it longer with "no bolts showing" for a cleaner look, he said.
Despite all the custom touches, "it's pretty much an everyday work truck," Wagner said. "The truck truly does run. A lot of people think it's just a show truck, but it's got almost two million miles, so it's the real deal."
Throughout the truck are Dual Revolution lights, which can change from red and amber to purple.
The truck features a twin-turbo Cat with an 18-speed and 3:55 rears.
The interior of the truck is mostly stock, but does feature Bostrom seats and painted gauge panels on the dash, among other touches.
Overall, Wagner has put about 2 years' worth of work into this truck.
Video transcript:
BryanLee Wagner: It's pretty much an everyday work truck. The truck truly does run. A lot of people think it's just a show truck, but it's got almost two million miles, so it's the real deal.
My name's BryanLee Wagner. For the most part, we've always done cattle. And then here lately we've done oversize, we've done heavy haul, we've done reefer. Just about all commodities at this point.
We own Purple Storm. It's a 2005, 379 Peterbilt. It's a twin turbo Caterpillar, 18-speed transmission, 3:55 rears. Everything from the visor, we put on the grill, the headlights, the bumper, the fenders, the step box, the frame. Everything's pretty much just all custom. We had custom breather screens, the back tail section's also custom and pretty much just a lot of bolt-ons. And the frame, we did a smooth frame stretch on it. Everything's clean. We pretty much did it so there's no bolts showing or anything like that, just to keep it all clean. We've got dual revolution lights on the truck. They'll go from red to purple, some of them amber to purple.
The interior for the most part is still stock. We did the floors in it. It's got Bostrom seats. We painted the gate panels on the dash. It's been an ongoing process because we're constantly upgrading and trying to add and make better. But over the course of two years, we built the truck. Pretty well known on all social media platforms. The truck gets a lot of attention. It's got a lot of memories with us over the last couple years that we had the build.
