Headquartered in Louisiana, oil and gas pipeline pro Jarrett Landy isn't a working owner-operator, but he's a proud truck owner nonetheless -- so much so that when Peterbilt got wind of this custom restoration, the company invited Landry to participate in the annual Pride & Class parade and truck show in October 2023.
The 1988 Peterbilt 379 was built originally as a daycab for a North Carolina owner, he said.
Functionally, it was veritable "flower pot" when he found it.
It wasn't running, and he and his owner-operator father, Wayde Landry, toted it home on a lowboy to start what would be a three-year odyssey to complete the rig.
Parts from nearly a dozen other trucks -- including the very chassis on which the entire rig now sits -- went into the build of what's now a 240-inch-wheelbase, single-drive-axle unit.
You can follow Landry on Instagram for a closer look at in-process shots of the rig he's compiled there using this handle.
The 1988 Pete is powered by a Landry-rebuilt B model Caterpillar, with factory Acert turbos and a Full Tilt manifold, among other mods in the engine bay he details in the video up top. A 13 speed transmission and 3.36 rears complete the drivetrain.
Style-wise, Landry modeled the stripe pattern after a truck his father owned in his childhood. With the exception of a very-few others Landry's seen through his history, it's pretty unique, he said, and perhaps more common out West than in his home area.
The unique hood pattern then extends in parallel straight down the side of the truck and around the back of the sleeper.
The goal for the custom-resto, ultimately, was a tribute to the Southern California trucks Landry's long been enamored by.
"I'm from Louisiana," he said. "I looked at pictures for days during the build of this, and those Southern California trucks seemed to always" catch his eye. "They were cool, they were different, they were clean. So I went for an early-90s West Coast theme" in some ways.
Yet with plenty of shine, too. "Certain things on these trucks I feel like are supposed to be shiny and not painted," Landry said. "So we tried to keep the shiny stuff shiny and keep the paint where the paint was supposed to be."
From right: Jarrett Landry; his wife, Jessica; and his father, Wayde, on a windy day in Denton, Texas.
Meantime, it's not uncommon when he's out and about in the rig for passersby to comment that he "left the axle at home" when they see the single-drive-axle treatment.
Landry's always quick with a comeback: "It's an oversize dually," he says, "that's all it is."
[Related: A living history with three custom Peterbilts -- 359, 379, 389 -- and their owners]
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Jarrett Landry: I've had people ask me already a couple times if you would sell it, and it really ... There's quite a bit of sentimental stuff on the truck.
I got two little boys that me and my wife both showed livestock, so hopefully they'll want to do the same. And the goal is it'll pull a livestock combo trailer around and that's what we'll go to livestock shows in.
So my name's Jarrett Landry. I'm from Singer, Louisiana, north of Lake Charles, south of DeRidder, southwest corner. The truck's an '88 379, extended hood, 48-inch stand up, 240 wheel base on a newer chassis. I parted out a bunch of trucks when I built it. So one of them then I parted out, I just frame-swapped it and let it be.
So it's got to B model in it. Not knowing the condition of it, it got rebuilt. There's a guy out of Western Kansas, Shaun Wiltfong, helped me through text messaging and Facebook Messenger. I rebuilt the motor myself. If I run into any questions, I'd ask him. And I'm a sucker for I can't leave nothing stock, at all. I can't just leave it be.
So it's got a set of factory Acert turbos mounted on it, on a Full Tilt manifold. It's got some big nozzles in it. Shaun meter timed it and set the pump and all that. It's got a 13 speed behind it, 3.36s. It's got a true track, or a locker, in it just to help in case you get on wet ground being a single axle.
People ask, or they will make some comment about "you left the axle at home," or "what's the purpose of it?" And it's an oversize dually, really, that's all it is.
My day job is I'm in oil and gas. I'm a project manager for a pipeline company. So my dad's been a truck driver for 30 years, so that's where the connection is. I don't do it for a living.
Speaker 2: And his name's Wayde and he's an owner-operator?
Jarrett Landry: Yeah. As a kid, you're interested in them and I'd always see them. If you ever get the opportunity to do one, it'd be cool to do it, and opportunity was there so I did it. It was three years, three and a half years I guess, something like that. When I bought it, it was literally, it was a flower pot from the block up was in the cab of the truck. It wasn't running, it was a lowboy trailer full of stuff when we come home.
I believe last I counted, there was like 11 or 12 trucks it took to put this one back together.
So new parts was more than I was wanting to spend. So I would buy either wrecked stuff or messed up. And the goal always was to buy it, get what I wanted, sell the rest and get all my money back. And most of the time it worked out pretty good, just depending on what I needed, depending on what I hunted to find, to steal parts off of. The sleeper's all been gutted. There's no bed in it, there's no closets. It's got two Bostrom Pro Rides that matches the front just so everybody rides comfortably.
Because as a kid I rode on the bed and it's comfortable for a little bit until the coolness wears off, then it's not comfortable no more. So we've done some things on the inside to make it in the future to where when they start riding in it, there's a spot for a TV to mount. So try to make this comfortable as possible.
The goal was, I'm from Louisiana. I looked at pictures for days during the build of this, and those Southern California trucks seemed to always like, they were cool. They caught my eye. They were cool, they were different, they were clean. So I went for a early 90s west coast theme without ever seeing a west coast truck, basically, other than pictures. So the interiors original, it's all new, but it's original stitching and it's got the sharp stainless panels from 12 gauge. Certain things on these trucks I feel like are supposed to be shiny and not painted, so we tried to keep the shiny stuff shiny and keep the paint where the paint was supposed to be.
The stripes actually come off of a truck when I was a kid. My dad had, it was yellow orange where mine's black and red. So picking a stripe pattern, every time you see a stripe pattern, that means there was another truck out there. So this pattern was, I really never seen it but a couple times outside of the one he had.
And it was different and that's why I got picked. LEDs are cool, but they didn't have LEDs in the nineties. So I did cheat a little bit. I do have LED bulbs in the glass, but other than that, try to keep it as original as possible.
