Harmony, Pennsylvania-based Damian Minteer opened his own custom truck and antique restoration shop, Crooked KW Services, about three years ago with about 20 years in the truck-building business himself.
The truck featured in the video up top is Minteer's personal project -- a 1955 Kenworth needlenose that he found sitting in a field more than a quarter of a century ago. Minteer is just the second owner of the nearly 70-year-old truck.
"I drove back and forth by it for about a year and a half, and I asked the owner several times over that year and a half and he kept saying, 'no,' and I was persistent," he said. "After a year and a half, he finally sold it to me for $1,000, and I still have the paperwork that he signed. It was a happy moment."
The truck was on display as part of the PKY Truck Beauty Championship at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March.
Minteer said the truck originated in 1955 with a purchase in Richmond, Virginia -- the original owner pulled a dump trailer with it for about 25 years. It "took a backhoe and a dozer to get it out" of the owner's field after Minteer's persuasion did its job, followed by "about a year and a half and a lot of love" to rebuild it. "The frame was flaking and breaking in half. The wheels were flaking. There was a tree growing up through it. The rodents had completely ate the inside. The engine was locked up."
The classic '55 Kenworth is now a true looker, that's sure.
Starting with the engine, Minteer pulled out the original 190-hp Cummins and a two-stick five and four transmission. He wanted to put a Cat motor in it, but it wouldn't fit in the original engine compartment, so he lengthened the hood by 10 inches to fit a 425-hp B-model motor and a 13-speed in it.
