Ripon, Wisconsin-based owner-operator Brendan Conlon isn't a full-time trucker. His primary line of work is as an HVAC tech.
He grew up around trucking, however, starting out working in the shop of his grandfather, Larry Beier, who operated Larry’s Oil Company and then Larry’s Trucking for 50-plus years. Conlon was 12 when he started in the shop. He also went to school for diesel science and technology for two years and got a technical diploma in diesel mechanics.
“So I kept the fleet moving while my grandfather and my uncle ran the business,” he said. “The trucks were my responsibility, and that was my aspect. That’s where I shined.”
Larry’s Trucking, which had around 10 trucks at one time, was a dedicated carrier for Seneca Foods for a number of years, Conlon said, but in 2023, Beier had to retire after being diagnosed with dementia.
Prior to that, Conlon had established his own LLC in 2020 -- BVC North LLC -- that he operates part-time on weekends when he’s not doing HVAC work.
At the 35th and final Waupun Truck-N-Show earlier this month, Conlon showed his 1997 Peterbilt 379 that he and Beier built together over several years. He took the truck “to showcase in honor of” Beier.
Conlon runs the truck “every once in a while, just to honor him and keep it moving with my children upcoming, my two sons and my daughter, which are very interested in what we do. So I want to keep that going and continue that legacy.”
Despite enjoying what he does as an HVAC tech, Conlon is still drawn to trucking. “I don’t think I’d be able to let it go,” he said. “Once it’s in your veins, it’s there to stay. You can’t let it go.”
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Hauling primarily on weekends and Mondays, Conlon checks the load boards and will grab a load if he sees something he’s interested in doing. “The rates aren’t there anymore, so you gotta pay attention,” he said. “Especially when you’re on a single income like me, you know, you gotta watch what you’re doing so you’re not burying yourself, because you’ve got operational costs.”
He primarily keeps an eye out for the occasional short run that can “help the local community,” he said. The “one-off loads that are local.”
Conlon slowly rebuilt his 1997 Peterbilt 379 when time allowed while working in the shop of his grandfather's company.
As for the ’97 Pete, Conlon and Beier bought it five or six years ago. They went and looked at it together, and Beier bought it and soon after gifted it to Conlon as something of a graduation gift.
“He made a deal with me. He would buy the truck, and I was responsible for the rest,” Conlon said. “So, whenever I got time -- and there wasn’t much time to pull this truck in, there was always another truck in the garage I had to work on first, and I couldn’t work on it until everything else was done,” he’d work on the truck.
Overall, it took “a little bit of this and that every year just to get it to where it is now, so that it’s roadworthy,” he said. “It really wasn’t roadworthy until about early last year.”
The truck was in rough shape when they bought it, as shown in this photo. Just about everything had to be repaired or replaced. “A lot of the stuff that’s on here is refurbished or new,” Conlon said.
Conlon had to replace most of the hoses, track down wiring issues, put in a new computer and much more. “Sitting there in the dash soldering things together that just weren’t right,” he said, “and trying to get everything else working the way it should.”
The paint work on the truck was done by Capital Paint. Conlon said he really liked the green and gunmetal gray, and he found a scheme in a magazine that had dual-color stripes that he modeled it after.
The gunmetal gray has purple and green flake in it that really shines in the sunlight.
To go along with the paint, he also installed green and purple Dual Revolution lights.
At the show, Conlon was also showcasing prototype watermelon lights from BTS Lighting, which were not yet on the market at the time of the show, but were released August 18.
“They crammed an H11 LED bulb in a watermelon light,” Conlon said. “They’re the brightest on the market, and they’re the only vented watermelon light on the market today.”
Under the hood, the truck sports a 12.7-liter Detroit Series 60 with a 13-speed. The truck has 1,340,000 miles on the clock, which Conlon said as far as he knows are original miles. He also doesn't believe it's had an engine rebuild.
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Brendan Conlon: My Name is Brendan with BVC North LLC. I'm out of Ripon, Wisconsin. This is my 1997 Peterbilt behind me. This was built by me and my grandfather over the course of 5 or 6 years. My grandfather started his business in the 1970s. Unfortunately, last year he had to retire. He had diagnosed with dementia. So my truck is here today to showcase in honor of him.
There was a lot that went into it. It was very beat up when we got it, and there was a lot wrong with it from electrical, hoses. You name it, it was. There was an issue with it. Pretty much a lot of the stuff that's on here is refurbished or new. Capital paint did the paint. I pulled everything off and sent it in and they did that work.
And then when it got back, I did the rest. I had to redo all the bolts that held the air breathers in because the bolts were all rusted. You try to get something off and it would just snap. For a new computer. The computer was bad. And there's just a lot of stuff in there that had to be repaired.
Sitting there in the dash, soldering things and together that just weren't right.
It's got 1,340,000 miles on this truck. And as far as I know, that was the original. And I don't think there's been any engine work to it as far as rebuild. This has got the series 60. Detroit has a 12.7L. New hoses on a lot of the stuff. Got a transmission that's got the 13 in it.
You know, how'd you come up with the paint scheme? I really like the green and I like the gunmetal color. So I did that. And then originally it was just one thick green decal on top and bottom of that black stripe that was painted, and it looked faded. I didn't like it. Just trying to find something else. Looking through magazines for quite a while, and I finally saw something that popped in one of the magazines that I liked.
And I kind of went that road with the dual color stripes. Me and and Dan from graphic side kind of worked on it together to try to get the color scheme right, because there's a purple and green flake in the gunmetal gray. And that's where that came from. So and I always been a fan of the green. And that's where the green and purple dual Revolution lights came on.
And the orange I left. I'm actually running prototype lights this year from ETS lighting. They're they're pretty neat. They crammed a H11 LED bulb in, a watermelon light. They're the brightest on the market, and they're the only vented watermelon light on the market today. Those will be released August 18th. So they're pretty sweet.
And I didn't quite there yet. There are still some stuff I got to do, but it's coming a little bit every every so often.
