Wisconsin-based Luke Rethwisch -- son of Bill Rethwisch, longtime custom truck builder and owner of Rethwisch Transport -- is getting an early start making a name for himself in the show truck world.
Luke Rethwisch with his custom 1987 Peterbilt 359 build.Video and photos by Lawson Rudisill
Rethwisch Transport hauls fuel in the Upper Midwest, as well as lubricants all over the United States, Mexico and Canada.
For the MATS Build-Off, Rethwisch’s entry competed against trucks from defending Build-Off champs Davis Brothers Designs, Billy Warner Jr. and Cody Warner. Randy Manning and Jordan Henderson were also invited to compete, but their trucks did not make it to the show.
[Related: Dozens of trucks among winners in 2025 PKY Truck Beauty Championship]
The 359 might be the most unique such build in existence, featuring the frame of a 2021 Pete 389 from a wrecked unit, along with frame horns on the front from a Peterbilt 379.
Even the way the truck was displayed at MATS was unique, with tires and wheels set up on custom-made stands, allowing the chrome brake drums, shocks and other bright parts to be shown prominently.
Chrome is the name of the game on Rethwisch’s build, as Luke and the team chromed the S-cams, slack adjusters, U-bolts, tie rods -- “basically anything you think of chroming, we kind of chromed,” he said. Even the drive shaft is chromed “all the way through,” he added.
The bright brake drums stand out against the Legendary Red frame and custom stands on which the truck stood tall at the show.
The tanks, rear fenders, fifth wheel, light panels, wheels and more are all polished, brightening the unit throughout.
The frame carries Peterbilt’s Legendary Red with its copious metallic flake, the cab painted Phantom Gray. To match the rest of the truck, the fifth wheel pads are red as well.
For the truck’s display at the show, the wheel stands, the custom stands for the truck to sit on and the custom signs made to look like gas pumps are all painted to match the truck itself.
The cab's interior features new wood-grain dash panels, carpet, seats with the Rethwisch Transport logo stitched in. Rethwisch wanted to keep the sleeper to a factory look, so he preserved black cabinets and other pieces of it instead of matching them to the exterior. “Tried to keep it as much original and old-school as we could,” he said.
The wood-grain dash certainly screams of the 359's '87 vintage.
For the back wall of the sleeper, the team cut three diamond-shaped windows “for more of an old-school look,” Luke said.
Under the hood is a Cat 6NZ C15 that PDI custom-built for the truck, coupled with an 18-speed. It features compound turbos and is painted to match the truck. Stacks are Dynaflex five-inch miter-cut “359 OG kit,” Rethwisch said.
What’s not painted on the engine is chromed. All of the air lines and fuel lines are braided steel lines instead of rubber lines.
While Luke did most of the work on the truck as far as the design and build goes, his show veteran father helped source parts and pull the full build together. Bill did all of the wiring, including rewiring the dash, and ran all of the air lines “because he knew where that stuff was supposed to go,” Luke said. “I did the custom part on the outside with the paint and all the other accessories and stuff that we did on it, and then we came up with this idea for doing these wheel stands -- that’s kind of a mixture of both of ours.”
Bill’s gracious about his own influence here: “What I did is took Luke’s vision with a lot of things that maybe he didn't know a lot about. But honestly, the kid's been around trucking his whole life. He's been working in the shop with me, and there wasn't a ton that he didn't know."
After spending years in the custom truck scene, the elder Rethwisch is “glad to step back and let my kids do it," he said. "We’ve been on the cover of Overdrive a couple of times, we have been in the Shell Rotella calendar many times. We’ve done a lot of different shows. We’ve been known nationwide for the trucks that we built, and I’m happy to step back and hopefully my sons can continue the legacy that I’ve started for them and build on it and make it better, and get our name out there, and their name in the process.”
For winning the Build-Off, Luke Rethwisch took home a $25,000 prize.
More from MATS 2025 at this link.
[Related: 'Hen House' 2024 Pete 389 blends 'old-school look with a new-school attitude']
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Luke Rethwisch: My name is Luke Rethwisch. My dad actually owns this company. His name is Bill Rethwisch. This is our build off truck that we built this year. It's a 1987 359 Peterbilt.
We haul fuel for Kwik Trip up in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. That's our main thing. We got 42 trucks and a bunch of trailers. That's mainly all we do. And then we do some oil, too.
This is a 1987 359 Peterbilt that we did up. It's got a 2021 389 frame underneath it off of a wrecked truck that we had that we redid. We did 379 frame horns on the front that we could do our steering box to the front on the other side. That way it steers better. We chromed all our brake drums on all the axles. Our air ride on the front end, Chad Berry, he did that. Chromed all our shocks, all our S-cams, slack adjusters, all our U-bolts, tie rod, basically anything you think of chromed, we kind of chromed. We did two lube refiners on both sides instead of one like it would normally have.
Did all new dash panels in it with the wood grain, carpet through there. I got all new interior for it from Truck'n Awesome.
The frame color is Legendary Red. It's got really heavy metallic in it. Did the whole entire sleeper. The cabinets, everything, they come black from factory. I didn't want to take that look away from it. So I did them all black again instead of doing it, doing the same color as the truck. Try to keep as much original and old school as we could.
Then back here we got our fifth wheel, painted the pads and everything on it. Polished it all out. Then we got these custom wheel stands made so we could have the wheels off the truck. And so they're spinning beside the truck, and then we can have all the chrome brake drums with custom stands on it. Then we got two custom gas pumps made up for our sign instead of having a generic sign for all the thank you's and stuff, we did gas pumps because we haul fuel.
Then on the back of the sleeper we cut them diamonds in the back instead doing one big window like the 389s have. Did the diamond windows for more of an old school look. Did Hogebuilt fenders that are currently blinding me right now, custom fender brackets and all that and.
Did a custom panel in front of the axles to cover it all up. Chromed the drive shaft on it all the way through. Got these custom light panels made from 12 Gauge. They custom made those and made my bumper for me. Got all the tanks brand new. They're all polished out. Same with all the wheels. They're all brand new, small-hole Alcoa wheels.
Coming up here, we got the Dynaflex five inch miter cut 359 OG kit for stacks, and I got two brand new seats. I had them reupholstered to match the logo for the truck on the seats and did it gray, a little bit lighter gray, but to match the interior for the bedding and stuff like that.
Coming up here on this side, it's a C15 6NZ that PDI built for me. Custom built it. Did compound turbos on the other side. Basically, they painted everything on it. We had it shipped to us, put it in. Runs awesome. All the piping up for the air cleaners and everything's all original piping from 1987.
Every single airline and fuel line on this is all steel braided lines. We custom did all that instead of just the black rubber lines. Do the steel braid. They look a lot nicer on this custom stuff. Oh, made all custom panels for underneath also, so everything underneath the cab and sleeper's all boxed in with, lights in it shining down.
Lawson Rudisill: The truck have a nickname or any kind of funny, cool stories. You go along with it.
Luke Rethwisch: Problems. That's what we were calling it. Problems, because that one is one thing after another. There's a problem with it. But when we were trying to load it to come here, we had a problem when we were loading on the trailer. So it's never ending battle.
Yeah. So my dad, Bill Rethwisch, he did all the wiring for it. He rewired the whole dash and everything else on the truck. He ran majority of all the airlines and everything because he knew where that stuff was supposed to go. I did the custom part on the outside with the paint and all the other accessories and stuff that we did on it, and then we came up with this idea for doing these wheels stands. That's kind of a mixture of both of ours.
Bill Rethwisch: I'm Bill Rethwisch, which I own Rethwisch Transport out of Tomah, Wisconsin. And behind me you'll see my son Luke's truck that he just got done building. What I did is, took Luke's vision and helped him with a lot of things that maybe he didn't know a lot about. But honestly, the kid's been around trucking his whole life. He's been working in the shop with me, and there wasn't a ton that he didn't know, but he needed help with, actually building it, putting it together, sourcing parts and just building it from what, this came out of a junkyard six months ago to what it is today.
Well, I used to be big in the show truck scene, yes. I'm glad to step back and let my kids do it.
Been on the cover of Overdrive a couple of times. We have been on the Shell Rotella calendar many times. We've done a lot of different shows. We've been known nationwide of the trucks that we build and I'm happy to step back. And hopefully my sons can continue the legacy that I've started for them and build on it and make it better. And, get our name out there and their name in the process.
Luke Rethwisch: Huge thanks to everyone that helped me with it. Wouldn't have been able to get done without them.
