Pavilion, New York-based owner-operator Greg Graham primarily hauls agricultural commodities in his Graham & Son Inc. business.
At one time he hauled milk, but he decided to put the long days of that work behind him and now focuses on grain, manure and silage, as well as the occasional load of equipment on a step deck he also owns.
“We’re into a little bit of everything,” he said back in March at the Mid-America Trucking Show. At the time of the show, he was running five trucks in the business.
Graham didn't show a company rig in MATS' PKY event, though -- the 1979 Peterbilt 359 in the video up top he uses to compete in truck pulls. He bought it in 2012 for $800. “The dash was hanging out of it,” he said. Among other issues, "the carpet had to be peeled up because the mice and the rats and everything used it as a bathroom. … It was a wreck when I bought it.”
The work Graham put into the truck after that purchase helped earn the truck its nickname -- “Showoff.” He custom-built it specifically for pulling, and at the time, there was an effort to bring truck pulling back to New York, “and it was a tough deal,” Graham said. “So I built the truck long, and I built it so that it has air ride so we can teeter it. ... It wasn’t welcomed by everybody, and I kind of got called a 'showoff' and this and that, so it just kind of stuck.”
As part of that first build, Graham swapped in an electronic Cat 3406E that’s tuned up to put about 1,250 horsepower to the drives. The engine’s coupled with a 15 speed and 4.11 rears.
The truck as it was shown this year at MATS was a whole lot different than that original build that earned the truck its nickname, though.
In 2022 during a pull, the truck blew an oil feed line that ended up sparking a fire, doing upwards of $36K in damage to the unit. “So we tore everything apart; we redid everything,” Graham said.
He swapped it from a short hood to a long hood, put on a new frame, new body panels, roof, “everything’s been changed on this truck,” and Graham has been there every step of the way. “I wanted a truck I didn’t have to worry about. I got hooked up with the right people” to help complete the build.
One of those people was Richy Sikes with Sikes Custom Paints, who did the paint work. It's a tri-coat pearl and is painted as a tribute to Betsy Romero, the mother of Graham’s daughter, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2012 when his daughter was just 20 months old.
The back of the cab features a written tribute to Romero laid on with a product called LumiLor, which is essentially a painted-on light that Graham can turn on at night to light up the message.
The truck features plenty of stainless, including a wrapped frame, interior accessories and more. The interior got its final finish just the week prior to MATS this year.
The sleeper came from a friend’s 359 pull truck who was converting the truck to a day cab. Find plenty more views of it in the video up top.
[Related: 'Pretty good life' for Gary Jones' short-hood '79 Peterbilt 359]
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Greg Graham: We're out of Pavilion, New York. We have Graham and Son Incorporated. We do a lot of agricultural stuff.
So this is my '79 Peterbilt that we bought back in 2012, so I think I'm the third owner. When I bought the truck, I paid $800 for it in 2012. The dash was hanging out of it. The headlights had a house wiring switch. The carpet had to be peeled up because the mice and the rats and everything used it as a bathroom. There was a section in the frame. That's actually how it got extended, behind the fuel tanks where the frame had broke and they cut the gap too big. So they stuffed the three-eighths bolt in there and they welded both sides of the bolt. It was a wreck when I bought it, so we tore everything apart. We redid everything. We went from a short hood to a long hood.
It's all new frame, body panels, the roof, everything's been changed on this truck, converted it over to an electronic engine 3406E, we pull the truck. So we got it turned up to about, it's about 1,250 to the ground, to the wheels, 15-speed, 4.11 gears, updated rears. It's rears out of a '95, but we stuck with the bud wheels anyways, to keep it, it's a pulling truck and we don't have to work on it every day either.
So all custom interior. It's custom paint. The kid that painted it did a phenomenal job. It's all tri-coat pearl. The back of the truck is a tribute for my daughter's mother that passed away when she was 20 months old. He did that in a product called LumiLor. Every detail on this truck has been thought through.
When I first built the truck, we were trying to get semi pulling back in New York state, and it was a tough deal. I built the truck long and I built it so that it has air ride so we can teeter it and everything like that. And it wasn't welcomed by everybody. And I kind of got called a showoff and this and that, so it just kind of stuck.
So I have another truck that we run in an upper class that has to be put on a trailer to run, and that one was pink and it was done more or less just to a lot of people when they go through stuff when it comes to cancer, they don't realize that you feel alone. You feel like nobody's ever been through what you've been through. And I wanted to do something where people could see that you're not alone. And I had people come up to me and I've cried with complete strangers telling me their stories and stuff like that. And I kind of wanted to tie the two trucks in together so that everybody knew that both of 'em were mine.
We tore it all down. The bunk, it's not the original bunk for the truck. I had a friend of mine that he daycabbed a 359 for a pulling truck. Gave me the bunk and then we started, one of the panels in the rear had dents in it, so we started cutting the rivets out. Well, when we started cutting the rivets out, it started putting holes down through all the panels and I said, that's it. We're doing everything. We're going to do this right. So we big holed it.
Always wanted an extended hood. It was a short hood to begin with. We put new frame in it. The frame was a little sketchy. I just wanted a truck that I didn't have to worry about. I got hooked up with the right people, the kid that painted it, Richy Sykes out of Springwater, New York. We got introduced through a mutual friend and he's become a great friend of mine, and he does, I mean, obviously you can see what he does. He does phenomenal work. I mean, his name's even on the back of the truck because I mean, how can you not be proud of what this guy did?
But every detail, every bolt. Frame that we wrapped the frame in stainless. So it was an experience. We got to meet a lot of cool people, a lot of talented people through the build. It's amazing that our little small community in New York, within 35 miles, there's so many people that are so talented. I mean, the pinstriping guy was only 40 minutes away. The paint guy's 40 minutes away. The upholstery guy was 35 minutes away, which I must say that Mike Murano, he does a lot of boats and stuff like that. He did this project for me and I mean, the interior just came out phenomenal. The guy, he worked with me every step of the way.
It was a great experience. And the stainless is all bent by a local company that puts up grain bins and Martin, them guys are just phenomenal. They bent over backwards to help me, but they love stuff like this too. So they were excited to see it come together. We're pushing two and a half years on the build. I mean, I drilled every hole in this. I put every rivet, every bolt. I was there when the kid painted it all. I had a lot of fun. I wanted to be there. It was kind of neat to see what the factory goes through to do this stuff. Everything is just sealed up nice. I'm very proud of this thing.
