Owner-operator Troy Bolin, trucking today with authority and hauling cattle out of a Missouri home base, grew up with something specific to aspire to: the 1979 Peterbilt 359 of Huck Huckaby. When Bolin was a teen, he'd seen the deep green 359, louvered hood, powered by a V8 Caterpillar 3408 and with a 66-inch Double Eagle custom sleeper on it "out and about," as he put it.
Huckaby "had a matching reefer painted green just like it, and a brand-new Chevy pickup painted green just like it," Bolin said. "When it was all sitting together, you thought, 'That guy's really got it together.'"
In 1991, the 359 came up for sale and Bolin bought it to run in his livestock-hauling operation -- and though he's bull-hauling in a different truck today, the 359 is still in the barn, so to speak, at Bolin's headquarters in Missouri. He takes it out for shows from time to time. After several different owner-operators pointed it out as a show standout on May 3 at the Crossroads Truck Meet in California, Missouri, Bolin walked us through its history.
Catch the full tour with plenty views of the rig in the video up top. All photos by Todd Dills | Video by Andrew Guinn
Most recently, Bolin replaced the valve covers and did some other work in part to prep for the Crossroads show, "just trying to clean it up a little bit," he said. "We're going to try to do a little more this summer."
[Related: Honoring a father's legacy with Tim Eacret of EZ Pete Interiors]
There's an out-of-frame overhaul in the 3408's history in the late 1990s. Bolin ran the truck up through the early 2000s, through "about '06," he said, "and we haven't done much to it since."
The interior is preserved as if in amber, more or less the way it was when Huck Huckaby had it custom-built by Double Eagle in Indiana after his purchase, Bolin noted. It was bought as a daycab expressly to be sent to Double Eagle for finishing with the 66-inch sleeper and interior.
The 359 rides on a 302-inch wheelbase, Bolin notes. The suspension has been modified since he purchased the truck in 1991, original replaced with a 2000 model Peterbilt low leaf rear suspension.
There was a drawback to the 3408 engine, one that became increasingly clear to Bolin the higher fuel prices got -- it wasn't the greatest "money-making motor" for on-highway work, he said. Hauling cattle in the Pete, "if you drove it really, really conservative, you could get four, a little over four" miles to a gallon. "If you were ever in a hurry, it was below four."
After retiring the 359, Bolin "had a T600 with a Detroit for a little while," he said, then decided he "needed a little bigger truck than that." In 2014, he bought a 1997 Kenworth W900L with a Caterpillar 3406e, an 18-speed and a 100-inch Double Eagle sleeper. He's stretched it out, too, and has run with it primarily ever since.
It's the season of the Peterbilt 359 here in Spring 2025. Catch videos of four others, including two 1979 models, we've featured recently via the links below:
- Built to win: Wheels-off '87 Peterbilt 359 triumphant in Big Rig Build-Off
- Old-school perfection: 'Bossman' Bryan Martin's ’87 Pete 359
- 'Pretty good life' for Gary Jones' short-hood '79 Peterbilt 359
- 'Showoff' 1979 Peterbilt 359 pull truck tuned up to 1,250 hp
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Troy Bolin: Got a V eight CAT 34 0 8 extended hood, and then a six and a four, 66-inch double eagle sleeper. It's 302 inch wheel base now, and I owned it along. I bought it in 91 and I trucked in it for 17 years. 1718 years. And then times just got hard, well fuel everything got so expensive. Oh, motor's been good. I mean, we overhauled it out, framed it in 97 or eight and then drove it till oh six, something like that and didn't do a whole lot to it since then. Since then, but then now it just sits in the shop so it doesn't get much change oil on it once in a while and fuel filter and that kind of stuff.
Todd Dills: You guys, you did some work to it recently, I guess.
Troy Bolin: Did the valve covers, put the valve covers on recently and just tried to clean it up a little bit. We're going to try to do a little more this summer.
Todd Dills: And you guys bought this from the original owner who I understand he's got a bit of a history. Bit of a history and he is well known out there.
Troy Bolin: Yeah. Yeah. Darrel Huckaby – we called him Huck, but He still on the internet, he's still out there a lot. He's still on Facebook a lot, still tells stories and they’re probably all true. He may exaggerate it a little bit on a couple of them, but he's a lot of fun to be around. Man. I knew this truck when I was growing up, when he first got it done, I'd have been 16, 15, 16 and I wanted it then. And like I said, it come up for sale and long story short, I ended up with it. You had just seen it? Just seen it out and about when I first seen it, when he first got it done, he had this and he had a matching reefer painted green just like it, and a brand new Chevy pickup painted green just like it. When it was all sitting together, you thought that guy's really got it together,
Todd Dills: Something to aspire to, right?
Troy Bolin: He had painted just pretty much like this. Yeah, they painted it one time in the mid eighties. They painted it back the same color and I liked the color. Now that paint job, that's how old it is. We redid the hood once, but from there back is all the original paint from the eighties, from 86 to 87 when he had it done. It's like I say, it's got some battle scars on it, but we've used it a lot. So yeah, the rear suspension mate stretched out longer and put a late model. It's a 2000 model suspension under it, low leaf Peterbilt suspension under the bag. So we did that. Oh, back in the mid two thousands I guess is when I did that and some mechanical, did lots of mechanical stuff, rebuilding it, rebuilding stuff.
Todd Dills: The sleeper interior and the interior. It's all, is all original basically.
Troy Bolin: Yeah, it's originally. And it was all done in Double Eagle in Indiana when they put the sleeper on and he ordered it new as a day cab. And it came in without this interior in the cab and they took it out there and cut the hole out and put the sleeper on and then made all the matching interior for the cabs out there. Did all the stereo and all that. The stereo is in the sleeper on this wall here and then that's the speaker boxes. Yeah, it's really in pretty good shape. We've tried to keep it in good shape anyway. Well, the interior is pretty neat in that fruit was a nice, they did a nice job on it and like I say, it's still original. We've never had to do any interior work on it. It still has original 1979 seats in. He just had 'em upholstered when Double Eagle did it and that's what come in it when it was just the old freight hauler type seat and he had them redone. I never did take 'em out, I just left them in there.
Yeah, I like 'em. And they, that one, this one on the other side's wearing pretty good, but for 40 years that's not bad.
Todd Dills: And that's not even is that an air seat?
Troy Bolin: This one isn't. The other side is The other side is, yeah, we did replace the base on the driver side. It was wore out, but this one was just the toolbox
And that's, yeah, you could order it that way and it's got chrome wheel in it or Chrome steering column, tilt wheel, and he made all that. He made the tilt wheel part and all this little stuff off of old cars he found around there. It was the window frame and the window clutch.
Todd Dills: You're still trucking today? You’re other truck is a …
Troy Bolin: 97 model W 900 L model
And it's got a hundred inch double Eagle sleeper in it, still haul cows and haul a lot of cows out of the west out of Colorado and Wyoming. Then I'd like to go back to driving this one someday, but it's just too much. Too expensive. Well, the maintenance on it would be, I'd hate to tear it up now, but yeah. And it is from the vintage that it was built, I guess. Yeah, the 1997’s got an e-Model Cat with an 18 speed, but we stretched it out and put new suspension under it and everything too. I can't leave nothing alone like that. I got to do something to it.
Todd Dills: You were talking I think before, I think we got to talking about speed. People being in a hurry and this truck probably runs sweet, sweet spot is probably about 55 miles an hour if I'm just guessing.
Troy Bolin: 60, 60, 65. Yeah. Real honestly. I mean the speed limits back then was 55. A lot of times across Oklahoma and Kansas it's 55 mile an hour. It is like, yeah, when are we going to get across here and you'd run, I mean you could run faster, but I wouldn't want to go out and try the speed limits in Wyoming now is 80 mile an hour.
And I wouldn't want to try to run this truck like that all day long, once in a while out playing around's one thing, but trying to run that all day long. Little much. But I mean it is got 160 mile an hour speed on, but it won't do that. But yeah, it'll go a hundred, but I wouldn't drive it like that very long either.
Todd Dills: These motors are kind of a rarity. Were back then when were they offered?
Troy Bolin: I think -- now don't quote me for sure -- but from somewhere in 78 till 85 in the 359 and in the Kenworth, I think it was from 78 to 82 iin the A model and I don't know, they just really weren't a very efficient, well, they're a good motor. I don't know what to really say, but I like 'em. And there's a lot of people that still like 'em, but they're not a money-making motor.
Todd Dills: They're not getting the best fuel mileage. … What did you get out of this thing typically back then?
Troy Bolin: Oh, if you drove it really, really conservative, you could get four, a little over four. But you were probably more three and a half to four more often than not. If you were ever in a hurry, it was below four.
Todd Dills: Just a few years after that. Well, the 3406 mechanicals do a good bit better.
Troy Bolin: When that B model Caterpillar come out, it did so much better, run better, got better fuel mileage, so much better of a motor as far as to truck with if you wanted or needed to make money. I just wanted to play and then I finally grew up and realized I got to turn this into a business, so start doing something a little more responsible.
Todd Dills: When did you buy that Kenworth?
Troy Bolin: I bought it in 2014, so I bought parked this one and I had a T600 with a Detroit for a little while and then I couldn't do that and I needed a little bigger truck than that, so I bought that L model in 2014. I've had it a little over 10 years.
Todd Dills: Well, it is a beautiful piece of history for sure. Well thank you. I'm glad to have come across in.
Troy Bolin: I guess I'll have it. We've talked about selling it, but I probably never will. It'll probably be in my shop when I'm gone and the kids will … My two girls grew up in it. I'd just throw 'em in there and we'd just go trucking and tell 'em to grab a bag and we'd be back when we got back. And ao they're kind of attached to it and this is the only truck they ever went with me in, so it's only one they care about. When I started trucking in 1986, in October of 1986, my first born was born in June of that same year and I went trucking and I've never seen them since. Seems like other than when they went out with you. Yeah, yeah. They went quite a bit when they was little. I was at least two damier incorporated when I pulled the reefer for a little bit. And then another Hendricks Livestock a little bit, but most of the time I just have my own authority. I got my own authority now.
