Attending truck shows around the country, you'll see all sorts of makes. But mainstays among participants are long-hood Paccar units, Kenworths and Peterbilts customized with plenty chrome, special paint and/or accessories. Yet there's always a handful of Freightliners, Volvos and Macks, among others, that tend to stand out from the crowd.
The video in the Custom Rigs series this week features another -- a very-big-bunk 1996 International 9370 we found shined up at Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville in March.
Outfitted with a 190-inch Double Eagle sleeper, the truck has been rebuilt from the ground up after its current owner, Jesse Shirey, found it by "a barn with weeds growing around it” about three years ago. “We brought it home, rebuilt it pretty much from the ground up. New frame rails, we did the whole inside, all new stainless on the boxes, new wheels” and much more.
Jesse Shirey with his 1996 International 9370Video and photos by Lawson Rudisill
In its previous life as a working truck, Shirey said, “it used to haul warheads and NASA satellites for the government. It was a government truck for a long time.” Shirey, owner of Woodland, Pennsylvania-based J.S. Trucking, doesn’t work the International, though he's been in business 20 years with his father hauling grain, fertilizer and more in dump trailers.
Today this unit -- with nearly 3 million miles behind it -- is used for “motorcycling and camping” mostly, Shirey said. The back of the truck has a fifth wheel and a receiver hitch to pull regular trailers, too. The International's original 5EK Cat has been overhauled twice in its life. It’s paired with an 18 speed and 3.21 rears. The rig sits on a 385-inch wheelbase.
Shirey said the truck has 15 airbags under it, so with his wife and kids in the sleeper going down the road, it’s “like you’re sitting in your living room.”
Shirey, his wife and his father did most of the work themselves for the rebuild. In addition to the new frame rails, the Shireys had the hood painted, added a new drop visor, redid much of the interior for both cab and sleeper, added a generator under the sleeper that gives the truck “all the power you need,” and much more.
While the hood has been repainted, the cab and sleeper both still sport original paint, just cleaned and polished since Shirey bought the truck.
A 200-gallon water tank under the sleeper is outfitted with high-pressure pumps, which Shirey said allows him to wash the truck in addition to having water for the shower, toilet and kitchen.
Inside the cab, they added hardwood floors and new seats, and kept the original dash.
The dash is still original with the addition of some chrome accessories.
This Double Eagle-made sleeper, a rarity in its own right today, is made even more so because, as far as Shirey is aware, only four 190-inch Double Eagle sleepers were ever built and this is the only one on an International chassis.
The family added a bigger bed, kitchen table, stove, refrigerator, bathroom, shower, air conditioning unit, custom 12-volt lights in addition to 110-volt power for regular lights, hardwood floors throughout, custom cabinets and a copper ceiling, among other touches. Only the countertops and the stainless behind the counter remain original to the interior.
Shirey's Double Eagle is truly one-of-a-kind.
[Related: Faith, fate, and one big bunk: A pair of custom KWs, one with a 120-inch ARI sleeper]
For more videos and custom-equipment features delivered to your email inbox, subscribe to Overdrive's weekly Custom Rigs newsletter via this link.
Jesse Shirey: Three years ago, we found this truck set inside a barn with weeds growing around it. We brought it home, rebuilt it pretty much from ground up. It has a 190 inch eagle sleeper. Well, from what I understand, they only made four of them. And I think three is still in existence. And this is the only double eagle 190 inch sleeper sitting on an international chassis that I know.
Hi, my name is Jesse Shirey. I own JS Trucking in Woodland, PA. I own this truck. Made my wife mighty well. My dad's in this too. We have a whole damn trailers. We haul grain, fertilizer, stuff like that. Been in business on this 20 years.
It's an international 9370. 1996. There's 3 million miles on it. That's A5K cat and an 18 speed, 321 rear. The wheelbase is 385. Used to haul warheads and NASA satellites for the government. It was a government truck for a long time. It's been in area 51 three times that I know of out in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's been underground hauling explosives and stuff.
This is what it started out in 1996. These are actually off the dealer rooms wall. And this was it. I'm not sure where that picture was taken. Mean it's been a full restoration. Pretty much the only thing we haven't painted the bunk that's still original paint. The hood's been painted. All the components. Outside's pretty much been painted.
The whole inside's been redone. If you want to look, you want to look up.
Or in the bunk. We have a big bed, kitchen table, little stove, refrigerator, bathroom. Them up here. Shower. We got our air conditioner units. We got our custom 12 volt lights we use. Plus we have 110 power. So we have regular lights too. And here we did a lot of hardwood floor work, redid all the interior, customized the cabinets, made the bed bigger.
New refrigerator. Redid the shower. Put a copper ceiling in new power veneers. We have a telephone back here which calls up front. So and it is called back and forth. If you need. We have our TV, we have Dish Network on the roofs. We have TV all the time wherever we go. Has hot water heaters. It has everything your house does.
Everything. Cabinets and everything in here is not original. We and the wife, we redid the whole bunk ourselves. Literally everything except the countertops. That's the only things left. Original. I had Tony Justice Command and sign and Tracy Berg in 2023 signed I believe Tony just signed this truck in 22 is when he signed this one. The first show it's ever went to.
He signed it. We use this now. The main family, we go camping, we go to main, a wife. We do a lot of motorcycle one. So we load up our motorcycle and we go places with it. And when you go into campgrounds with something like this, it pulls all the good people out of the campground and it's just like a huge party.
I'm it it's a lot of fun. You get a lot of compliments, and then they stay and drink beer and it's a good time.
My dad put hardwood floors in that. We redid the whole interior up front. We just put a lot of chrome stuff on the dash. We have camera system 360 degrees around it, so we know exactly what's going on going down the road. We put these custom seats, custom headliners. Everything up front is custom too. It's all gray and black.
That's pretty much it up there.
New frame rails, all new stainless on the boxes. New wheels. I mean, it's been rebuilt from ground up. Can't buy nothing for an international. So everything's pretty much hand-built. I mean, very little is you can buy for there's a generator unit in there which all exhaust comes out. Big stacks. Apple supply the whole truck with everything. Every all power.
You need a new drop visor on the front. These just had singles, actually, it was originally doors, but where they had singles on it when we got so we put doubles on it. Custom made these off an international 9370. These are just vents for under the hood. The original owner actually put them on. Yep. Number double eagle off.
Double eagle Slappers the guy that did some of the poultry work inside. He did the end caps for me too. He built them. We carry 200 gallon of water under our bed with high pressure pumps. So I mean, I can wash a truck no problem. There's 15 air bags under this truck going down the road. You don't even know you're.
You don't even know you're going down a road. The wife and the kids are in a bunk. They don't even like. You're sitting in your living room. If you look under there, you'll see a silver air cylinder. There's a switch in the cab. You flip that out over flat your bags and pick your truck up. UPS give you more ground clearance.
And then if you look at the artwork on here, a guy called Terry Ambler out of Altoona, he did all this almost 80 years old, and he does that all freehand, and it's all custom painted, hand painted. And we got a big receiver hitch in here to pull regular trailers to the back of the truck. That's pretty neat.
Yes, it was originally like that. And then we somebody smashed it ran something to the back of. So it we put brand new sheets the stainless and crease them and put lights in and we did it all. All these lights turn green at night. You can flip switch. Turn them all green back here. Little over 300 lights on it.
This is all my wife and my dad. Me. We built this whole truck three years. The trucks name, it's been. It's been named Igor. The original owner's name. Buddy or. I don't know why, but that's that's the truck's name. And that's what it's called today. Wild woman on the door. That just happens to be my wife, which is pretty wild most of the time.
Yeah. You know, you ever see that going by? She might be flipping off. She might not. You never know.
