Retired heavy equipment operator Stuart Geltmaker's keen interest in trucks and trucking guaranteed his attendance at the Mid-America Trucking Show since its second year in 1973.
Geltmaker, out of the Louisville suburb of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, bought his first truck to work on and fix up in 1998 when he and his son, Kevin, heard about a Kenworth Aerodyne cabover for sale nearby. They went to look at it and “that had that 3408 Cat in it, and Kevin fell in love with it then,” he said of V8 diesel. “We got it, and I got it all fixed up. That’s really my baby.”
Down the road, anther unit sparked the Geltmakers' interest, with a V8 Detroit and 5-speed automatic Allison transmission -- a rarity of a 1986 GMC General you'll find plenty more views of in the video up top.
The engine is a 500-hp 8V92TA Detroit. “I always liked the sound of a two-stroke Detroit,” he said. “I know when I was growing up back in the 1950s, there was quite frequently the 238 Detroit, and it always sounded good to me. I thought, ‘One of these days, I’ll have me one of those.’ I finally got one.”Video and photos by Lawson Rudisill
The General certainly wasn't in its current, pristine condition back when the Geltmakers first found it. The unit was for sale in Michigan, where it started its life operated by a utilities company pulling big poles. After that, it pulled a 9,000-gallon water tanker used to fill swimming pools. Kevin ended up driving it back home to Indiana after the first visit to look it over. On the trip, it started to get dark, and father and son soon realized the lights on the truck didn’t work, as Stuart tells it. “I said, ‘Man, we’ll never get it home before DOT or state cops pull it over,’ but we got it there.”
Back in his shop he lifted the hood, and “those guys that had it before me had wires running everywhere," he said. "I mean, I had to trace out lines everywhere.” His final decision was to start from scratch and run new wiring for the lights and everything else on the rig.
Geltmaker’s work on the truck didn’t stop with the wiring, however. It was a two-tone white and gray when he bought it, and he had some friends who are painters come in and paint the truck black.
Stuart himself took over from there and turned the truck into what today is known as the “Black Widow,” with red accents complementing the black paint scheme, chrome spiders and other custom touches all around the truck through the years.
The rear of the truck is all chrome with red accents and plenty of lights.
The rig’s interior has been repainted, and Geltmaker added custom switches for the lights, metal flake knobs for the air brakes and custom accelerator and brake pedals.
Geltmaker said the General interiors were "not plush like a Peterbilt or a Kenworth. It's a working man's truck. That's more or less what you would say."
At MATS this past spring, Geltmaker noted that “if you just look around, you’ll see Peterbilts and Kenworths, and very few older models. ... But the [GMC] General was, well, it’s like a poor man’s Peterbilt. It wasn’t the best made truck as far as elegance and stuff, but it got the job done.”
[Related: Built for the hammer lane: Retired boat hauler's one-of-a-kind Frankenstein 'One Piece at a Time']
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Stuart Geltmaker: You see a lot of Peterbilts. You see a lot of Kenworths, but you don't see many GMC Generals. Well, it's like a poor man's Peterbilt. It wasn't the best was made truck as far as elegance and stuff. But it got the job done.
My name is Stuart Geltmaker out of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, retired heavy equipment operator. The truck here behind me, he is a '86 General. They stopped making the, GMC General about, I'd say somewhere around '87. This type is the longer hood. They did make a shorter hood than this.
Did quite a bit of work with it when I got it. It was pretty rough when I got it. It's got an 8V92TA, 500 horse Detroit in it with an Allison automatic. But I always liked the sound of a two-stroke Detroit. So I thought, one of these days I'll have me one of those. I finally got one. So it's got 3.55 gears in the back and I call it my drag truck because it is fast.
I love to drive it because people around you, they don't think that thing will go like that. Some of these guys, these pickup trucks try to race. It will fly. So I I've had a good time with it.
Well I'm kind of tricking it out, if you will. Put things on it, you know, that just kind of stands out.
I had a couple good painters and they painted the black for me. The rest, the detailing, I did myself. Because it was black, I just called it the "Black Widow." Yeah. Just kind of comes to me what to do. Like I said, we put the fifth wheel cover on it. Got the big black widow spider. If I walk around and see something I think it needs to be put on it, I'll put another chrome nut on it. Or, like, on the back of the air dryer. On the shocks, put the red stripes on it and everything. So it, it all falls together.
Lawson Rudisill: In terms of the interior, what custom work did you do to the interior?
Stuart Geltmaker: Well, not a whole lot. Some of the gray, I repainted. Of course, the light switches for the all the lights and the metal flake knobs for the air brakes. Fixed up the two pedals, the accelerator, the brake. So I, I've had a good time with it, and, my wife been behind me all the way. Matter of fact, we'll be celebrating our 56th anniversary pretty soon, you know, in November. So I've got a I've had a good life.
