Camden, Arkansas-based Todd Scruggs, owner of Scruggs Timberland Services, has spent his whole life in and around trucking. His father was a log-hauler, and Scruggs remembers “riding home in a brand-new 359” that his father bought in 1983 when Scruggs was just seven years old. “I was hooked,” he said.
Today, Scruggs runs five trucks in support of his business doing heavy land clearing work with big bulldozers. “We don’t run them nonstop,” he said. “Me and a couple other guys, I got a couple end dumps, dump trucks and then a couple of lowboy trucks, stuff like that.”
Ever since his early experience riding in his dad’s 359, Scruggs always wanted one himself. In 2012, he got the opportunity to purchase the 1982 Peterbilt 359 featured in the video up top. It was in nowhere near the condition shown here at time of purchase. The 359 “originally was an old West Texas oilfield truck, beat up,” he said. It was inoperable -- the Cat 3408 “motor was shot in it.” It sat idle for about 11 years while Scruggs made plans for it and finally started the rebuild in 2023.
All of the work put in would pay off at the 2025 Shell Rotella SuperRigs working truck show at Atlanta Motor Speedway. There, Scruggs' 1982 359 placed first in the Classic Division.
[Related: Kenny Ziglar's 'Scrapin' By' 2007 Peterbilt 379 wins top honors at SuperRigs]
One of the biggest and most involved changes he made to the truck was swapping out the old 3408 mechanical Cat for a Cat C18 marine engine. “The engine was a pretty good challenge, making the newer style electronic, the ECM, getting all that to work in something that it wasn’t designed to,” he said. But now that it’s in there, “It really is nice to drive. We got the old look, but got the new feel.”
The truck was originally equipped with a Cat 3408 with a 5 and 4 transmission. It now boasts the Cat C18 with an 18-speed and 3.90 rears.
Scruggs tore the truck down to the frame to start the rebuild. The frame itself was in “pretty good shape,” he said, with little rust. “It had good bones to work with.” The rig sports a double frame, ideal for heavy-haul, with 46,000-pound rear axles.
The rest of the truck, though, “was rough,” Scruggs said. “The hood had gotten into the cowl, the body mounts were busted. We had to take the cab off to fix all that.”
He replaced cab skins on top of the truck and added new front fenders, but he was able to salvage the side skins on the hood, along with the grille. “I’m one of those original type people,” he said. “If it can be salvaged, I’m gonna try to keep it the original DNA of what it was. ... So I’ve tried to keep as much of [the original truck] as I could.”
With the nature of Scruggs' work, much of which is off-road, the heavy-duty fenders are almost a necessity. He noted other trucks he owns have had aluminum fenders torn up, so he decided to go with sturdier fenders for this build.
Scruggs and his team -- who did all of the rebuild in-house but for the interior, which he bought from Truk Guts in Joplin, Missouri -- took about two years of off-and-on work to complete it. “We didn’t work on it nonstop, just in our off season, wintertime,” he said. “Summertime, [we] have to go to work, pay the bills.”
When it came time for paint, Scruggs had initially planned for a green and black scheme, but once he had the colors together, something wasn't quite right, not what he had envisioned. Instead of black, he opted for off-white stripes with metallic gold breaker stripes.
“It just looked better, kind of looked like money,” he said. “Looked like a dollar bill.” Fitting, given that’s the name -- “Dollar Bill” -- that he had already planned for the unit.
The interior still features the original dash shell, but door panels, headliner and all the other interior features are from Truk Guts. Scruggs said he was “real pleased with the fit and finish of it.”
The classic wood grain veneer dash stands out in the custom interior.
Following SuperRigs at the end of May, Scruggs was putting the rig to work. "Got permits for Monday morning," he said at the show. "Got to go get loud and heavy."
[Related: Owner-op Lucas Zach's project 2017 Peterbilt 389, 2025 Timpte hopper]
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Todd Scruggs: It's a 1982 359. Originally it was an old West Texas oil field truck, beat up. Bought it in 2012. Set around, I, I knew I wanted a green 359, and I knew the name Dollar Bill, I just wanted it to be like that.
My shop's based outta Camden, Arkansas, we're Scruggs Timberland Services. We do heavy land clearing work with big dozers. Grew up around it, hauling logs. Just was a little fella. Grew up in the logging business. Dad had trucks and rode home in a brand new 359, and I was 7 years old, '83 model. I was hooked. We didn't start this rebuild till about '23. Tore it down, done the frame work first, and knew the wheel base we wanted. Got all that settled and then engine and kind of went on from there.
Originally was gonna be green and black, but I didn't like it after I put the colors together. So it's a green and off-white and gold. I put the, put the colors together and I just, what I had in my mind just didn't look, I just didn't like it. So that's why I went with the off-white. I knew I wanted the gold metal flake, you know, breaker stripe. So anyway, it just looked better. Kind of looked like a, looked like money. Looked like a dollar bill.
We've done everything in house, pretty much, except the interior. Had bought it from another company and we put it in. The interior, that was a wood grain veneer, did that. Original dash shell is still original for the truck. The door panels headliner, all that, the Fat Boy kit stuff, all that's from Truk Guts in Joplin. Was real pleased with the fit and finish of it.
But yeah, all the paint, paint and body work done myself, because I had to. It was either had to learn to work on it or go broke. I paid to have a little bit done, but not, not a lot. I just trust my own work and, and I've got a good guy that works for me who's really, really sharp. I trust him with a lot of, a lot of help too.
It was rough. It was rough. The hood had gotten into the cowl. The body mounts were busted. We had to just take the cab off, you know, and fix all that. New skins on the top. Of course, new fenders, the side skins are original on the hood, the grille.
I'm one of those original top people. If it can be salvaged, I'm going to try to keep it the original DNA of what it was, you know. And so I've tried to keep as much of it as I could. Like I say, we just worked the frame over first. It was in pretty good shape. Wasn't real rusty or nothing like that. So, uh, it had good bones to work with.
It fought like a grizzly bear. There's so many things. I mean, it's like you'd make two steps forward and then one step back. The engine was a pretty good challenge. The back in the, the newer style electronic, the ECM, you know, getting all that to work in something it wasn't designed to, you know, but once it is, I mean, now it's, it's nice, it really, it's nice to drive and all that. So still got the old look, but got the new feel,
We didn't work on it nonstop. Just in, uh, in our off season, wintertime. Summertime have to go to work, pay the bills, you know,
It was a 3408, 5 and a four. Now it's a C18 Cat, 18-speed. Heavy-haul double frame, 46,000 pound rears, 3.90s.
And my other trucks, they've got aluminum fenders. And I've tore up so many. I knew going into this, I wanted this build, I wanted something a little more robust. And I found the bed. It was only a two-axle bed and we had to stretch it and add another for the pusher axle. That required a good bit of work. It'd probably been about as easy to back up and build it from scratch. But, you know those vendors will hold up, you know, for what we do. We do a lot of off-road stuff like that.
