"It's just a damned old truck. Ain't nothing that special about it. There's 10 million of these trucks out there, but this was my son's truck." --Owner-operator Richard Puckett
Richard Puckett started his High South Transportation business in the early-mid 1970s with a focus on wrecker work.
His Banner Elk, North Carolina, home base is “near three ski slopes,” he said, “and we’ve done a lot of wrecker business in the wintertime because of the ski industry.”
When the ski season ends in the spring, however, work slows down, hence the dump trucks like the one you see here.
Owner-operator Richard Puckett (right) is shown with his 2002 Peterbilt 379 dump truck and Elijah Webb (left), who painted the rig and did the bodywork to finish the rebuild.Photos and video by Lawson Rudisill
The family-owned and -operated business “got into playing with an old dump truck trying to haul a few loads of gravel or mulch or something, trying to make a few dollars,” he said. “And it kind of evolved into playing with dump trucks along with wreckers and rollbacks.”
Today the business makes all three equipment types its focus. “We put it all together and try to make a fairly decent living,” he said. “You never know which one you’re going to be doing when the phone rings.... it’s kind of a gamble.”
The 2025 Large Cars & Guitars truck show and music festival earlier this year was the first truck show Puckett had ever attended, “especially to show a truck,” he said, the extra-special custom 2002 379 in the video up top.
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“My son drove this truck," Puckett said. "My son died three years ago,” and "the truck sat for a long time, then it got wrecked. I wanted to fix the truck back for him.”
He and his family and friends started the process themselves in Puckett's shop -- “We tried real hard, but we couldn’t pull it off. Not like it needed to be,” he said. “But I wanted to fix the truck because of my son, because it was his truck.”
Puckett said his son, Jody, “drove it all the time.” During the rebuild, Puckett made sure his name was painted on the driver’s door.
It's a beautiful tribute, much better than the alternative: “I could have dug a hole and have buried the truck and forgot about it when it got wrecked,” Puckett said. The team would turn to Elijah Webb, owner of C&W Repair near Knoxville, Tennessee, giving Webb free rein to paint it how he wanted, as long as he didn’t use black.
“I said, ‘Brother, you’ve been painting trucks your whole life. Ain’t nobody never, ever let you paint a truck to suit yourself.’ I said, ‘Now here’s your chance,’” Puckett said of his conversation with Webb. “Elijah picked out the paint scheme and painted the truck and finished up the bodywork for us, and I think it turned out pretty well for us.”
Webb went "old-school" with striping and colors, Puckett noted.
“You don’t have a bunch of chicken lights and lots of extras," he added. "It’s kind of plain Jane as far as a lot of trucks go. It’s the way I like it; it’s easy to take care of.”
The rig sports a 550-hp Cat C15 with a 10-speed and boasts an air-ride suspension. When Puckett purchased the 379, it was outfitted with a flatbed to haul lumber. To fit his business, “we took the flatbed off, shortened the frame, put a dump bed on it and turned it into a dump truck,” he said.
The rig’s interior is mostly stock, other than a pair of aftermarket seats and some chrome additions on the dash.
Other than the fresh paint job, it’s almost exactly like it was before it was wrecked. “The truck’s like the truck was when he drove it, just a different paint job,” he said. He took care to preserve the driver's side sun visor, which still had papers and some cash clipped to it from when Jody drove it.
"When the truck got wrecked, I took that sun visor off the truck, took it inside the shop and put it in my desk drawer," Puckett said. "That was the first piece we took off the truck. After the truck got fixed, that was the last piece that got put back on it."
Puckett called the visor "sacred" for him. "I wouldn't take $10 million for that damn sun visor, because it was my son's. It's just a damned old truck. Ain't nothing that special about it. There's 10 million of these trucks out there, but this was my son's truck."
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Richard Puckett: This is my first time ever to come to a truck show, and especially to show a truck.
Lawson Rudisill: So what made you want to come out to this show, Large Cars & Guitars?
Puckett: The boy that painted the truck. He's wanting to show it off. Elijah. He's a bud. You do things for your buds. He wanted to show off his paint job, so here we are.
My name is Richard Puckett. I own and operate High South Transportation in Banner Elk, North Carolina. I've been in business, I think 48 years now. It's a family owned and run business. Yeah, we started in the wrecker business, I think in 1973 or 4. It kind of evolved into playing with dump trucks along with wreckers and the rollbacks. You never know which one you're going to be doing when the phone rings. It's kind of a gamble. So you never get too bored.
Well, it's a 2002 Peterbilt 379 with a C15 Cat and a 10-speed, air-ride suspension. When I bought it, it had a flatbed on it for hauling lumber. The engine was disabled. They [blew] the turbo on it. The lumber yard that had it didn't want to fix it, and I bought it and repaired it.
Then we decided we'd turn it into a dump truck, so we took the flatbed off, shortened the frame, put a dump bed on it. We turned it into a dump truck, and then decided we'd paint it and fix it up a little bit. I found Elijah in Tennessee, just outside of Knoxville, at C&W Repair. When I took it to him, I told Elijah, I said, "Brother, you've been painting trucks your whole life. Ain't nobody never, ever let you paint a truck to suit yourself." I said, "Here's your chance." And the only thing I told him was, don't use no black. Cause I'm not a fan of black.
So Elijah picked out the paint scheme and painted the truck and finished up the bodywork for us. It's kind of old school, you know, like in the late '60s, early '70s, as far as the stripes go. And then you don't have a bunch of chicken lights and lots of extras, it's kind of plain Jane as far as a lot of trucks go. But it's the way I like it, it's easy to take care of.
Well, you know, I told you it was a family owned and operated business. My son drove this truck. My son died three years ago. The truck sat for a long time, then it got wrecked. I wanted to fix the truck back for him. If you walk around to the driver's door, his name is on the door to the tribute to my son. That's the real skinny on this truck.
And I'll show you something about this truck. That stuff on the sun visor -- that dollar bill and those papers on the sun visor, my son put on the sun visor when he was alive, when he drove the truck. When the truck got wrecked, I took that sun visor off the truck. That was the first piece we took off the truck. After the truck got fixed, that was the last piece that got put back on it. That piece is sacred. I wouldn't take $10 million for that damn sun visor.
It's just a damned old truck. Ain't nothing that special about it. There's 10 million of these trucks out there, but this was my son's truck.
