Joplin, Missouri-headquartered David Foster hauls general freight leased to Standard Transportation Services with the stunning 2005 Kenworth W900L featured here.
Foster, 66 years old when Overdrive caught up with him at the Guilty by Association Truck Show last fall, has been trucking since he was 18. His father owned trucks before him, and Foster started out driving hauling milk, then mail.
David Foster
This '05 Kenworth is just the sixth truck he’s owned. He also holds onto a 2003 W9 primarily for wintertime runs, using each about half any given year.
“They both are close on the dash” as far as mileage, he noted. “I figure between the two, they’ll take me through my semi-retirement years.”
He ordered this ‘05 in early 2004 and took it to Thunder Grafix in Joplin to have the vinyl stripes added.
The stripe pattern is modeled after that first 1982 model he bought, except that one was black and silver instead of this unit’s burgundy, silver and gray scheme.
Foster's more than 1.8 million miles' worth of seat time in the '05 has taken him trucking to all 48 states in the contiguous U.S. That's a first for trucks under his ownership, he said.
It all gave him plenty time, maybe "too much time," to think rolling down the road, so he’s made “a lot of changes over the years,” he said. He’s added a full package of Lincoln Chrome products; stacks, bumper, visor and grille. He also has Hogebuilt half fenders over the rear axles and Trux lights all around.
The W900's still equipped with the original 550-hp Acert Caterpillar, which was in-framed just shy of 1.1 million miles. The Cat’s coupled with a 13 speed and 3.36 rears.
“I always felt that if you keep good components on a truck," and "you’re the only driver, you could drive them from now on,” Foster said.
The rig features Kenworth’s Studio Sleeper with the Seattle interior package and an Alpine stereo system. He’s done some custom work inside, painting the dash among other minor upgrades.
The biggest project, though, was adding chrome covers to all of the buttons in the button-tuck upholstery throughout the cab and sleeper.
“I wasn’t going to do that,” he said. “A guy suggested that, and I said, ‘Do you realize how many buttons are in there?’ So, the more I got thinking about it, I got to counting.”
He counted, and kept counting, until he got almost all the way to 1,000 buttons in the truck -- 965 to be exact. “I didn’t want to break the bank, but it got close,” he joked.
He also modified the bunk in the sleeper by cutting the top bunk in half to make it into a shelf rather than a bed.
Owner-operator Foster travels with a fold-up bicycle that fits in a bag, and he has it strapped to that modified bunk shelf. “If I’m laid over somewhere, I can go for a bike,” he said. “I literally rode at least 10 miles in all 48” states, plus in Hawaii on a trip he took with his wife.
“I still love messing around” with the truck, “cleaning up, just as much as I did when I was 18, 20 years old on my dad’s trucks,” Foster said. “I don’t know what it is.”
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David Foster: I grew up around it. My dad always had trucks, and I've been driving since I was probably 18, had farm milk trucks, and I'm 66 and this is the sixth truck I've had that much time.
I'm David Foster, from Joplin, Missouri, leased to Standard Transportation Services here in Joplin. It's an '05, got it in early '04. I ordered it in January of '04. I've had Thunder Grafix vinyl the stripes. It's off my actually the stripe color's off an '82 design, only it was black and silver where this is burgundy and silver and gray.
Over the years, I'd go to try to go to SuperRigs when I could, then other truck shows, and then we got too much time to think going down the road. I made quite a lot of changes over the years. I got with Lincoln Chrome. I have Lincoln stacks, Lincoln bumper, Lincoln visor, or Lincoln grille, Hogebuilt half fenders, Trux lights.
The truck over time, it's been physically in all 48 lower states. It's the only truck out of all the trucks that's been all 48. I've had some trucks that I got to some but then I didn't get to the other and this. So anyway, this one I guess because I've had it so long.
It's got a million 889 on it. I had it in-framed at 1,093,505. So it's been 800,000. It's got a 550 ACERT Cat, 13 over, 3.36 rears. Studio Sleeper, Seattle package inside, Alpine stereo.
I still love messing around, cleaning up like I did just as much as I did when I was 18, 20 years old on my dad's trucks. I don't know what it is. I'm 66 now and I have no idea of retirement any time.
I'm doing more things now than I used to like side activities, going on different trips with my wife, and hunting trips, that type of thing. But I'm still not ready to sit on the front porch full time yet.
I've done a little bit of stuff on the dash. Buttons, got the Seattle package, but they had just the solid buttons and I did the little chrome covers, which I wasn't going to do. I had a guy suggested that, and I said, "do you realize how many buttons are in there?" So the more I got thinking about it, I got to counting. And you had to count in sections where the door, each door is different, and there was in there was literally on a Seattle package, the sleeper and everything just shy of 1,000 -- 965 buttons. I didn't want to break the bank, but it got close.
I did the sleeper, the bunk in the sleeper, I had it, it folds up and I had it cut in half so I could watch TV, and it's like a shelf. Well, I have a bicycle fold-up bicycle. I used to bicycle it a lot, and I carried it. It folds in the bag and I put it in the sleeper, it goes up on the shelf, and then if I'm laid over somewhere, I can go for a bike. I literally at least 10 miles in all 48, well, 49 states. I went to Hawaii, not with the truck, but we took a trip. I took it with me.
