The 2026 Big Rig Build-Off at the Mid-America Trucking Show featured three immaculate trucks, each with their own history and inspiration.
If you missed it last week, read about the ultimate winner -- Never Satisfied Builds’ 1985 Peterbilt 359.
Featured today in the video up top, find the Build-Off competitor 2007 Peterbilt 379 built by James Stegall and the team at Stegall’s Truck Shop in Perryville, Missouri.
Its story extends back in time to the founding of the Cuba, Missouri-based Wallis Oil Company by Bill Wallis in 1968.
Stegall’s team was tasked with building the truck for Wallis Transport, one of several businesses part of the Wallis Companies conglomerate hauling gasoline, diesel, kerosene, lubricants and most other petroleum products. Stegall took the opportunity to pay tribute to the company's namesake. Bill Wallis passed in 2001 from melanoma, but his legacy lives on through the company he built and, now, the 2007 Pete built in his honor.
The rig is nicknamed “Blue Collar Roots” as a nod to Wallis, who “never lost his way,” Stegall said. “They say he was a very down to earth, hardworking guy.”Photos and video in this story by Lawson Rudisill
Like most trucks that compete annually in the Build-Off, the 379 is fully customized “other than the firewall and the floor. Everything’s brand new,” Stegall said.
It's powered by a C-15 Cat the team “rebuilt, overhauled and hopped up” to about 800 horsepower, he added. The engine’s coupled with a 13-speed and 3.36 rears.
The engine, of course, is painted, all brass fittings and everything else on the engine polished. “Basically any fitting on here, whether it be a bolt or whatever it is, we sanded and polished everything,” Stegall said.
Cab, sleeper and hood were body-dropped two inches, air ride suspension added on the front end, low air leaf on the rear with disc brakes.
The Stegall’s team added “old-school breathers,” welded rather than bolted-on mirror brackets, 2.5-inch cab and sleeper panels and plenty more. The 53-inch fuel tanks feature a hidden fill spout behind a taillight on the back of the cab.
Inside, the team added an old-school flat dash from 4 State Trucks, and Chris Gebhardt with Gebhardt Enterprises wrapped the dash and did the rest of the interior.
The sleeper is a custom-built, 50-inch box from 12 Ga. Customs that was designed to look like a Double Eagle.
The interior of that sleeper is all custom with speakers, hidden storage, a stainless base for the bed.
The frame rails are shaved to give the truck a clean look, with a stainless deck plate that’s bead-rolled to match the cab and sleeper panels.
The truck features Hogebuilt quarter fenders, shaved fifth-wheel mounts and an enclosed rear end.
When time came to pick the paint colors, it was always going to be some shade of blue to match the Wallis fleet. Yet the specific blue that the truck ended up with is lighter than Wallis’ standard.
Stegall said they saw a ‘50s-model GMC painted a similar shade they felt was unique, and the team “started working at trying to match that or mimic it. It turned out pretty much perfect.”
It also features black accents with lots of blue flake that shines in the sunlight.
Overall, Stegall was going for a look that mixed old-school with hot-rod style, and blended them masterfully.
[Related: 'Outta the Ordinary' 1985 Peterbilt 359 captures $20K MATS Build-Off win]
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James Stegall: The truck's a tribute to Bill Wallis who actually founded Wallis Oil. And he started just an employee at the gas station. Then eventually bought the gas station. And that's how he built up his business. But he never, never lost his way. They say he was a very down to earth, hard-working guy. And so they decided Blue Collar Roots was kind of a good name for it, just to pay tribute to him.
My name is James Stegall. I'm with, Stegall's truck shop. I built the truck for our customer, Wallis Transport.
So it's an '07 379 Peterbilt. I'll start with the engine. So it's a C15 Cat that we rebuilt, overhauled, and hopped it up. It's about 800 horse. We made stainless plates, block off plates and we polished all our brass fittings. Basically any fitting on here, whether it be bolt or whatever it is. We we sanded and polished everything.
Then we body dropped the cab and sleeper and hood two inches and put air ride on the front end. Got it sitting pretty low. We customized the inside of the hood. I shaved the firewall so there's nothing on the firewall. And then we got rid of the 379 factory wiper spots and put 359 wipers in it. Put the old-school breathers on it.
We had the mirror brackets welded on versus being bolted on. Kind of clean that up. Kind of a slick look for that as well. Love the original 379 cowl panels and put a 2.5in cab and sleeper panels. And then getting to the interior. We switched out the dash, got an old style flat dash in it that we got from 4 State and then had, Chris Gebhardt with Gebhardt Enterprises wrapped the dash and do the interior.
We did it in a cream white kind of keep everything classy and elegant. Then we had a special sleeper built from 12 Ga., 50-inch box, kind of like the Double Eagle. Completely customized the inside of it. We got speakers and we got hidden trays. We go in it.
And then put 53-inch fuel tanks on it. And as you can see, you can't, there's no spot to fill it up. So we we came up with a design to be able to fill it up through the back of the tail light. We shaved all the frame rail, smoothed it out, put a stainless deck plate on it, and bead rolled it to match the the cab and sleeper panels.
Underneath, we mounted stainless and watermelon lights from the rear to the front, spaced them evenly. So it's an even glow all the way underneath the truck. We got, Hogebuilt quarter fenders, and then Chris, who did the interior, also made fender quilts for the the front of it. We shaved the fifth wheel mounts, made them boltless and closed them, bodyworked them so them were really smooth.
And then we enclosed the rear end, put bead-rolled center panel, mud flap hangers, mud flap weights. We got it sitting on Low Low Air with disc brakes. Sit on, 24.5 low-pros.
The theme was to kind of have that old hot rod feel to it. We knew we were going to go blue because blue is the Wallis color. But we wanted to change it up a little bit. And we found this old like '50s model GMC that had kind of this similar blue. So then we started working at trying to match that or mimic it. It turned out pretty much perfect.
So all the black has a heavy blue flake in it to match the actual blue color of the truck.
So building this caliber of a truck in the time frame that we did is, I mean, it's overwhelming. It's a lot. I mean, it's easy to get tired, wore out, just short fuzed, but we had a heck of a crew. It took an army, you know, especially when it come down to the last month. I mean, not much sleep, but at the end of the day, we we pulled it off, and and we couldn't be more thrilled.
