Rod Pickett and his Pickett Custom Trucks business, today based in Buckeye, Arizona, have been in the custom truck world for more than three decades since launch in 1993.
Rod and his brother, Kevin, were big into show trucks in the early 2000s when the shop was based in Washington state, which led to the Picketts partnering with Bryan Martin and his team at 4 State Trucks in Joplin, Missouri, for the hit reality TV series Trick My Truck for seasons 1-3 of the program.
Eventually, the brothers "kind of got burned out" on building true show trucks, Rod said, and for about the last 25 years, he's been building high-end working trucks -- "just a clean, cool working truck," he added.
That all changed when Dexter, New Mexico-based Jason Flores -- owner of 28-truck Dan Dee Dairy -- approached him about mods to his 2019 Peterbilt 389 glider. Pickett finished the first build in 2020 with Flores intending to work the rig. Yet it sat in a barn.
About a year and a half later, Flores took it back to Pickett "and redid it and kind of did some more stuff to it, made it more of a show truck, but it still wasn't a show truck," Pickett said, at least by his standards. Even still, the 2019 Pete got an invitation to the 2025 Stars, Stripes and White Lines Truck Show in Atlanta, where some the top show rigs of the year competed for National Champion honors.
Pickett and Flores knew "competition's stiff there, so we're going to build a show truck," Pickett noted. It wasn't fully completed until just before the Mid-America Trucking Show this year, and it debuted with a bang, winning People's Choice, along with several other honors:
- 2nd in Limited Mileage -- Combo
- 1st in Limited Mileage -- Combo, Paint
- 2nd in Limited Mileage -- Combo, Lights
The truck is nicknamed the "Alfalfa Cruiser," a nod to Flores's fleet's work hauling hay and other commodities.Video and photos by Lawson Rudisill
[Related: PKY results: Never Satisfied Builds' 1985 Peterbilt 359 captures big Build-Off win]
As Pickett details in the video above, "there's nothing on this truck that's factory."
He chopped the top by three inches and body-dropped the cab 4.5 inches to give it an extremely low stance. Essentially every surface is either painted or chromed. Chromed parts included the driveline, transmission, suspension, U-bolts; painted parts the brakes, drums, engine block, so much more.
All exposed lines on the rig are stainless.
"That's kind of our our style for what we do," with true show trucks, Pickett said.
The 6NZ Cat under the hood features a twin turbo with PDI upgrades. The firewall is flattened.
Because of the body drop, he had to put in a shorter radiator. He also added an expansion tank that's split for half to hold water and the other half power steering fluid for the power steering pump.
Pickett initially pulled the ECM off, but he didn't like the look with a "big empty hole there," so he put it back on and built a stainless box to go around it. And again, because of the body drop, he used a shorter 14-inch front bumper.
The wheels are big-holed -- a Pickett Custom Trucks signature, he noted. "We started that 15 years ago, made the holes bigger on the wheels. Just simple, clean stuff. Kind of cool."
Another unique feature: Pickett ground all the seams off the fuel-tank welds to give it a smooth look -- same with the air tanks.
Additionally, the fuel fill isn't visible from the outside of the truck. It's actually routed up into the sleeper, accessible by the sleeper door.
The hidden fill fits with the rest of the truck, with flush-mounted door handles, cab and sleeper panels that are skinned underneath, a flush-mount deck plate all keeping a smooth look consistent.
The fully reworked interior features a full-digital dash, HVAC mounted under the dash so it's hidden, and a 12,000-watt stereo.
The truck was paired with a tandem set of PT Welding flatbed trailers at MATS that were likewise completely rebuilt.
"We obviously body-worked everything, polished all the rails, under-skinned everything," Pickett said. "So the whole bottom is skinned," with an underglow added. "Everything underneath's all painted purple and it's all got lights in it. Polished landing legs."
The trailers boast 130 lights and well more than 900 stainless button-head bolts to bolt down the stainless decks.
"I had a really good time doing this truck," Pickett said. "Jason, the guy that owns the dairy, him and I are like brothers now almost. We talk all the time, so it's been a real fun project."
[Related: Dills Transportation's hand-throttle '07 Pete cleaned up in first show]
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Rod Pickett: All right. I'm Rod Pickett from Pickett Custom Trucks. Behind us is the 2019 389 glider. We built this thing from the ground up.
This is the owner's personal truck. He originally built at to work it every day, and we got it done 2020 by the time it was done. Brought it home, put it in the barn. Never really used it, so means he wasn't using it. We brought it back out year and a half later and redid it and kind of did some more stuff to it, made it more of a show truck, but it still wasn't a show truck.
So, we actually got invited to the Stars and Stripes show in Atlanta last year, and that's like an invite-only. So me and the owner, Jason, talked about it and we said we decided to go, but we're if we're going to go to that, competition's stiff there, so we're going to build a show truck.
So we tore it completely apart again, tore it down to the frame, and this time around I chopped the top three inches; it's body-dropped 4.5 inches. Obviously everything's painted, chromed. I mean, there's nothing on this truck that's factory. The firewall has been flattened out. The dash inside's completely custom. We built all dash insides, all that stuff. Roll-down back window, flush-mounted the glass in the front. Flush-mounted door handles, cab and sleeper panels underneath. All skinned and bellied. Whole trailer's under-skinned. All air ride front to back on the truck and trailer. Flush-mounted deck plates. Solid-mounted fifth wheel. All the light bars we made, all the stainless boxes we made.
Truck's got a lot of detail. I tried to, I kind of went back to where we used to do stuff, where there's not a lot of panels hiding stuff. I kind of wanted to detail all the stuff. So you look up underneath, there's no I-panel, none of that stuff. The drive lines are chrome all the way up, all the transmission's painted, chrome stuff.
All my lines that are exposed are stainless. So it's kind of really nothing really covering everything. It's just all exposed and detailed out. Like all the suspension stuff's chrome. The U-bolts are chromed, all my brakes are painted green, the drums are purple, just the detail small stuff, you know. So that's kind of our that's kind of our style for what we do.
Pretty much a pretty much a show truck now. So this is the first show with it. We just finished it, like last week. So this is the debut with it right here.
All digital dash. The heat and A/C is mounted up under the dash. You don't see it. So all the footwell is clean. Shifter, splitter was beside the seat. So that stick's all clean. Just we tried to make less. Just like the less simpler stuff is kind of our motto, you know. The less you see that it's simpler the cleaner it is. Like 12,000-watt stereo. It's insane.
So under the hood, it's a 6NZ Cat twin turbo. Got PDI stuff on it because like I said it was a glider when it put it together. Obviously the firewall that was it's no doghouse in it, it's flat. Had to put a short radiator in it because we body dropped it so much. So we put the expansion tank up here and it's actually split, so half of that's for water and another half is split for the power steering fluid for the power steering pump. So that kind of keeps that all clean. We rewired it all. So a lot of the wiring you can't see it's all kind of tucked in. It's still some that you can see. But we didn't hide it completely. But we rewired it so it wasn't like the factory stuff.
I had the ECM off it, but I like the look of it because I just kind of left a big empty hole there. So I ended up putting ECM back on the side of the motor, and then we built the stainless box to go around it all. That whole front crossmember stuff's all hand-built stuff.
It's got a 14-inch bumper on it because it sits so low. We built that. All that front crossmember stuff, we built. All the frame horn stuff, we made. Cut the big hole wheels. That's kind of our deal. We started that 15 years ago. Made the holes bigger than the wheels. Just simple clean stuff. Kind of cool.
Another cool feature here, we've got the, which I've done before -- it's for the fuel tanks. I ground all the seams off the welds and all that stuff. It's all smooth. Same with the air tanks. All the all the welds are ground smooth. The fuel fill, we welded a neck in the top so it comes up through the flush with the sleeper door so you don't see no fuel fill where you feel it from, and then you just open the door here. Actually just pull this out and the fuel fill it through there. It's kind of a clean, simple, where you don't notice nothing. I wanted a short tank, so it tucked underneath the cab. So it made the truck look longer. We shaved all the bolts on the frame, which I've been doing that for years.
So the trailers trailers start out as a that's a PT trailer out of California. We obviously body worked everything, polished all the all the rails, under-skinned everything. So all whole bottom is skinned and then got an under glow on it. So everything underneath's all painted purple and it's all got lights in it. Polish landing legs. Moved the battery or the toolbox up under the center.
Built all the stainless panels for in front of the axles. I mean added fenders and stuff like that. All the lights. It's got all the lights on. I know it's got 130 lights on a trailer. It's insane for the amount of trailer lights around this thing. 980 stainless button heads to bolt them down. We counted them all when we had to order all those to bolt them, to bolt the decks on because we put all stainless hardware on it.
This one here actually is called the Alfalfa Cruiser. It's painted on the back of the trailer. Actually the owner named it Alfalfa Cruiser.
I had a really good time doing this truck. Jason, the guy that owns the dairy. Him and I are like brothers now, almost. We talk all the time, so it's been a real fun project. Like I said, I've been doing this for 30 years and I haven't done a show truck in 25 years. You know, we all do working trucks like the like the red one, you know, just a clean, cool working truck.
But this is the first show truck in a long time. And kind of got burned out because we did this, like I said, 25 years ago, me and my brother, we showed for quite a few years and kind of got burned out with it. So but this is like we've had a great time building this one with Jason and he's just been great customer, and like I said, friend now and it's been cool.
