Pride & Polish

Pride & Polish rewind: ‘Thunderhead’ 389

2018 Pete galloped to truck show glory

October 19, 2020

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Pride & Polish Working Combo, 2016-’21: Pink tribute truck grows on fleet owner

Learn all about West Coast Transporation's breast cancer awareness wrapped 2018 Kenworth, winner of Overdrive's Pride & Polish Working Combo category for 2020.

September 29, 2020

Eva Knelsen entered this 2018 Kenworth W900L, owned by Don English, in the Working Combo, 2016-2021 class.

Pride & Polish Working Combo, 2015 & Older: ‘The Goose’ sports nice nest for owners

Daniel and Phyllis Snow's 1996 Freightliner Classic XL, 'The Goose', won this year's Pride & Polish Working Combo, 2015 & Older category. Details on Overdrive.

September 28, 2020

Daniel and Phyllis Snow’s 1996 Freightliner Classic XL is competing in the Working Combo, 2015 and older class.

Pride & Polish Working Bobtail, 2014-’21: ‘Pit Bull’ clamps down on top spot

Overdrive's Pride & Polish Working Bobtail, 2014-2021 winner this year is husband-wife team truck drivers Kris and Casey Keel with their 2019 Peterbilt 389.

September 25, 2020

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Pride & Polish Working Bobtail, 2013 & Older winner: Fleet’s ‘misfit’ Pete fits driver well

The only Peterbilt truck in a fleet of Kenworth trucks took home honors in Overdrive's Pride and Polish Working Bobtail 2013 & Older Class. Details here.

September 24, 2020

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Pride & Polish Limited Mileage winner: ‘Foolish Habit’ can’t shake winning ways

Ray and Cory Thompson's 2000 Peterbilt 379, "Foolish Habit", won the Limited Mileage category in the 2020 virtual Pride & Polish contest. Click for details.

September 23, 2020

Pride & Polish Interior winner: ‘Mama’s Money’ pays off nicely

Matt Strottman's won the Interior category in Overdrive's 2020 virtual Pride & Polish photo contest with his black and green 2020 Kenworth W900L. Details here.

September 22, 2020

Pride & Polish Antique winner: Cabover ‘started demanding what it wanted’

This year's Antique category winner for the 2020 virtual Pride & Polish photo contest is C.J. Donovan with his 1984 Peterbilt 362. Details on Overdrive.

September 21, 2020

C.J. Donovan’s 1984 Peterbilt 352 won first place in the Antique category during Overdrive’s GATS Week Pride & Polish competition.

Watch: 2020 Pride & Polish award ceremony

Robb Mariani emcees the show, announcing seven winners

September 2, 2020

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Ray Thompson’s ‘Foolish Habit’ 379

Campbell, Missouri-based Ray Thompson took this former car-hauling Pete and turned it into a show truck. He rebuilt the truck from the ground up, including a complete overhaul of the interior.

August 31, 2020

Here are the seven rigs crowned 2020 Pride & Polish champs

Check out the first-ever virtual Overdrive's Pride & Polish truck-beauty championship photo contest winners.

August 28, 2020

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Pride & Polish Weekly Video Encore, No. 1: Robb Mariani’s 1974 Ford W9000

Robb Mariani is the owner of the truck in the most-watched Pride & Polish video, a 1974 Ford W9000 cabover, which he calls “Low Patrol.” As he describes in the video, the truck was bought new in 1973 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and used as a mobile command unit for about 20 years.

August 24, 2020

All told, Mariani and Wike put in untold man-hours — “months” — of labor, and otherwise spent, estimating very conservatively, around $50,000 on the rod. They got lots of help from a variety of sponsors in equipment donations and the like, from the Big Rig Chrome Shop in TK TK, House of Color paint, Mariani’s long association with Cobra Electronics, Bingham Tire in Tennessee and others. HELP ME OUT WITH THOSE I’M MISSING HERE AND/OR A QUOTE TO ROUND IT UP.

Check out the custom rigs named finalists in the 2020 Overdrive’s Pride & Polish contest

Here are the top three finalists for all seven categories in this year's Pride & Polish competition. Check out these custom rigs here on Overdrive.

August 20, 2020

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Pride & Polish Weekly Video Encore, No. 2: Vinnie Diorio’s 2005 Peterbilt 379

Up this week at No. 2 is Vinnie Diorio’s 2005 Peterbilt 379, “Picture Me Rollin’.” The truck appeared at a number of Pride & Polish events in the late 2000s and early 2010s, earning Limited Mileage Combo Best of Show in Wildwood, Florida, in 2011, among other awards.

August 17, 2020

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Three days left to vote for your favorite Pride & Polish rigs

There are three days left to vote for your favorite Pride & Polish competitors. Finalists and winners will be presented Aug. 28 in a virtual event streamed on Facebook Live as part of Overdrive’s GATS Week, Aug. 24-28.

August 13, 2020

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More views of rigs competing in virtual Pride & Polish competition

Check out a few more of the 92 entries in the 2020 virtual Overdrive’s Pride & Polish competition. Vote for your favorite custom rig here on Overdrive.

August 11, 2020

Eva Knelsen entered this 2018 Kenworth W900L, owned by Don English, in the Working Combo, 2016-2021 class.

Pride & Polish Weekly Video Encore, No. 3: Bill Rethwisch’s 2012 Peterbilt 389

Up this week at No. 3 is “Dreamsicle,” a 2012 Peterbilt 389 with a matching Polar tanker owned by Wisconsin-based Bill Rethwisch. The truck won the 2013 Pride & Polish Working Combo National Championship.

August 10, 2020

Bill Rethwisch’s 2012 Peterbilt 389 and Polar tanker – Working Combo champ

Take a peek at some of the rigs competing in the 2020 virtual Pride & Polish contest

These six custom rigs are just a small sample of the 92 entries in the 2020 virtual Overdrive's Pride & Polish competition. Check them out here on Overdrive.

August 4, 2020

C.J. Donovan’s 1984 Peterbilt 362

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The trucker cap in teacher Amy Watson’s selfie from the day she was tested for COVID-19 later inspired her choice of “long-haulers” to describe COVID survivors with persistent symptoms. “My school’s mascot is a squirrel,” she said, which she finds appropriate, given that her pre-school students, with their short bursts of activity, are “very squirrel-like.”

Trucking’s bit part in the 'COVID long-haulers’ name

A teacher's trucker cap provides inspiration for her to borrow trucking's "long-hauler" designation for COVID-19 survivors who discover they're facing an indefinite period of further suffering.

Small-fleet owner Jesse McGinness was going for originality with the look of this 2021 Peterbilt 389, spec'ing the black Alcoa rims from the factory. After his maiden voyage in a Class 8 tractor years ago, in a Peterbilt 379, he fell in love with the classic square-hood series. He plans to modify the stacks, the grille and more to all-black finish -- committing sacrilege, says the operator who took him on that first 379 run. McGinness'll maintain plenty in chrome/stainless accents, not to worry. The flattop with lift-axle is powered by the X15 Cummins at 605 hp, with an 18-speed transmission. 'I wanted this truck to be a truck that I thought was cool,' McGinness said, in addition to doing the tough over-dimensional/heavy hauling he'll require of it.

'WTF' stresses service for long-term success

The glider market grew from a few hundred sales a year in 2010 to upwards of 10,000 as recently as 2017. Gliders sported pre-emissions-regs engines -- no exhaust gas recirculation or selective catalytic reduction components and, thus, no need for DEF. With simpler technology and refurbished engines, the products were much cheaper than new trucks with new engines, making them attractive buys for small-business truckers.

Glider kit market hits fatal nosedive with latest emissions regs

Fuel Fueling Truck Stop

After weakened demand in 2020, diesel prices jump back to pre-pandemic levels

Junior Elmore’s Marmon caught Christner's eye right off for a very simple reason: 'I’d never seen a Marmon cabover in the flesh before,' he wrote. 'Up close, it’s easy to see why a Marmon cabover was used in the movie 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' as the Autobot Optimus Prime. Elmore’s Marmon COE #31 HDT-BC-86 was Manufactured 03/1977 in Garland, Texas. This is a complete truck with no parts taken off. Still running when parked in 1999. A good honest work truck that’s nicely spec’d out.' Find more details, and history, via this link.

Look back at Junior Elmore's classic 1970s rigs

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

More episodes »

The Business Manual for Owner-Operators

Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the 2021 edition of Partners in Business.

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