Years ago, the New York City native trekked West to make Phoenix his new home and the place where he’d start a one-truck operation that eventually grew into a 60-truck fleet that hauls live fish nationwide.
Rockwood Products custom-installed the African Rosewood flooring and fabricated the truck’s dashboard pieces, including the stainless-steel elements. Freightliner of Arizona airbrushed the truck’s interior and sleeper to mimic the floor, and Tino’s Upholstery specially fabricated the interior in light and dark brown suede.
Overdrive and Pride & Polish will feature ongoing coverage in 2015 of the truck beauty contest’s 25th anniversary.The onetime one-truck operation also spawned a custom Freightliner Classic that stole the show at every event Most entered. It garnered favor from Pride & Polish judges and attendees alike and earned Most armloads of trophies, including several Best of Shows.
Because of his success, Most is being highlighted this month as part of Overdrive’s year-long coverage of Pride & Polish’s 25th anniversary.
Most said the idea behind his custom work was to build a Freightliner that could compete on the show truck circuit.
“I wanted to slowly but surely show that a Freightliner Classic could compete with Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks and win Best of Show,” Most said. Following a Best of Show win in 2010 at the Great West Truck Show – Most’s seventh Best of Show award – he noted, “I think we’ve kind of proved the point.”
Most bought the truck new in 1998. The custom Millennium Yellow paint job came in 2006 after he saw a friend’s Corvette with the same color. That paint job led to a full custom build, which included a refurbished interior, custom engine paint, a few stainless touches and the truck’s signature murals.
In addition to the M&M candy characters representing his nickname and initials, Most’s rig includes cartoons like the Tasmanian Devil and the Cheetos Cheetah.
It also includes serious works dedicated to police and firefighters who responded to the 9/11 World Trace Center attacks and a Dale Earnhardt memorial inside the truck’s hood.
