This profile is part of a multi-part series profiling the seven Pride & Polish winners from the 2020 virtual Pride & Polish photo contest in August.
Mike Hall picked up honors in the Working Bobtail 2013 & Older class with this 2004 Peterbilt 379, which he drives for C Bean Transport.The truck driven by Mike Hall, a driver for Colebrook, New Hampshire-based C. Bean Transport, is somewhat of a black sheep in Chip Bean’s fleet. The 2004 Peterbilt 379 is the fleet’s only truck that’s not a Kenworth.
“I’m a misfit,” Hall said. “He’s a Kenworth man. He keeps saying how much he doesn’t like Petes, but he takes my truck when he needs to go out.”
Full results from the 2020 virtual Overdrive’s Pride & Polish photo contest can be found here.Hall uses the truck to haul oil products around Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. He runs about 85,000 miles a year but stays within a 100-mile radius of his home base, exempting him from having to use an electronic log.
The truck, which soon will pass 1 million miles, is powered by a Cat C15 with an 18-speed and 3:55 rears. It also features a flex air suspension on the rear axles.
Hall, a former owner-operator, has known Bean for 40 years or more and told him he’d drive for him if he’d buy him a Peterbilt. Hall joined the fleet about six years ago, and Bean found the right Pete about 4.5 years ago in Tennessee.
All of Bean’s trucks are black, so they had the tan Pete painted to match. Among other upgrades they made are the fenders, wheels and stacks. Hall said that even though the Pete is a company truck, he treats it like it’s his own.
“I work awful hard to keep it looking nice, especially in the winter,” Hall said. “Chip’s always telling me how much I do to it. My dad taught me if it isn’t washed on Sunday, it’s not ready to go to work on Monday. I make sure it’s ready to go.”
The truck is the only Peterbilt in Bean’s fleet.
