Overdrive September Trucker of the Month John Treadway, despite a tumultuous close to 2025 on the business side, ended the year with a bang in the truck show circuit with two wins in Overdrive’s Pride & Polish competition.
Treadway’s “Teal Appeal” 1998 Peterbilt 379 and 2017 Great Dane combo took top honors in the Pride & Polish Interior and Working Combo classes.
As reported with the “exit interviews” with Trucker of the Year contenders, Treadway’s 379 in October suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The rig’s original 550-hp 3406E Cat was replaced with a reman Cat crate engine that itself had some kinks to work out, Treadway noted.
Yet the 379 is back to running like he’s known it to since he bought it a decade ago for his Tway Rose Transport business. It pulled its last load before the worst of the winter season a couple weeks ago, with the owner jumping into a spare '06 379 that also helped him sustain while Teal Appeal was down for the engine replacement.
[Related: Pride & Polish: Meet the 2025 champs]
As reported following the 2025 Mid-America Trucking Show, Treadway started a rebuild of the 1998 five years ago now, after saving plenty to do it. Kenworth of Indianapolis “totally tore it down for me and painted it," he said. "The stripes took them a little while, the design on the back of the bunk."
That impressive paint work is a perfect match to his 2017 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic motorcycle in Harley’s Frosted Teal with white pearl, along with gray stripes.
More views from the truck at MATS in this video:
As noted in prior reporting, the rebuild included adding an American Eagle bumper, front fenders from Bad Ass Custom Truck Parts, and Hogebuilt stainless full fenders over the rear axles. Also: 13’2” tall, 8-inch Lincoln Chrome stacks, a 14-inch drop visor, aluminum fifth wheel and plenty more in the way of upgrades.
The award-winning interior was done by Daniel and Sons Upholstery in Treadway’s hometown of Kokomo, Indiana.
“I met with him and kind of gave him the ideas of what I wanted, and he was more than willing to tackle the job,” Treadway said. “We stripped it all down out there right across from my house.”
They painted the dash to match the truck’s exterior, and added HushMat on the floor, ceilings, closet, walls and doors. Then Daniel and Sons put all the panels back in it, which also match the color scheme of the unit.
From there, Treadway took the truck to a friend’s place to put in carpet and “went from the bigger hole around the gear shift down to the smaller hole,” he said. They also added new entry panels for the doors with the 379 emblem lighting up.
“It turned out really well, matched up really nice, and I got a lot of compliments out of it,” Treadway added.
[Related: Making a dream come true: Trucker of the Month John Treadway]
Another friend of Treadway’s, Troy Pentland, helped with the interior lighting and wiring the emblems, which change color from white to blue.
After showing the unit as a bobtail at MATS in spring, Treadway painted his Great Dane reefer to match the truck and started showing the entire unit as a combo.
The teal, white and gray scheme now extends from the front bumper all the way to the back of the trailer. He calls the trailer "Chill Appeal" to go with the tractor's "Teal Appeal" moniker.
Treadway said he’s planning to take the truck to a handful of truck shows in 2026 to show the unit as a combo.
Earning the nod from Overdrive readers in both the Interior and Working Bobtail classes for the 2025 Pride & Polish competition is special for Treadway.
“At a couple of the truck shows, I actually won People’s Choice, and I really think that one means the most,” he said. “When you have the trucking community there with you, and they’ve all got nice trucks themselves … and when they announce your name for that, I feel like that really means a lot. That stands out for me big-time.”
[Related: Owner-operator John Treadway's 'Teal Appeal' 1998 Peterbilt 379]
Find plenty more about Overdrive's 2025 Pride & Polish finalists via the video presentation of the category placements and winners:
