Jamestown, Tennessee-based Michael Cook has a thing for classic iron and restoring it to its former glory.
Cook finds old trucks that have long since been abandoned, buys them and fixes them up, then sells them, often to never see the rigs again.
Michael and Belinda CookVideo and photos by Lawson Rudisill
That’s not the case with “Old Butternut,” the 1981 Peterbilt 359 featured in the video up top, however. Cook found the rig “in the bushes, pretty much,” in Virginia. The truck was sitting behind a garage, and when he turned the corner and saw it, “I told my wife right then before I ever got out of the truck” that he was going to buy it.
“It’s what I do,” Cook said. “I get them up and going. I like to get them out of the bushes, get them up and going, and I sell them and go to my next one.”
When Cook took ownership of the truck, the previous owner had started to put a low leaf air ride suspension under it, which wasn’t quite fully complete. “We had to finish that,” Cook said.
There was no interior in the cab, but the dash had been updated with painted panels.
The previous owner had also done a lot of air line work. “I guess he’d done the hardest” parts of fixing it up, he said.
“We took it from there, and we had to put all the interior in it,” Cook added. His wife, Belinda, did all the custom sewing and stitching on the interior.
The sleeper, however, was in pretty good shape and didn’t need much work. When he first bought it, Cook thought the sleeper was a Double Eagle, but after doing some more research, he found a magazine ad from Shelby Elliott listing the truck for sale back in the 1990s.
Turns out, the sleeper is an 84-inch AeroStar. Cook came to find out that there “wasn’t very many of them made.” The Cooks kept the sleeper on it to preserve that rare piece of trucking history.
Belinda Cook made this quilt to put in the truck when the Cooks sold the rig.
Mechanically, Cook said the Cat engine didn’t need too much work, “just had to change a lot of lines … under and around the motor and stuff like that. Pretty much, transmission, rear ends and all that, it was in pretty good shape.”
Once Cook was ready to sell it, Brian Bourke with Semi Casual jumped at the opportunity. While Cook still owned the rig, he and Bourke were taking it to a truck show together and Bourke made clear his intent to buy the truck when Cook was ready to sell it.
Since Bourke’s purchase, he’s added some more upgrades to it, including an air-ride front end, electric wipers, new lights -- “he’s done a tremendous amount to it,” Cook said.
The rig’s nickname, “Old Butternut,” came from Cook, who said he was sitting around looking at the truck, “and it looked like a butternut color to me.” He had a friend who does paint and pinstripe work, and when it came time to add something to the back of the sleeper, he told him to go with “Old Butternut.”
“That’s what we went with, and that’s what we named it,” Cook said. “And it’s just stuck.”
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Michael Cook: I don't think they made but just so many of them. Actually when I first got it, I called it a Double Eagle. Well, it's not, it's an Aero sleeper. We actually found and had a picture of the magazine where Shelby Elliott had it, maybe in the ‘90s, and had it for sale. And that's how we know what brand sleeper it was in his advertisement. It told what it was a AeroStar sleeper, you know? And like I said, I've been told since that there wasn't very many of them made.
My name is Michael Cook from Jamestown, Tennessee. My relationship with the truck, I found it in the in the bushes, pretty much. When I turned around the corner and saw it setting, and I told my wife right then before I ever got out of the truck, “I'm buying that truck.” What'd you say? You say you did? Why do you want that truck?
Belinda Cook: What do you want with that big yellow thing?
Michael Cook: So anyway, she come to like it, though. She does lots of work. She does all interior sewing.
Belinda Cook: And so I made me some pants with Butternut on it. This is the quilt that I made for Brian that’s inside. That's a quilt. Yeah.
Michael Cook: That's the same material.
Belinda Cook: And that's the year model. I tried to get him to him and Brian for let me make them part, but no.
Michael Cook: We're still thinking about it, right? Yeah. Ended up taking it to a show with Brian at Semi Casual. And when we left to go to the show, he said, “I'm buying your truck.” I said, “well I've not priced it.” So he said, “well, but you will.” And so by the time we come off of the trip and got back to the house, he bought the truck.
So he's took it from where I had it and done a lot to it. It's what I do. I get him up and going. I like to get him out of the bushes, get them up and going, and I sell them and go to my next one. And luckily with this one, I get to follow up, the I guess what you’d say the dream with it, I get to follow up and continue get to enjoy it.
You know it's an ‘81 359 standard hood. It's got a 84-inch AeroStar sleeper on it. Done a few things to it. It didn't have no interior in it at all. We had all the interior. We had to do all of it. He had done the dash. He had painted the panels and done a bunch of airline work.
I guess he'd done the hardest. But we took it from there, and we had to put all the interior in it. And Brian has. since he's got it, if course, he's updated a lot more things. He's got electric wipers on it. He air-ride fronted it. He's redone the lights. He's done a lot to it. There’s a lot that you won't see from when I had it, but he's done a tremendous amount to it. You know, it's just made a fun old truck. Butternut. Old Butternut.
Overdrive: Tell me the story behind that name.
Michael Cook: Well, I just sitting there at the house one day and I was looking at it and the color, I love the color. And it looked like a butternut color to me. And I've got a fella at home. And on the back of it, you can see that in a little bit. That does my painting for me, pin striping and stuff.
And when he come to do that, he said, “well, what do you want on it?” And I said, “I don't know.” I said, “let's put Old Butternut.” And that's just what he that's what we went with and that's what we named it. And it's just stuck. It just seemed like that, when I was coming up on the interstate and a lot of people on the radio, “Well, there’s Old Butternut.”
So it's become a, you know, there's a lot of people seeing it. You know, it's pretty neat. I don't know, I think it fits it. Evidently it does. A lot of people thinks it does. So that's just one of them things.
Overdrive: So that sleeper, tell me why that sleeper is special.
Michael Cook: That I don't think they made but just so many of them. Actually, when I first got it, I called it a Double Eagle. Well, it's not it's an Aero sleeper. And like I said, I've been told since that there wasn't very many of them made. So I don't know, I don't know the answer, you know, really the particulars of that. But I think that's why it is special.
Overdrive: So anything else you want to add about the truck?
Belinda Cook: She's went to a new, good home. She's got a lot of new parts. Brian’s put a lot of hours in it.
