Custom builder Cody McCandless, today the owner of Trick Pony Customs in Riverside, Missouri, didn’t officially compete in the annual Big Rig Build-Off as part of the 2026 Mid-America Trucking Show, but he held his own 90-day build-off challenge putting together the 2025 Peterbilt 589 featured in this week's Pride & Polish series vid up top.
The rig, nicknamed “Dark Horse,” is owned by Josh Baker and Paige Roberts with Go Go Industries (GGI), the heavy-specialized fleet based in Liberty, Missouri.
Cody McCandless
Yet Baker went to McCandless and told him he wanted a “build a really nice show truck,” as McCandless told the story.
"I kind of smarted off and said, ‘Do you want to go to Louisville?’”
Baker took him up on it: “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and let’s do a 90-day build-off challenge ourselves?”
[Related: 'One thing led to another' for Lacoh Transport's custom 2024 Peterbilt 389 build]
By January 6 of this year, work was under way. Baker had three requirements for the 589:
- Wheels that nobody has
- Stacks that turn out at a high angle
- Late-‘90s/early-2000s-inspired "ghost stripes"
McCandless nailed it with the stacks.
The first part of the process: removing the roof cap to swap out the factory visor, cab lights and antenna placement. McCandless added nine cab lights across the top and used a visor from One 11 Weld Shop.
On the front end, a four-piece grille from 12 Ga. Customs, “wedges for 379 single square headlights” to give it an old-school look, he said. A front air ride kit from Justin Kendrick’s Mobill’s Truck Repair “got the stance right.”
Kendrick provided the “really cool directional wheels,” which McCandless called “one of ones” -- totally unique to this truck.
The paint's an old-school “Winslow” Peterbilt stripe pattern, but it’s flipped upside down “because it has to be different,” he said. Stripes are also rolled outside the fenders rather than across the top of the hood.
Look closely: the “ghost stripe” term is apt -- the faint gold's really only visible in the correct lighting.
The “Dark Horse” theme is evident all around the rig, with painted black tanks, rear fenders and just the right amount of chrome to set it all off.
With the roof cap off, McCandless gutted the interior and essentially started over, working with Excellence Upholstery out of Independence, Missouri. Leather wrap and suede feature throughout the unit.
“All black on black -- it’s the Dark Horse,” McCandless said.
Subtle gold accents are visible under the frame, inside the wheels and in plenty other places you really have to go looking for to find.
It's powered by a 565-hp Cummins X15 and sits on a 265-inch wheelbase.
Headed out to truck shows through the rest of the year? Keep an eye out for Cody McCandless. He said the truck will be ever-evolving, with more additions made between shows.
[Related: The 'ultimate toy hauler'? Latest custom Pete 589 from Semi Casual]
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Cody McCandless: All right, well, I'm Cody McCandless with Touch of Class Customs. This is our new 589 that we've built this year for GGI industries, Josh Baker and Paige Roberts. And it's pretty sweet. In my mind I thought this, the 589 was so different. We needed to do something really different with it.
Overdrive: So what kind of led to this build coming together?
Cody McCandless: Josh come to the shop in December of last year and purchased a truck, and he purchased a stock truck from Kansas City Peterbilt. And he hit me up there in the shop and said, "I'd like to build a really nice show truck." And I kind of smarted off and said, "Well, do you want to go to Louisville?" And he said, "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Let's do a 90-day build-off challenge ourselves."
And so we pulled in the shop there January 6th and started turning it apart.
Overdrive: That's awesome. What was the vision from him as far as what he wanted?
Cody McCandless: So he gave me three things. He said, "I want wheels that nobody has. I want stacks to do this. And I want like a '90s, early 2000s inspired ghost stripe." And he can maybe see it.
Overdrive: Yeah, I can kind of see it in the sun.
Cody McCandless: In the sun, yeah.
Overdrive: Yeah. You know, 90 days to knock out a build like this. What was that process like for you?
Cody McCandless: So it came. It was ready to go to work stock truck. Had factory cab lights, factory visor. It was ready to hook a trailer. The first thing I did was take the roof cap off, because I didn't like the visor and I didn't like the lights. I don't like where the antenna was. So we relocated all that. Added nine lights, One 11 Weld Shop hooked up with a nice visor, went back to some classic styling on the front end. 12 Ga. makes a nice four-piece grille. We put that on. And then we made some wedges for 379 single square headlights.
Got the stance right with Justin Kendrick's Mobill's Truck Repair on his air ride, and then he cut some really cool directional wheels for us. These are definitely one of ones. It was a late night Google-inspired.
Once we got the stance right and lowered it down, I started laying the stripe mid-January and I went with a Winslow pattern, flipped upside down because it has to be different, and rolled it outside the fenders rather than going over the top of the hood, and decided to continue that through the fenders in the back as well.
The truck was pretty short 265 wheelbase. I like them long if I'm going to get them low, so I started color matching as much as I could.
We did some shorter boxes, wide cowls, painted the tanks, and then by getting the fenders on there, I think it just stretches stuff out and makes the truck look a little longer than it was. Did some frame work to the rear end, which counter sunk in some bolts and shaved the crossmember in to make that frame extend out and look a little longer as well, and took the back end and shaped it up very nicely as well.
Overdrive: Okay, is it still a 265 wheelbase or did you end up stretching it?
Cody McCandless: Nope, it's still 265.
Overdrive: Yeah. What what kind of work have you done with the interior?
Cody McCandless: The interior got completely gutted. Whenever I took the roof cap off, it was time to do something cool in there. I got with Excellence Upholstery out of Independence, Missouri, and they've leather-wrapped and suede with gold stitching throughout the entire truck -- sleeper, all the cabinets got wrapped. It has fiberoptic starlight ceilings in the front and back, acrylic cutouts with the Dark Horse logo in it.
The doors got wrapped. We put a big sound system in from Santa Fe Auto Sound. Dash is all leather wrapped, all black on black. It's the Dark Horse.
Overdrive: Yeah. Is there anything else about the build that we haven't covered that did you like to mention?
Cody McCandless: Keep your eyes out on it. We're not done with this one. It's going to go around the country and kind of like you've seen me do my other builds. We had a little something to each show, and they turned out to be pretty brilliant.
