Stuart Geltmaker, a retired heavy equipment operator out of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, has always had a thing for big trucks, and cabovers in particular.
Regular Overdrive readers will be familiar with Geltmaker, as one of his custom builds -- his “Black Widow” 1986 GMC General -- was featured here a year ago.
Stuart GeltmakerVideo and photos by Lawson Rudisill
Nicknamed “Big Red,” the truck features V8 power with a Cat 3408, paired with a 15-speed and 3.90 rears. He showed the truck at the 2026 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky.
[Related: 'Black Widow' '86 GMC General: 'Poor man's Peterbilt' for owner]
Geltmaker bought the truck in 1998 and got to work on building it the way he wanted it to look.
“Over the course of the years, I just started putting on lights and trinkets, if you will. Different things,” he said. “And you see what it is now. And it’s a good old truck. I have no problems out of it.”
The rig features a high-roof Aerodyne sleeper that Geltmaker said gained popularity in the late-‘70s and into the ‘80s.
“Everybody started building … high sleepers,” he said. “Freightliner had one, you know, and all of them. But Kenworth, in my opinion, had the best one with the interior design, the button tuck and everything.”
Geltmaker added chrome button covers on that button tuck interior, dual Eldorado air ride seats and more.
Geltmaker said not everybody who sees his work on the truck is a fan “with all the bling and everything. Some guys might say, ‘Well, that’s a little too much.’ But, you know, to each his own.”
Some of that bling includes the front mudflaps and license plate hanger off the bumper.
When Geltmaker and his son, Kevin, got the truck in Kevin’s barn, they gave it a fresh coat of paint, including the frame, and took all of the wheels off and added 10 aluminum wheels around the truck, “which is good for polishing,” he noted.
He added “big stacks, you know, the twin breather stacks,” and plenty other “bling” when looking at the back of the cab.
At 80 years old, Geltmaker said it’s not as easy to get in and out of the rig as it was when be bought it, “but I still get up the ladder.”
[Related: 'Dark Horse' Peterbilt 589 boasts intricate detail, 'ghost stripe']
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Stuart Geltmaker: Over the course of the years, I just started putting on lights and all the bling and everything. Some guys might say, "well, that's a little too much." But, you know, to each his own.
All right. My name's Stuart Geltmaker and I live at Floyds Knobs, Indiana, and I was a heavy equipment operator before I retired, and I've always liked big trucks, especially the cabovers.
So, got this one in 1998. Started buying parts, the '80s stacks and all kind of parts. Set it inside my son's big barn that he built for his show tractors. We put her in the middle and jacked her up, took all the wheels off, painted the frame, got it all painted up, put her all back together. And over the course of the years, I just started putting on lights and trinkets, if you will, different things. And what you see, what it is now and it's a good old truck. I have no problems out of it.
That V8 Caterpillar is pretty strong and a 15-speed in it with 3.90 gears, so I I've kept it that long and you can see the results of it now, what it looks like with the all the bling and everything.
Some guys might say, "well, that's a little too much." But you know, to each his own. It's a K100. They call it an Aerodyne because of the high sleeper on it. And the first one come out in 1976. And from then on it took off. Everybody started building sleepers, you know, higher sleepers. Freightliner had one. You know, Kenworth in my opinion, had the best one with their interior design and the button tuck and everything.
So, it's an experience if nobody's ever drove a cabover, you know. But everything nowadays is all hoods, you know. So that's about the story of the big truck. And it's a little harder to get in when I first bought it, but I can I still get up the ladder. So that's about my story on the Big Red, we call it.
Overdrive: Your son is kind of following your footsteps here. He designed this truck?
Stuart Geltmaker: We worked together on that. I tell you what, them fenders right there was a booger to get on, them full fenders. They're supposed to be easy-mount, what they call them.
