10-4 Magazine July 2024

12 10-4 Magazine / July 2024 an overnight sensation! Created by Varuna Films, the “reality” series featured a group of truck customizers known as The Chrome Shop Mafia who renovated the trucks of deserving drivers in response to letters and calls from family and friends. The “mafia” included Rod and Kevin Pickett, Bryan “Bossman” Mar tin of 4 State Trucks, Ryan “Ryno” Templeton, Rob Richardson, Rick “Scrapyard Dog” Stone, and C.B. Grimes, along with a few other characters that rolled in and out of the show from time to time. Filming the show at 4 State Trucks in Joplin, MO, because they had the space, it was a lot of work and a lot of travel for the Pickett brothers, who were coming all the way from Washington, on a regular basis. After the pilot episode got the largest audience of any show in CMT’s history up to that point, several more shows were ordered, and before they knew it, three seasons were in the can. The first season was fun and groundbreaking, and it really changed the way the general public – and quite frankly truckers, too – felt about big rigs. True customization saw a giant surge, and truck shows star ted popping up all over. It was a good time to be around trucking, for sure, and the camaraderie and cool culture it created was unprecedented. Of course, like anything else, the show had its flaws, and as time went on, the builds became more ridiculous, the dialogue became more scripted, and creative control was all but lost for the members of The Chrome Shop Mafia. With that in mind, most of the original cast quit the show in 2008 after the third season, and a new crew was brought in to replace them. That was a train wreck that lasted one season, and then the show ended in 2009. But for what it was wor th, the show opened a lot of doors for Rod and Kevin, and Bryan “Bossman” Mar tin, one of our longtime friends and suppor ters, took the oppor tunities from the show and used them as a springboard (The Chrome Shop Mafia is still a big thing around 4 State Trucks to this very day). Tired of the wet weather and traffic, Rod decided to take the plunge and move himself and his business to Arizona in 2012. Hauling nine semi loads of stuff down south, he found a warehouse type of space in Tolleson, AZ with four bays and two doors. Quickly realizing he needed to step up his game to cover all this new overhead, he ramped up his workload and added employees. His new space was about 10,000 square feet, so they could now work on several projects at once, while also building the par ts they sell, like cab and sleeper panels, visors, deck plates, shaved headlights, battery boxes and covers, light bars, light brackets, big-hole wheels, and more. He also became a dealer for most of the accessory manufacturers, so they can now sell just about everything!