10-4 Magazine March 2023

10-4 Magazine / March 2023 13 in yellow light. One of these lighted panels is mounted underneath the cab, to help hide the clutter, and the “Maggini” was cut out in reverse to reflect properly on the boxes below. Another neat item on this truck, made by Bobby Lloyd, who used to be their mechanic, are tubular light brackets, mounted on the front and back of the smooth stainless battery and step boxes on each side of the truck. Bobby sliced and diced the stainless tubes to get the angles just right! Since our first photo shoot in 2003, much has been done to the engine compar tment. The painted engine with chrome valve covers is the same, but it has been embellished with a lot more painted, polished, and pinstriped pieces. The inside of the hood has been flamed with a mirror-image of the flames on the outside, and pinstriping and flamed stainless panels have been added to the underside of the hood, as well (even the inside of the wheel wells have been pinstriped). A custom one-piece air intake system was made in-house by Bobby Lloyd out of 7-inch polished aluminum tubing, a stainless firewall cover with the Maggini logo cut into it was made by Chris Roush and installed, and the fan blades were flamed to match. Mike also installed stainless oil, water, and fuel filters, which never need to be replaced, just cleaned. These lifetime filters are very popular on race cars. In addition to all the extras done under the hood, the interior was completely redone after our original photo shoot in 2003, too. Today, it spor ts completely custom two-tone gray leather upholstery with flames stitched into it done by Central Valley Upholstery in Fresno, CA. This includes the door panels, the seats, the custom center console, the headliner, and even the floor! The dash was painted yellow, the dash panels were chromed, and chrome armrests and door sills were added. A big stereo, complete with 13 speakers and several video screens, was installed by Terry at Soundwaves. One of the video screens raises and lowers from a hidden compar tment on the top of the dash at the flip of a switch. A painted steering wheel, a painted, pinstriped and chromed steering column, and a shor t shifter, round out the interior mods. Mike misses running truck #13 and hauling hay, but he’s grown to love the 2011 Kenwor th W900L he drives now, painted yellow and flamed in green, and moving equipment. Mike bought this truck, which was painted red and black, in 2019. Powered by a 500 ISX Cummins hooked to an 18-speed, the truck has 46,000-lb. rears, an 8-bag suspension, and Murray lowbed ramps. Besides the paint, the truck also got an altitude adjustment and a new stereo, complete with 13 speakers, just like his other truck. now was done during that time. Some exterior changes included swapping out the 7-inch pipes for an 8-inch setup, custom mirror brackets made by famous motorcycle builder Rick Bray of RBK Kustom Speed in Lemoore, CA, and custom billet aluminum mirrors, made for Mike by a machine shop in Fresno, CA. They also made their own air bag system for the front using a modified factory setup from the 1970s. The visor was swapped out for a newer one from 12 Ga. Customs, and all the clear LEDs were switched back to red and amber lenses. Another cool thing they did was remove the “wind wings” from the side windows and install one-piece tinted glass. At the front of the truck is a 20-inch bumper with rolled ends from Valley Chrome. Mike painted the back of the bumper yellow and then added stainless plates with flame cutouts over it. Mounted behind the cab is a one-piece polished stainless deck plate with an integrated shock box cover that was made by Mike’s friend Chris Roush, who also laser cut spades into the air cleaner screens, and created several panels with the Maggini logo cut out, which are back-lit