10-4 Magazine March 2023

Special Feature: By Eric Hill As many of you know, I’m a car guy and have a highly custom Mustang that I show at various events across the country. But my love for cars doesn’t begin or end with Mustangs. I love all kinds of cars, including lowriders. I’ve always been fascinated with the entire lowrider culture, show scene, and the incredible creativity that often goes into building a lowrider. Because of this admiration, I was blown away the first time I saw the “Low Life” Peterbilt that was built by the One of a Kind Customs team in Sigourney, Iowa. I met stepbrothers Dan Brubaker and Brett Wright, along with Blake Evans, at the very first Dirty Business Truck Show at HD Equipment in Grand Mound, IA. At the time, they had built a black heavy haul Pete and were showing it on the truck show circuit that year. It was a gorgeous truck, that I really liked, and took many photos of at several different truck shows. I was determined to write a feature on this black beauty, but for many reasons, it didn’t happen. In retrospect, I’m glad I waited for the right opportunity and truck to feature that was built by the guys at One of a Kind Customs – this one! From the time I met Dan and Brett, they had in mind a very special truck they wanted to build. Something unique, unusual, and never seen before in the truck show world. I would see them at different events, and they would share their overall concept and some ideas of this build with me, but never the specific details. It wasn’t until they officially unveiled it that I fully comprehended and appreciated this build. Before I talk about the details of the build, I think a little bit of history about the family trucking business would be beneficial. The family trucking business was started in 1935 by Dan’s great-grandfather, Oscar “OD” Davis. He began hauling livestock from Iowa to the Chicago and Detroit stockyards, with backhauls of steel back to Iowa. At the time, he pulled open top trailers, that provided the flexibility to haul livestock and steel. “OD” ran the business from 1935-1976. Dan’s grandfather Verle Brubaker continued to grow the business from 1977-1979, running livestock and steel, but eventually shifted the business to primarily hauling livestock. At this time, they moved from open trailers with sides to strictly livestock trailers. Ron Brubaker, Dan and Brett’s father, took over the family business, Brubaker Trucking, from 1979-2020. This included not just driving, but also running the office, handling personnel responsibilities, and dispatching loads to the company and O/O drivers. In 2020, Ron then turned over the responsibility of managing the business to Dan. On the trucking side of the business today, they have 15 trucks hauling primarily cattle all over the Midwest and South. For diversification, they also do a little bit of van and RGN hauling, as well. Their fleet of trucks consists primarily of Peterbilt trucks, along with Wilson and Merritt trailers. Raising five boys, to keep them busy and out of trouble, Ron Brubaker 62 10-4 Magazine / March 2023 LIVIN’ THE LOW LIFE