10-4 Magazine March 2023

10-4 Magazine / March 2023 63 got them involved in the family trucking business. Starting out doing some of the routine and mundane work to clean and maintain their fleet of equipment, this eventually led them to getting their CDLs, gaining experience driving, and understanding the business. Eventually, Ron allowed Dan and Brett to design and customize their trucks, and others in the fleet. This early customization work was what gave them the idea for the creation of One of Kind Customs. Officially opening the doors in 2019, their custom truck building business has steadily grown in its first four years of operation, and they currently have builds scheduled into late summer 2023. When the decision for the Low Life build was made, Dan and Brett had planned to use a brand new Peterbilt 389, but Dan had serious reservations about chopping up a new rig, so they decided to find a late model Pete 379, in good condition, to use as the foundation for the build, instead. This led them to a 2006 Pete 379 they found and then purchased in Georgia. They now had a suitable truck for building the lowrider they had dreamed of. It took them over six months to build this truck, beginning in September 2021 and finishing in late March 2022, just in time for the big reveal at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY. To achieve that lowrider look, major exterior modifications were made to the truck including chopping the cab 8 inches, the windows 5 inches, the doors 3 inches, and 8 inches was removed from the sleeper. For every modification made to the cab, corresponding changes had to be made to the doors and frames. After all the necessary cuts were made, they had to apply new skins to the cab, doors, and sleeper panels. Other custom modifications made were raising the mounts for the rear leaf spring hangers and installing new ones, installing a car hauler front axle, and making custom front end springs. The most significant change was lengthening the wheelbase from 260-inches to 312 inches. Dan’s justification for this change was, “You can’t go low unless you go long!” The list of vendors that provided the parts they needed to complete the build were from well-known outfits. Exterior parts supplied by RoadWorks were the front bumper, a custom grill, cab and sleeper drop panels, lots of mini watermelon lights for the entire cab, an I-panel between the fuel tanks, a one piece panel for in front of the rear drive axles, step boxes, exhaust system, and hood latches. Other exterior products installed were chopper-style headlights from JP Cycle, billet nut covers from Roll On Customs, mirror brackets and hidden air cleaner mounts from 12 Ga. Customs, and drive axle fender covers from Shift Products. For the interior, a totally custom hot rod dash was built. Covered in red and gray materials, the dash features a minimal amount of gauges (from NT Lites) and chrome toggle switches, along