was finding her husband’s loads, and he was pulling a flatbed. This really got them thinking. Mike was not a computer guy, but Dana was a dental assistant, and she knew how to use computers and talk to people. Mike just wanted to drive the truck. Dana agreed to do all the dispatching, looking for freight, and filing all the paperwork. At the time, she wasn’t into trucking, but she knew that she didn’t want him leaving on Sundays anymore, so off they went! Dmar Trucking was established in October 2008. A month later, Mike sold his feed-hauling truck and trailer and bought a Kenworth W900L and an old flatbed from Ravens. Dana filed for their authority on her own, not knowing she could have paid someone to do it for them. But she got it done. The first load Dana got for Mike was out of Canton, OH to Philadelphia, PA for Monday morning, so he had to leave on Sunday. I guess that whole “not leaving on Sundays” deal was out the window! But when you’re first getting started, you gotta do what you gotta do. The night before leaving for that first load, Mike was a little stressed out about the whole thing, but his dad was able to calm him down, saying, “Quit looking at this huge picture, and just focus on the next load.” So that is what he did. Today, 17 years later, they mostly haul flatbed stuff, but no oversize. They like to stay in the state of Ohio, but they’ll go anywhere. The main products they haul include landscaping materials, steel, barn stone, sandstone and military freight. They also do some reefer work, too, and mostly haul eggs. Mike first saw this old cabover for sale in the Truck Paper about eight years ago in Cameron, TX. Driving straight through to Cameron, Mike purchased the 1989 Kenworth K100E with a 112” Aerodyne sleeper and 400-hp B-model Cat and brought it home. Back then, it was primer gray with a little light blue mixed in (probably from its Werner days) and rode on a 168” wheelbase. Since then, a lot has changed. Going back to getting second chances, not only was this truck given a second chance, but a lot of the parts used to rebuild it were salvaged from the junkyards or old parts trucks. Mike bought a 1981 K100C for just $400 and got many valuable parts for his KW off it. Parts like the front springs and drag links, the front fenders, the headlight buckets, air cleaner brackets, intake and 10-4 Magazine / March 2025 37 exhaust brackets, the dash, visor and the grill. Mike then bought a 2015 KW T660 chassis and had the frame of his cabover cut where the transmission mounts, then had the cutoff welded in place from the T660, which updated the frame rails in the back, along with the differentials, rear suspension, and disc brakes. The truck now rides on a 250” wheelbase. Re-purposing more older parts, the battery box came off a Freightliner, and the air cleaners came off a Peterbilt 379. The KW had ball and seat rims on the front and hub piloted on the rear, and Mike kept it that way. Although the barrels of the fuel tanks were replaced, the guy who did it kept the original caps and ends. When you look at Mike’s fuel tanks they still have “1989” stamped on the caps. The only new items that were installed on the truck included a new 5th wheel, the exhaust system, and some small stuff. The B-model Cat was also upgraded and re-powered to around 500 horsepower and is backed with a 13-speed transmission. I first met the Marty family at the Kenworth 100th anniversary show in
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