12 10-4 Magazine / March 2026 The turquoise color they formulated is the same color Stan uses on all their trucks today. Then, magenta-colored “rips” were sprayed on the hood and cab – these types of graphics were gaining popularity back then, replacing the long and ever-popular flame paint schemes. Some of the other unique exterior items this truck has includes an 18” stainless bumper with rolled ends made in-house, battery and step boxes from the mid-1980s with custom lids made by Stan, and 135-gallon 26-inch diameter fuel tanks, also made in-house, with one of them being split to hold the hydraulic fluid for the wet kit to run their end dump. The hot rod rig also got Hogebuilt stainless full fenders on steel brackets, a custom light bar on the back featuring seven lights with glass watermelon lenses and custom billet bases on each side, and a polished stainless steel deck plate, all made by Stan. Moving inside, Stan took two square door cab dashes and built one custom “hot rod” dash, installed a vintage A/C unit from a street rod, and polished the door hinges (back then he did most of his own polishing). The entire truck was rewired using a harness from a Peterbilt 379, and then Howdy Ledbetter of Interiors by Howdy did the inside in tweed and leather, embossing the exterior’s “ripped” scheme graphics into the headliner. The interior has a definite 1990s vibe, for sure! Last but not least, Stan made the window in the back of the cab roll up and down, and claims he was the first ever to do that. Built to pull one of their custom end dumps, the truck was finished in late 1992 and then put into service. The following year, after Stan’s dad expanded and opened a facility in Montana (and bought a ranch there), Stan began making more trips up there, and it didn’t take long for him to realize he needed to put a sleeper on his truck. And, in all honesty, he wanted to repaint the truck anyway, because the original graphics did not match on each side, and that drove Stan crazy. So, in 1993, the decision was made and a 63-inch standup sleeper from a Peterbilt 379 was acquired for the truck, which has a modest 260-inch wheelbase. Tearing the truck apart and taking it all the way back to bare metal, the sleeper was installed, all the door handles and vents were shaved to match the cab, and the rolling window in the back of the cab was moved to the back of the sleeper. Then, the entire truck, including the graphics, which were changed a bit and made to match on each side, was repainted. Stan also repowered the truck with a brand-new CAT 3406C with a single turbo and marine injectors, a rebuilt 18-speed, and low mount air-ride and rears from a truck he ordered for the company (Stan swapped the rears that were in his truck with the ones that came on this brand-new 1993 Peterbilt). The 6-inch stacks were replaced with 8-inch pipes, and they are still on it today. The rebuild was completed in 1994, and then Stan drove the truck for several years. Then, it pulled Stan’s racecar hauler (which he also built) for many years, and then his son Stan Silva III (Lil’ Buddy) drove it for a while, along with a few other drivers here and there, and then it was finally “retired” around 2017, with about 200,000 miles on it, because CARB would no longer allow it to be licensed and registered to haul loads in the state. Known as truck #65, that number represents a lot of things, including the year of the truck (well, the cab at least), the year Stan was born, and the number he used for many years on his racecar. Stan started racing his 3-wheeled ATC motorcycle (remember those) while still in high school, then went on to race “dwarf” cars, which were miniature versions of full-sized cars with motorcycle engines, then full-size dirt cars, and then stock cars, starting out in the NASCAR Southwest Tour before transitioning into the Winston West Series. Stan was really good on road courses, which eventually led him to do a limited schedule in the NASCAR Busch Series for a few years, which was just one step below the top tier Cup Series, racing against guys like Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick. Racing in various states, and even in Mexico City, this is when Stan licensed his company to run all 48 states, because his hot rod Peterbilt was part of the company, and it pulled the hauler. He never won a race at the Busch level, but for being a self-funded single car team, he still did pretty good. He participated in his last race in 2012 and then sold everything. During the early 2000s, Stan kept busy, as he took a more active role in the company when his dad moved to Montana. While running the California division, which had three locations at the time, racing, and raising his son, Stan started taking Lil’ Buddy out with him in the truck – and he loved it. At just five years old, Lil’ Buddy would jump into the various pieces of heavy equipment in the yard and learn how to operate them. Stan is very proud of his son, who is 30 years old now, and an integral part of the family operation. But everything changed in 2007 when Stan’s father died. To this day, Stan starts every morning with, “How would dad do it?” Forced to wear many hats in the company, from a leadership standpoint, Stan decided to put his head down and get to work. In 2008, he built their operation in Los Banos, CA; in 2009 he bought a company in Watsonville, CA; in 2011 he started their operation in Madera, CA; and, more recently, he opened a new facility in Nevada. Today, with eight locations and more than 200 employees, A&S Metals and its sister companies offer all types of metal recycling and CRV services, full-spectrum demolition services, concrete and asphalt crushing and aggregates, and comprehensive trucking services. With 16 trucks at Stan Silva Jr. Trucking, they offer heavy haul, lowboy, step deck, drop deck, high side, bottom dump, roll back and roll-off services. When Peterbilt announced the end of the model 389, Stan figured it was time to get a new personal truck for himself, even though he doesn’t go trucking very often, and also one for his son. Ordering matching 2024 Peterbilt 389X trucks, one in turquoise and the other in metallic gray, the trucks have sequential VIN numbers but were built a month apart. Equipped with 605-hp Cummins engines, 18-speed transmissions, 3.36 rears, and 280-inch wheelbases, each truck has a standup sleeper and a high-roof cab. Since
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