Driver Lifestyles

Dressing your truck for the truck show

Truck beauty show competitions have been a staple of  truck shows for some time now, and over the last few years, expedited truck owners have been getting in on the fun. 

Don and Yvonne Gibson have taken trophies at both the Mid-America Trucking Show and the Las Vegas Trucking Show (first in two categories).  Their victories include a "Best of Show" at the 2005 Expediter Pride contest.

The couple says that it takes two full days to ready their 2005 Freightliner M2-112. That's two full days of cleaning, painting, waxing, polishing and detailing.  Much of the work is done by hand, utilizing good old muscle power.  Also, that's two full days - if it doesn't rain.

It all starts with giving the truck a bath.  As one truck show participant says, the truck has to be "clean, clean, clean!"

A veteran's tip:   If you can see it or reach it, so can the judges – and it better be clean.

"You take it to the truck wash and get it real clean," says Yvonne, "then you start cleaning from the bottom to the top.  Usually, while Don is doing the outside of the truck, I'll do the outline of the tires, then he'll 'dress' the tires."

A veteran's tip:  Stand on the ground and look at what’s at eye level. That’s what the judges will see first.

"Don will get under the truck and clean where it needs it and do touch-up painting where required.The judges will look for any bolts, screws and nuts that have grease or rust on them, so you have to be very careful in cleaning."

Don says, "The engine will have to be detailed as well, with cleaning and painting.  I use both spray paint and bottle paint that's been pre-mixed so I can get the proper shade."

A veteran's tip:  You’ll score points for wire loom and neatly bundled wiring.

Don and Yvonne say that they use Turtle wax for the truck that they apply and buff by hand, except for the chrome where Don uses a power buffer.  Yvonne says that Don takes care of the chrome, with final buffing by hand.

Yvonne tells us that one of the truck's tool boxes is dedicated to nothing but cleaning supplies.  She has broken that down to a smaller carry case with cleaners and painting supplies that she carts around the truck with her.

"The roof is the most difficult part of the truck to prepare," says Don, "because you have to be careful on that surface.  I don't wear shoes when working up there. I put the Turtle was on, buff it real well, then work my way down the sides."

A veteran's tip:  Places to clean -  any place a judge's hand can go and come back with dirt.

Thankfully, say the Gibsons, the judges don't look inside the cargo box, so they save considerable time by not having to detail that part of the truck.  Neither do the judges look inside the side boxes but they carefully inspect the boxes' exteriors.  They'll also look inside the generator box.

Yvonne's detailing specialty is the interior of the cab and sleeper.  She says that it takes her a full day to clean and detail those areas and it includes mopping the floor, hitting all the appropriate areas with Armor-all, cleaning the chrome and glass and setting out the accessories on the sleeper.

A veteran's tip: When the judges come by, be presentable in your personal appearance and be sure to acknowledge their presence.  Answer their questions.

The Gibsons' sleeper has an "Italian restaurant" motif, with wine glasses, table settings and appointments designed around that theme.  It's those details that have earned the couple top honors in shows.

Billie Johnson and co-driver Amy Richardson have been competing in show competition for several years now and have done pretty well.  The team took "Best of Show" at the 2004 Expediter Pride contest and garnered a win in the Expedited class of the Paul K. Young event at the 2005 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville.

Amy Richardson says, "It's a labor of love! We love our Western Star and we were fortunate to have some friends, the Herschbergers, help us with the prep work in Louisville.  We really enjoy the shows, it's a lot of fun and it's a great opportunity to meet others who take pride in their trucks."

"There's a lot of labor involved.  You've got to clean and paint the undercarriage, clean and paint the engine including the hoses and polish the chrome."

A veteran's tip:  Items that should be in your collection of essentials include wrenches in a variety of sizes, nut covers, clear silicone, spare mud flaps and weights, clean rags and garbage bags.

Even though the cargo box interior might not be judged in competition, Billie and Amy take pride in cleaning and dealing that area because as they say, "A lot of times, that's the part of the truck that the customer see's."

"We've established a sequence of cleaning the truck this year that starts with pressure washing the engine," Amy tells us, "and we feel we get a better result if we do it ourselves.  We've got over 200,000 miles on the truck now and there's a lot of road grime down below to clean. Then we paint it along with the frame and underside of the hood."

"We move to the exterior next and give it a truck wash and polish the chrome.  We save the sleeper for last because it doesn't need as much cleaning as the exterior."

A veteran's tip:  Consolidate your cleaning supplies, ladder, buckets, extra parts, tools, etc. into an organized bundle

The team says that they carry a variety of power tools to assist in the truck prep including a sander and two power buffers. 

"We carry everything we need to clean and polish," states Amy, "and when we're on a layover somewhere or waiting on a load, we try to clean up the truck.  In the last month, we've probably put eight days into cleaning it and sometimes that's tough to do - like in Georgia in 110 degree weather.  At the Louisville show and with 4 people working, it took us a full week to get the truck to show quality."

"It's a lot of work and it's time-consuming, but we love to show the truck!