Feels like love, looks like trucks

Feels like love, looks like trucks. Holy cow, it's a parking lot filled with dreams come true: Peterbilts and Kenworths, Macks and Internationals, and I think I spy a Volvo.  Old trucks, new trucks and new trucks that look old school. It's all that and it's all right here.

I have so many favorites I've run out of fingers and toes. Doug Simpson's 2000 black and green Peterbilt 379 is a day cab jewel. While the rest of the Fearless Leasing fleet hauls oversize equipment,  this dandy ride hauls hay and farm tractors, as well as parade floats, and is used for special occasions.

Canadian Phil Langevin has been bringing trucks to MATS for years. He's a guy who never gives up. He runs a fleet of awesome trucks and develops something new and different every year. This year's entry is a 2012 Peterbilt gilder kit with a 550 Caterpillar under the hood – an ode to old school. The rounded grille shell makes you question the year; the newly made 60" stainless Mecury-inspired sleeper surely says old. With diamond-tucked interior and real chrome wheels, and the APU condenser mounted on the roof reminiscent of an air conditioning unit of days gone by, you can enjoy retro styling with an up-to-date flair.

Much will be made of the dynamic team of Todd & Beth Roccapriore and Jerard Wittwer, Tyler Murray, Jed Howard & Karson Bartschi.  Their cross-country build of an edgy off-the-hook rolling work of art combined a rolling chassis and C-18 motor putting out 1800 hp, 5800 lbs ft torque with straight over the top design and attention to detail. According to Roccapriore, "It all starts with the visor. That becomes the eyes of the truck and the window to its soul."

And the themes and ideas found there are repeated, reinforced and replicated in the curves of the tool boxes and the air tubes under the hood and every inch of the truck from top to bottom. A 5,000-watt stereo system kicks it into orbit and catches up to the beat of your heart as detail after minute detail is revealed.  The mirror brackets are mind boggling; the door latches are not left to chance. The trucks sits 1-1/2 inches off the ground and if you could fit underneath, you'd see the bottom was painted, chromed and covered in the same attention to detail. Best of Show Limited Mileage Bobtail and the People's Choice Award are just the tips of the icebergs of the avalanche of attention this truck will receive.

I feel like I'm at a feast.