From Apprentice to Craftsman

It was around the year 1990 while driving down the road in our VW GTI Brent told me he wanted open his own body shop one day. He had just started working at a local body shop as a painters helper, the idea seemed pretty crazy to me. Looking back now it was crazy, we had no business experience or money to do it.

The body shop where Brent worked had some of the best painters and body men around, lucky for Brent they were willing to teach him their craft. Brent has a way of wanting things done to his requirements and over the next few years this led to him plaster houses, have a shop with a close friend then finally landing a job at a commercial collision shop were he went on to become the head painter. This is when he had the privilege of meeting Lawrence Gibbons. He was a regular at the shop and always had a specific vision of how his trucks should look. Lawrence showed Brent what a cool truck should look like, this man was ahead of his time.

After leaving the collision shop in 1996 Brent and his brother Chad started working in the garage at home with the goal of having their own hot rod shop. Our three-year old son tagged along daily. The three of them had some special time together as they fixed fenders of cars, painted boats, old gas pumps and anything else they could get their hands on. Soon neighbors started to complained about the noise and fumes and they had to move to a temporary shop. Not long afterwards Brent and Chad, aka McGrath Bros, rented a building with another business and they began to expand. Work came in from a few local trucking companies, they honed their skills on classic cars and began building working trucks. It was during this time that Bracelin One showed up on a pallets.

Brent and Chad eventually parted ways. Brent changed the name to Brent’s Custom Body and Paint. Chad moved to northern California and went to work in a hot rod shop. The shop stayed busy with working trucks, classic cars and a contract we had with UPS. There were four guys working in the shop with Brent until 9/11 hit and everything stopped. We struggled to figure out how to keep the shop open. Then six months later we lost Chad unexpectedly. The brothers had always remained close and the loss was devastating to our whole family. It changed the course of our lives.

Brent took a job with a local company painting trucks and was able to move the business onto a small shop on their property. It wasn’t long before we were back on our feet and into our own shop. Over the course of the next seven years we moved the shop two more times, each time increasing our size. We eventually made the decision to only work on trucks, it was truly our passion. It wasn’t an easy decision to cut off half our clients so we made another bold move to purchase the Haas VF3 CNC milling machine. Brent adjusted the name to Brent’s Custom Trucks and we began making custom parts for trucks.

Bracelin One was a slow-moving project, at times a year or more would go by without any work being done on it. Leroy and Joanie Bracelin could have pulled the plug at anytime but choose not to because they “liked what they saw”. Leroy allowed Brent to bring in jobs that would help grow his business and improve his skills. Victor Maestez, Bob Cretton, Danny Miles and Tyler Picknell were among those jobs. The CNC machine was used to create custom parts for each truck giving the builds something special.

In 2011 we basically closed the doors to the public in order to complete the Bracelin truck. Chris was our only employee and he helped Brent stay focused and get the job finished. There is a list of skilled people who came in to help Brent with wiring, mechanics, pin striping, interior, stereo and so on. In 2012, a week after our son graduated from high school, Brent showed the truck for the first time in Las Vegas. We had two graduates.

Opportunities like building Bracelin One are rare. The Bracelin’s saw Brent’s potential, allowed him time to polish his skills and mature as a person. We are fortunate to have been able to open a business, get through some tough times and continue on. As Brent finishes his latest project it is obvious he will continue to push his skills further and build trucks to honor those no longer with us. We appreciate our clients, they allow us to follow our passion. So many of our clients have become close friends and for that we are grateful.

wwwbrentscustomtrucks.com

 

2013 New Opportunities

It’s a new year and time to focus. I’m sure you have heard plenty about the new emission standards and deadlines. Since the beginning of industry there have been pioneers finding new ways to do things and a crowd right behind them telling them that they can’t.

So are the new trucks carving out a new path or giving in the whiners that try to control everything? Trucks are getting more comfortable and they are supposed to be more fuel efficient but are they losing the actual truck classification? To me they are starting to be similar to a European truck in looks. Now they do have some pretty radical looks to their trucks, we’ve all seen the European truck show pictures. What I find interesting is the love of American trucks. We find it all over the world. One truck builders Facebook page has likes from over 20 countries and just as many languages.

My humble prediction is that we are going to see the same revolution in trucks that we witnessed in the car industry. We will go from machine to light weight, little personality trucks. eventually the old school look will come back around. In the time that passes truck builders and customizing shops will pop up everywhere. The truck enthusiast will not be ok with the tin cans that will be on the road. So just like the car industry we will see a new customizing industry emerge with a fiery. Hopefully if you truly love your machines you will find someone that is a true craftsman and has pride in their work, not just themselves.

Truck Show Season 2013

The new show season is fast approaching. Last year was a good year, not a lot of new trucks on the circuit but enough to spark some interest. In our current state of commerce we should be glad truckers and trucking companies can still afford to shut down and attend shows.

We saw the bar raised with some outstanding builds. In the picture above are two examples of quality work. The white truck belongs o Guy Scherno of Livermore, Ca. The truck was built by John’s Repair of Cotati, Ca. The truck is a modern hot rod. Full fenders on the back raised some eyebrows, they were either loved or hated. The truck is a complete look from to bottom.

The second truck in the picture is owned by Leroy and  Joanie Bracelin of Coos Bay, Or. The builder of this beauty is Brent’s Custom Trucks of White City, Or. This 1968 Pete is beyond restored. Every detail was tought about and executed to perfection. If you have seen this truck in person, you understand.

Another company that left an impression was Shift Products (Jade Transport) out of Winnipeg, Canada. Not only do they build great products but they build unique trucks too.

Are you catching a theme here? Quality, unique builds. No half-ass builds please. So why do shows continue to award the same trucks year after year for poor craftsmanship? Shows clearly state their rules on sign in sheets and then change the rules mid-show to make sure the trucks they want to win, do. We applaud the shows that stick to their rules or even the ones that threw away the judging sheets a long time ago. People love trophies as recognition so I suppose their will always be a place for judged shows. Just like bad behavior on reality shows, poor builds and large egos will continue as long as there are trophies involved.

 

Peterbilt Factory

The opportunity to visit the Peterbilt Factory in Denton, Texas recently presented itself. If you ever have the opportunity to attend the Class Pays Display or just go for a tour, do it! It is a great example of American industry.

The factory tour is amazing. It was my second time through the factory and it is great to see they are constantly changing and upgrading their facility. It is mind-blowing to see the organization. To build custom-made trucks in an assembly line is a work of art in itself. Bare frame rails come into the factory, wire harnesses are unrolled and stretched along the frame. Components are added the  frame is flipped right side up and painted in a booth in the middle of the factory. Painted cabs and sleepers are assembled and before you know it the truck is being driven off the end of the line.

The factory is capable of producing 150 trucks a day with two shifts. As I understand they do not build a truck unless they have an order for it. It’s mind-blowing that, that amount of new trucks can be ordered per day.

Class Pays display is a unique group of trucks hand selected each year by Tim Ludwig. This year was an exceptional year of trucks. The seasoned truck builders had their best builds to date on display along with a few newbies. Families known for always having beautiful rides did not disappoint along with many other good clean trucks.

As always, I was impressed by the employees at Peterbilt. They are some of the nicest people I have ever meet. They all seem to love their jobs and appreciate working for a great example of American ingenuity.

Class truly does pay.

Riveted Trucking Magazine Launch

For the love of trucks.

Welcome to Riveted Trucking Magazine. This magazine was born out of the love of trucks. My hope is to show the passion for trucks and the lifestyles. There are other trucking magazines that show the trucks shows and talk about how new laws affect the trucker. We will give you those articles too and give you great tech tips but our main focus will be on trucking life style.

Like hot rods, motorcycles and race cars there is a unique world in the trucking industry. We want to show case they guys that have trucks because they love them but don’t need them, that is passion. The guys that spends every minute and dollar tricking out his ride. We also want to show the guy has built his business up from nothing to make it successful, and the families that take pride in their rides.

There are so many stories out there to tell. The goal is to have beautiful pictures with descriptions, truck show coverage, quick easy tech tips, in-depth stories on trucks and their people. We will remain open to listening to our readers and what they want to see and know about.

I hope we catch your eye, the layout gives you a reason to read and the articles keep you hooked.

JM