James rode with his father and one of their drivers, Les Dixon, every chance he could. On weekends and after school he'd tag along with Les to various wineries in the central valley. In those years, Les taught James a lot about trucking. When he turned 16, James got his Class 1 and started driving the Mack whenever he could. During grape season, he'd haul a load of grapes to San Jose every night. He once got suspended from school for falling asleep in class because he had been up all night trucking.

The B-73 BLT model was only built for one year. Mack was planning to put a larger Cummins engine in their new trucks, so they extended the hood nine inches to accommodate the motor. The only problem was that the grill opening for the radiator was too small, so the trucks tended to overheat. Mack scrapped the project and discontinued building this particular model. For this reason, there aren't many of them out there. Yet another reason why this truck is so special.

James drove the unique B-73 Mack for three or four years, until it began to knock so bad it didn't make sense to try and drive it anymore. Since it wasn't really worth anything, he just parked it in the hay barn. And that is where it sat for almost 12 years, until 1993. James thought about doing something with the truck every now and again, but just never did. Then one day, he found that some kids had broken into the barn and riddled the truck with bullets, broken every light and piece of glass, and generally trashed it. James heart broke when he saw the "B" sitting there, beaten and bruised. That was the final straw.

He'd always talked about fixing it up, and now he was going to do it. Because of the extensive damage done to the truck by the vandals, doing an original restoration was thrown out the window. He called his buddy Gene Wagner of Kustom Kurves and began talking about what they could do to the old "B". He then loaded the truck up and took it to Kustom Kurves where they proceeded to disassemble it down to the last nut and bolt. It spent four years in Gene's shop, only this time it didn't just sit. It went through an amazing metamorphosis, from beaten down '56 to totally custom Millennium Mack.

They began by taking the frame to Diesel Performance where it underwent major surgery. Over ten feet was added to the length, giving the truck a 248-inch wheelbase with an eight inch spread between the drive axles. The old tired Cummins 220 was tossed out and a fresh 335 was put in (this was the largest engine that would fit between the frame rails). The engine rebuilding was done by Bill Evans Truck Repair in Thornton, California. At this stage, a Freightliner air-ride suspension was added and the rear ends were updated to Eaton SQHPs. James couldn't bring himself to put in a modern-day single stick transmission, so he opted for a set of Spicer 4x4 units instead. After all this was completed, they took it all apart and sent everything to Class A Powdercoat where Clay did a masterful job of baking on the powdercoat.

Everything was then brought back home and James and Chris Hogarth began the arduous process of putting the frame back together. After that, all the running gear was installed and all the plumbing was done, including hundreds of feet of new air hose and countless brass fittings. With the foundation of the truck now done, it was time to move on to the body work.

James and Gene got their long-time friend and engineer Dave Schmidt to help them get started. It seemed James had this vision in his head but he couldn't get it out of there. That is where Dave came in. Having an extensive knowledge and a lot of experience in building race cars, Dave did all the engineering, planning and design drawings of the truck, leaving no stone unturned. He spent two weeks just making precise measurements and detailed drawings, so that the final product would be flawless. At first, James had some pretty conservative ideas, but Gene and Dave prodded and convinced him to build something unique. Slowly, James warmed up to the idea, and later ran with it.

Once the mold-making and metal forming began, the guys at Kustom K-Fab really went to work. Gene hired Don Brazil to turn the flat sheets of aluminum and steel into works of art. Everything on the truck was fabricated from steel and aluminum. The only fiberglass on the whole truck is the front bumper, which was fashioned from an Acura automobile's bumper. In the hot rod world, if ain't steel, it ain't real! Gene and Don hand-built all of the ground effects, assembling sections piece by piece. The hood, fenders, front bumper, side skirts, grill, rear deck plate and just about everything else was hand-built by the crew at Kustom K-Fab. This took a long time to accomplish, especially the hood and grill section. James got his idea for the grill from Chrysler's PT Cruiser. Once the body work was done, it was time to start the painting process.

James struggled with making the decision about what color to paint the truck. Meanwhile, the crew at Adler's Auto Body and Paint began prepping the cab, fenders, hood and ground effects. Since the truck has no flat edges or hard corners, sanding it was a huge job. It took almost two-and-a-half months just to block sand and prepare the front of the truck. When it was all said and done, the truck had a coat of primer, a base coat, three coats of paint, three coats of pearl and three coats of clear. James chose a lemon yellow paint mixed with white and gold pearl. House of Kolor provided all of the paint and Steve Adler and Larry Ferguson of Adler's Auto Body and Paint sprayed it.

After the paint and final assembly came all the small exterior details and the interior work. The headlights were acquired from a 2000 Dodge Concorde and the taillights came from a Mustang (turned upside down). The interior was done by Bob Divine of Divine's Custom Tops. James had Ricarro seats from a BMW reupholstered and put in the truck. All of the chrome and polished aluminum was done by Lodi Chrome. An incredible stereo system was installed by Gary Patteson of Lodi Auto Stereo. Demitrios Karabinis of Arc Audio in Modesto and Rainbow Speakers in Germany provided the stereo and all the electronics. And man can this system pump. Norm Tauton from Galt, California, provided James with many of the original exterior pieces like emblems, handles, bulldogs and such. Another final touch James added was APP's one-piece forged aluminum wheels. It seems everyone is switching over to these new and unique rims.

So many people and so many different companies participated in so many different phases of this project that it is almost impossible to mention them all. James wanted to send special thanks to Bob Hitchcock of Cherokee Truck Parts for all the "cool" stuff he got for the truck and to all the other companies that provided various items. Although the truck has been to a couple of shows already, it's making its official debut at the International Trucking Show in Las Vegas. 10-4 is proud to have James and his beautiful "Millennium Mack" in our booth at the show.

As excited as James is to have finally finished this enormous project, he still believes the best is yet to come. James already has plans for another truck floating around in his head. But what he is most excited about is teaching his 9-year old son Anthony how to drive in the Mack - the same truck his father taught him in. That's pretty cool. James was nearly moved to tears as he thought about that fact and how much he was looking forward to watching Anthony reach over to the gearshifts and do his first downshift split on Wheeler Ridge.

James feels like a kid again when he drives the Mack and loves it. Ever since he has completed the truck he has been floating on cloud nine. But let's not forget to thank the most important person in James' life - his patient, loving and understanding wife Debby. She, along with countless others, put her personal life on hold to get this project finished, and for that James is ever so grateful. One last note is a special memorial. James longtime trucking friend Dave Gannon was taken by cancer only six months before the truck was completed. The Millennium Mack will forever fly Dave's truck number "THIRTY-THREE" in memorial to his fallen friend.

Longterm plans for the Mack include building it a matching custom trailer to haul hot rods and custom cars around the country, going to auto and truck shows and other related events. But for now, how about a break James? It's been seven long years in the making - and you are the star attraction (for at least a little while). So enjoy yourself and let it all hang out. Relax and savor in the fruits of your labor. After all, that bride of yours has been waiting patiently for quite a long time.

The best way to even try to describe the Millennium Mack is, "You've got to see it to believe it." And brother, we've seen it and we believe!!! We'd like to send out our personal congratulations to James Cotta and everyone else involved with this project for a job well done. And for anyone who's name we may have forgotten, omitted or mis-spelled, please accept our apologies. Hey, there was a lot of names in this article!