10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - MAY 2006

NOTHING FOR FREE
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

Jeff Botelho’s father taught him many things – how to work hard, how to visualize something in his head before it exists, not to be afraid of the unknown and the fact that nothing is free. But it’s that last one that gets joked about the most. Whether it was chrome for a truck or the trucking company itself, Jeff has always had to work hard and pay for everything. But his dad always took good care of him, and now that Jeff is taking over the company as his father winds down toward retirement, Jeff has had the opportunity to do some fun things for his father as well.

Jeff Botelho (34) was born and raised in the San Jose area of California. His dad was a truck driver who ran between the Bay area and Los Angeles, but when Jeff was two years old, his father decided to sell his truck and buy his father’s machine shop so that he could be home more with the family. Jeff was devastated. His most vivid memory growing up was when his father would come home from a trip. After parking the truck, a Freightliner cabover with a Cat 1693 engine, he would motion Jeff to come inside. His father would lift him into the cab and then let little two-year-old Jeff push the “stop” button to turn off the motor. He absolutely loved it!

His dad ran the machine shop for ten years, but then that trucking disease overcame him and forced him to get back into the business. On Jeff’s 12th birthday, he got off the school bus and found a salesman from the local Peterbilt dealer standing in the driveway with his dad putting together the final details to purchase a new truck. Jeff was thrilled! Back then, Peterbilt’s were assembled in Newark, California, so Jeff’s dad made arrangements to be at the factory the day their truck would be built and to tour the facility. Jeff walked around the factory in awe, and as they completed their tour, their brand new, 1984 Peterbilt 359 Extended Hood rolled off the line. It was a day to remember for Jeff. Years later, Jeff would get to surprise his father with a similar day in Denton, Texas.

Chomping at the bit to get trucking, Jeff promised his mother that he would finish high school. At 15, he got his Learner’s Permit, and at 16 he took a brand new truck and a 48-foot flatbed and got his license. Jeff can remember skipping school to go on a run with his dad more than once. He doesn’t know how he did it (he suspects that the teachers gave him extra credit to ensure that he wouldn’t have to come back), but he graduated and immediately started driving. But when his father tried to add 18-year-old Jeff to their company’s insurance policy, the rate was ridiculous, so he decided to segregate Jeff out on his own and start a new company for him to run under. Thinking it would someday be taken over by Jeff and his older brother Jim, the company was named Botelho Brothers Trucking. But Jim never really got on-board, so there really isn’t any “brothers” in Botelho Brothers Trucking. Today, Jeff’s brother Jim is a bus mechanic with a graphic design company on the side. Jim may not be involved with the trucking company, but he is very involved with the trucks – especially the vinyl graphics on them.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jeff and his brother built an extreme show truck and made the rounds with it for about three years. Featuring a big stereo system complete with seventeen speakers, a chromed-out engine, chrome driveshafts and more, the boys won just about every show and award they went after with this truck. Jeff remembers washing trucks, polishing chrome and doing other odd jobs to help pay for the chrome on this truck. But three years of showing the same truck can get tiring and boring, so the boys “retired” from the truck show scene. Truth is they got a little frustrated. At the time, their truck was “the one to beat” for a couple years, yet they still got no coverage of it in any of the magazines. That is one reason why being on the cover of 10-4 is so special for Jeff – after years of wanting a little recognition, he’s finally getting it. He admits that his trucks are not “show” trucks, but they are clean, hard-running work trucks, and he’s very proud of them all.

As Jeff’s dad has slowly begun to transfer the company to his son, he has loosened the reigns a bit and allowed Jeff to purchase some new trucks. Buying new trucks is something Jeff is not used to doing. For years, most of their trucks were built from glider kits. Today, in Jeff’s opinion, it makes more sense to buy a new truck with a warranty, and then sell it when the warranty expires and buy another one. This way, you are assured to have very little downtime due to a breakdown, and if you do have a problem, you won’t break your wallet with the repair. That first new one Jeff purchased is the flamed Pete pictured here. Shortly after that, Jeff ordered a second one – the other one on these pages.

The first truck was scheduled to be built in June of last year (2005), so Jeff put together a surprise trip for him and his dad to take to Denton, Texas, to watch the truck be made. The night before they were to leave, Jeff dropped two First Class tickets to Dallas in his dad’s lap and said, “Pack your bags, we’re taking a trip.” Twenty years after his father took him to see one of their trucks built, he was now taking his dad to see another.

After they toured Peterbilt’s Denton facility (which normally takes about an hour, but Jeff’s questions and curiosity made it take over three), they watched their new rig roll off the assembly line. From there, they drove it to Oklahoma City and picked up a brand new stainless reefer and then drove home together. The second one was delivered later that year in October. Both of these trucks are identical, except for the graphics – one has flames and the other has colorful jagged stripes. The flamed truck and stainless reefer made their debut in Reno at the 2005 TruckerFest in August and the striped one was unveiled (barely in time) at the 2005 Truck Drags in Famoso, California in October. And what a story that is.

Apparently, Jeff works best when under pressure. The truck was delivered in early October of 2005. Jeff ran it for a week and then, on Friday night before the show, pulled it into his shop. Since Peterbilt won’t paint their frames with metallic paint anymore, Jeff has to paint them himself. And this one was no exception. So, on Friday night, he started stripping it down. Over the next 41 hours the truck was transformed into what you see today. The frame was painted, the air tanks were moved to the back, a stainless deck plate was installed as well as a rear light bar, six-inch stacks and a new visor, the front end was lowered, and the vinyl graphics were installed. The truck was finished early Sunday morning and then driven directly to the show. One of the judges said, “Wow, that paint almost looks wet.” Jeff quickly replied, “Don’t touch it – it might be!”

Both of the trucks pictured here are 2006 Peterbilt 379 Extended Hoods with a 36-inch flat top sleeper, 550 Cat C-15 engine, 18-speed transmission, 3.36 rears, low air-leaf suspension, American Class interior and 270-inch wheelbase. For the work they do, these trucks really don’t even need to have sleepers, but Jeff likes the way they look. Both trucks have bullet lights and long horns on the roof, Hogebuilt quarter-fenders and “Botelho Blue” metallic paint. The vinyl graphics were created by Jeff’s brother Jim at Absolute Graphics in San Jose, CA. And if you didn’t know better, you’d think they were paint. Created entirely on a computer, the graphics are then printed on a sheet of vinyl sticker. The vinyl goes into the large-format printer white, and comes out like you see it on the truck. And even better than paint, if Jeff decides that he doesn’t like it, wants to change it, or wants to remove it (maybe to sell the truck), the graphics can be removed fairly easily. Jim will be creating vinyl graphics for some of the other trucks in the fleet, which are also blue and very similar to the two on these pages.

Botelho Brothers Trucking, based out of Los Banos, California, owns and operates seven trucks and thirty-four trailers, including reefers, dry vans and flatbeds. The company also has four full-time, fully dedicated subhaulers. Most of their work involves hauling frozen and/or dry freight in California, and lately business has been great. So good in fact, on top of these two new trucks they got last year, they just ordered two more that are scheduled to be delivered in June and December of 2006.

Although Jeff likes buying new trucks now, he gained a lot of experience building those glider kits over the years. With that experience in mind, he started another business with a friend named Brent Van Ruler called Custom Image Motors. The company started out as a small truck dealership, but as customers asked for special things to be added or built for their truck, the guys began doing custom work as well. It started out small, but is growing quickly. Today, they are doing all sorts of wild things to trucks – like shaving door handles and lights, switching out dashes, paint and graphics, all kinds of custom fabrication and more. Jeff has decided that he’d rather build trucks then own them or drive them, but for now he’ll still have to do all of the above.

Like always, Jeff waited until the last minute to get the trucks ready for our photo shoot at Pismo Beach. Jeff’s trucks work hard and he can’t afford to have two sitting around, so these trucks worked (in the rain) the day before our shoot. He pulled them into the shop at the end of the day and he and his crew went to work. They worked all night on the two rigs and then got on the road, with no sleep, at 4:00 A.M. to be in Pismo by 7:00 A.M. Along with the two rigs, they brought a diesel-powered pickup in case one of the trucks got stuck in the sand. Jeff’s helpers and support staff included Rocky Machado, David Ferrel, Brent Van Ruler and his wife Darlene. Jeff also brought his three-year-old son Jeffrey along too. Jeff wanted to thank everyone for their help, along with his parents, his wife and the rest of the crew. We’d like to thank Jeff for all the long hours and effort he put into getting those rigs ready for our shoot.

Happily married for eight years to his wife Rosie, the couple has two children – Jeffrey, who was mentioned before, and a five-year-old daughter named Taylor. Rosie has always been supportive of Jeff and his “projects” that take him away from home much of the time. Jeff wonders what he did to deserve his wife, and has always been grateful of her encouragement. He hopes that the truck dealership continues to grow and that he gets to keep building custom trucks. The best part about building a truck for someone else is that he only has to clean it once. From there, hey, it’s the new owner’s responsibility – and that’s how Jeff likes it.

We usually cherish most the things in our life that we worked the hardest to have. Maybe that is why Jeff’s dad never gave him anything for free. He wanted Jeff to appreciate what he had and have the character and conviction to sustain it over his lifetime. Most lottery winners go right back to being broke in a very short time, which proves that if something is given to you, you don’t respect it or care for it like you would if you earned it. From what we saw, Jeff had a lot of respect for himself, the company, his family and his crew – good job dad! Now, if you could just teach him how to get off the cell phone, everything would be perfect.