COVER FEATURE - OCTOBER 2008
SOUTHERN SHINE
BUCK LANDRY SHOWS OFF HIS SHINY TRUCKS
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor
It’s been said, “There ain’t no shine like a Southern shine,” and Steven “Buck” Landry (27) of Dry Land Transport LLC in Pierre Part, Louisiana has taken that statement to heart. Not only does he claim that his truck outshines most, but he is also on the verge of opening a chrome store under the same name (Southern Shine). But not much has been shining in his neck of the woods lately. After living in a camper trailer next to his house since Hurricane Gustav blew through his town, Buck is ready for life to get bright again after a few dim weeks.
We met up with Buck after the truck show in Dallas to take our pictures and do an interview. He used his truck to pull a new race trailer he had just acquired with living quarters inside to Dallas for the photo shoot, which was on August 24. Little did any of us know, but a storm was just beginning to form way out near Haiti that would eventually find its way to Louisiana and force Buck to live in that trailer for over a month.
Hurricane Gustav was the second major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and the United States. It formed on the morning of August 25, about 260 miles southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and rapidly strengthened into a hurricane early on August 26. Later that day it made landfall near the Haitian town of Jacmel. It then went on to inundate Jamaica and Cuba (as a Category 4 hurricane) and then steadily moved across the Gulf of Mexico. On September 1, Gustav made landfall in the United States along the Louisiana coast near Morgan City as a strong Category 2 hurricane – just 1 mph below a Category 3. Gustav continued moving northwest through Louisiana, straight through Buck’s hometown of Pierre Part, before slowing down significantly as it moved through Arkansas on September 3.
The hurricane spared Buck’s house, but he did lose part of his screened-in porch. There was no electricity for two weeks and no water for even longer. And even when the black water cleared, residents still could not drink it, only bathe in it. As of this writing, Buck could still not drink the water coming from his tap, but he was back in his house. He sure was glad that he had that trailer to live in, because many of his neighbors had nowhere to go. He sent us some of the Military MREs (meals ready to eat) and emergency self-heating meals he had been living on for the last few weeks and, quite frankly, they weren’t that bad. Trees are still being cleared and telephone poles are still being straightened, but other than that, things are getting back to normal in Pierre Part.
The youngest of three boys, Buck was born and raised in New Iberia, Louisiana, back when the oil fields there were booming and times were good. Buck’s father Sammy was a truck driver that hauled a lot of equipment and supplies to the oil fields. In 1985 things took a turn for the worse and the oil industry there began to dry up. The bank gave Buck’s daddy a choice to either keep his house or his truck. He told them, “My house can’t make me any money,” so he gave it up. After that, Buck and his family moved in with his grandparents in Pierre Part and started over. Pierre Part is a small island just south of Baton Rouge that is surrounded by levees. Each of the town’s residents pay $65 a year to keep the pumps running and the island dry.
Back in the late 1970s, Buck’s father had a stretched out (260”) Peterbilt called “Midnight Express” – it was one of the first custom trucks in that area. In the early 1980s, it was featured on the cover of American Trucker Magazine. Buck started helping out his dad when he was six or seven years old, greasing and washing trucks, tarping loads, and doing whatever else he could do. After graduating from high school (Buck was the first in his family to do that) he started driving for his older brother Donny.
After hauling sand & gravel for his brother for four years, Donny decided to sell off most of his trucks, leaving Buck to find a new job. He bounced around between a few companies over the next year, but just couldn’t find the right fit. In 2003 he bought his first truck – a 1994 Freightliner FLD120. He did a few things to it (aluminum wheels, big bumper, extra lights, etc.) and then started pulling a tanker, hauling special salt water used for drilling. Back then he worked a lot – probably too much. He pulled the tanker at night and a flatbed in the day. But Buck has never been afraid of hard work. His goal was always to buy a Peterbilt, and he knew that would take a lot of money, so he worked hard. He even got a “Peterbilt” tattoo while he was still driving the Freightliner!
In late 2006, his dream finally came true. Buck found and bought a stock 2004 Peterbilt 379 with a low-leaf suspension, a 475 Cat and a 48” flat top sleeper. At first, he couldn’t afford to make any expensive changes or shut down long enough for someone else to do them, so he started with the stuff he could do by himself in his spare time. Since everyone was building long and sleek trucks, Buck decided to build his short and fat, and give it a “heavy duty” look. He began by pulling the blocks to lower the front end and then he painted his grille surround, added cab and sleeper extensions, shaved the blinkers off his headlights and painted the buckets, added a louvered grille and installed fiberglass Jones Performance front fenders. He also shaved the cab lights and horns from the roof of the cab. To save some time and money, Buck had his tanks wrapped in metallic silver vinyl instead of painting them and, quite honestly, we couldn’t even tell. After he had done everything he could, he took it to 4-State Trucks in Joplin, MO for more.
Buck has been buying parts from 4-State Trucks, now the home of the Chrome Shop Mafia, since they were just a junk yard. While the truck was at the shop, Buck stayed close and tried to be part of whatever they were doing. The guys at 4-State built Buck a set of custom hidden brackets so that he could mount his stainless half fenders rolled forward chopper-style, and also made custom brackets to mount an 18” bumper on the back as a light bar. They also added a small 50’s-style oval window to the back of the sleeper, mounted short 10” pipes and installed a Valley Chrome bumper with a 12 Ga. flip kit. Most of the other work 4-State did was inside – they painted the floor and the dash, changed out all of his gauges and then converted his regular transmission into a simulated “two stick” (10+2) and made extra long rat-rod shifters (the second stick is for his splitter).
About the time that the truck was finished, Buck’s grandmother asked him if he was going to name it after a woman. Having not had that much success with relationships with women over the years, he didn’t think that would be a good idea. After thinking about it, he decided to name it “Southern Pacific” in honor of his grandfather. After World War II, his grandfather went to work for Southern Pacific Railroad laying tracks. He worked for them for almost 35 years and then retired with a comfortable pension. Buck figured if his Southern Pacific (truck) takes care of him as good as Southern Pacific (the company) took of his grand-daddy, life would be good. Besides, the truck was built to look like a freight train, so the name made even more sense. To finish off the theme, Buck had an artist in Kentucky etch a picture of a Southern Pacific locomotive on the window in the back of the sleeper.
As you can see in the pictures, Buck has a slammed pickup painted to match the big truck. Buck has had a couple custom pickups over the years, but this latest one, which has been an eight-year project, is pretty extreme. He bought the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado new and almost immediately wrecked it. At that point, he painted it silver and started working on it. Today, it has a stainless steel 4-link suspension, suicide doors with shaved handles, shaved taillights and 23” wheels. Buck C-notched the frame 12” around the rear suspension and raised the floor of the bed and the cab so that he could drop the truck to the ground. He even had to add a hood scoop to accommodate the engine when the truck is dropped. He actually has enough space in his wheel wells for 26” wheels, but for now he is sticking to the more practical 23 inchers.
Now that Buck’s Peterbilt is basically done, he is moving on to his next big project – opening a chrome shop called Southern Shine Customs & Chrome off I-10 (exit 151) just west of the Baton Rouge Bridge. Buck is in the final stages of preparing his shop to open (the hurricane slowed things down a bit), and hopes to have it up and running in the next few weeks. He has already secured several vendors including Dynaflex, Grand General, Trux, West Truck Accessories, Bostrom, WTI, 12 Ga. Customs, Rig Skirts, Jones Performance (Truk-Rodz), Aranda Accessories and more. If the shop ever gets big enough, Buck would like to stop driving and just spend all of his time building show trucks. “Basically, Bryan Martin of 4-State Trucks is living my dream,” said Buck.
Sammy Landry did not want his three boys to become truck drivers – he wanted them to become doctors. But trucking is in the Landry blood. Buck’s dad trucked for many years but he now owns and operates a new and used mobile home dealership. Buck’s older brother Donny bought the original “Outlaw” show truck (our July 2004 cover feature) from Bryan at 4-State Trucks and has been pulling liquid bleach with it ever since, while his oldest brother, Jason, hauls mobile homes for their dad. Buck is currently hauling powdered cement for Henry Landry (a distant cousin), staying local so he can have more time to work on getting the chrome shop going. His right-hand man and helper is Chaz Guillot (also a cousin). Chaz not only came with Buck to Dallas for the photo shoot, but he is also helping him with the chrome shop. Chaz currently has a Learner’s Permit and is in the process of getting his Class-A license.
It was always Buck’s dream to one day have a Peterbilt – and now he does. It was also his dream to one day make the cover of a truck magazine – now he has. His next dream is to have a chrome shop, and if things go as planned, that dream will soon be fulfilled as well. When talking to Buck, you can’t listen slow because he certainly talks fast, but most of what he says is true – whether you want to hear it or not. Buck does not mix words or just tell you what you want to hear – he is straight up and direct – the real deal – in all its brutality and brashness. You either love him or hate him. But no matter how you feel about Buck Landry, you can’t deny that Southern shine on his truck. We wish him all the luck with his new chrome shop, and thank him for allowing us to help fulfill one of his dreams.