COVER FEATURE - AUGUST 2008
METAL MAYHEM
EAST COAST TRUCK MAKES BIG IMPRESSION OUT WEST
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor
They said it couldn’t be done. They said conventional wisdom wouldn’t have it, and that physics wouldn’t allow it. They said it was too ambitious, too daring and too revolutionary. But International went ahead and did it anyway – they designed the ProStar truck. The ProStar was introduced in 2006 and offered unprecedented aerodynamics that decreased drag by almost 10% over their leading competitors, which equated to about a 4% fuel savings per year. But it wasn’t until 2008 that somebody made one cool enough to excite even the pickiest of owner operators. Jim Carello of Rochester, New York, owner of three International dealerships in his area, with the help of the guys at Elizabeth Truck Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, designed and built “Mayhem” to promote his stores and have some fun.
Back in 2006 when the ProStar was first introduced, fuel efficiency was not as important. But with diesel fuel prices hovering around $5.00 a gallon, saving a few pennies here and there could be the difference between surviving and failing. International spent five years and $300 million in the development of the ProStar and collaborated with both dealer and driver advisory boards. Low profile fender openings, a patented roof design, a precisely-designed sloped hood and a minimized bumper gap are just a few of the design features that allow the ProStar to slice through the air with the greatest of ease. International also added features to make the ProStar easy to service and cheaper to operate. Fleet owners immediately saw the advantages offered in the ProStar and many were purchased. But owner operators, still in love with their long, square hoods, saw nothing more than just an “aerodynamic” fleet-style of truck. Until now.
Operating from his location in Henrietta, New York (just south of Rochester), Jim Carello (60) owns and runs Regional Truck & Trailer, which also has two other stores in nearby Buffalo and Geneva. Jim has always been a “gear-head” so the thought of building a wild show truck was not that far-fetched. Throughout his life, Jim has built and owned many custom motorcycles and hot rods, and he has always loved to create and build custom things, so this project was a perfect outlet for him. Jim has a machine shop in his garage at home and a separate shop where he keeps all of his vehicles. This shop has been dubbed “The Dog House” by his wife Lyn who says that if Jim rubbed on her as much as he rubs on his cars, she would be a lot happier. She must be pretty happy anyway – she has kept Jim around for 36 years and still not traded him in!
Jim was born and raised in the Rochester, New York area. His father ran a large beverage company that had a lot of trucks, so Jim learned to drive at an early age. After graduating from high school, he went to college and then joined the Navy. After returning home from Vietnam, he bounced around for a while, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. By hook or crook, he ended up in the produce business with a guy named Luis Fishgold. Jim was not only the general manager of the warehouse, but was also in charge of their 25-truck fleet. In the course of doing his job, Jim befriended Sam Malcuria, owner of the local International dealership. In 1989, Sam decided to retire, so Jim put together a group of investors and bought the store – and Regional International was born (which is also known as Regional Truck & Trailer).
Having seen both sides of the trucking industry, Jim had a keen understanding of the business. Knowing the trials and tribulations that truckers go through, Jim was able to provide better service to his customers. Jim also knew that many truckers were taken advantage of by dealers, so he vowed, from the beginning, to give everyone a fair shake at his store. And that philosophy paid off. Regional has enjoyed much growth and success over the years and today has over 150 full-time employees and keeps average inventories around $11,000,000 including trucks, trailers and parts.
Over the years, much of Jim’s business has come from selling trucks to fleet owners. But lately, with the huge surge of custom truck builders and the popularity of truck shows, they have become more familiar with the custom segment of the trucking industry and established good relationships with many of the owner operators in their area. Last July (2007) Jim sat down with his people, which now includes not only his wife Lyn but their daughter Gina (33) and son Jason (32), and decided to build a ProStar show truck to help promote their dealerships and show owner operators that fuel efficient trucks could be customized and just as cool as a long hood conventional. Deciding who would actually do all the work was the next big decision to make.
After checking out several of the big-name builders, they chose Elizabeth Truck Center (ETC) in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After meeting with Anthony at ETC to discuss the build, Jim was very impressed with his ideas and level of enthusiasm for the project. Although Jim felt that his crew could do the work, he did not want his customers to suffer by pulling all of his mechanics away from their regular duties to perform the build. But Jim and his people were very involved in the process, calling the project a “collaboration” between Regional Truck & Trailer and ETC.
The truck was ordered in August of 2007 and delivered the following month. It had a tall sleeper, a 224-inch wheelbase, a 525 Cummins engine, a 13-speed Fuller transmission, a chrome grille and front bumper, and was painted Maroon. Except for a prototype suspension, it was just a stock, average, ProStar truck. After the truck arrived, Jim and his son Jason just “looked at it” for two months while they decided what exactly they wanted to do to it. Everyone who had any input put a laundry list of “must-haves” together, so when the truck was finally taken to ETC in November it was clear what they wanted – it would have to be long and low, with custom wheels, dark-tinted windows, an extreme paint job and a booming sound system. From there, it was left up to the guys at ETC to fill in the gaps.
Once the truck arrived at ETC’s custom fabrication facility in Staten Island, New York (Car Craft Truck Works), they gutted it out and then stretched the frame to a whopping 340 inches. While doing the stretch, they moved or removed all of the visible bolts on the frame and relocated the suspension about an inch higher on the rails to help lower the truck a bit. In an effort to make it easier to haul and look even better, they removed the roof faring and lowered the truck four inches (it was already pretty low when it came from the factory). As the truck started to come together, it was clear that it was going to be very different than the average show truck. It was at that point that Anthony suggested the Lamborghini-style scissor doors.
After purchasing a kit that was designed for a car, the ETC crew went to work on the doors, but no matter how they mounted them, they still hit the hood. So to solve this problem, they extended the front edge of the doors an inch, trimmed the same amount off the back edge of the hood and modified the firewall. This solved the problem. They also switched out the stock gas struts with heavy duty ones to accommodate the extra weight of the larger truck doors. In reality, the doors are not very practical, but they sure look cool – and they were that extra special modification that put this truck over the top.
Many other major modifications were done to the truck. A custom 14-inch drop visor was made from scratch and a heavy-duty tail piece was fabricated and installed, as well as custom light bars with recessed LEDs in front and behind the rear wheels. To cover up the bumpy back wall behind the sleeper, the guys at ETC welded a piece of smooth steel over it. And since every custom vehicle out there has custom wheels, Jim thought his truck should have them, too. With help from a friend named Rob Kendel of Kendel CNC in Spencerport, New York, the two designed and cut eight custom aluminum wheels and then polished them inside and out. The custom 8-inch dual exhaust was modified, too. Not wanting any bolts to show, everything on the exhaust was either welded together or bolted from the inside. Smooth deck plates were also added between the frame rails and a panel was fabricated and installed under the frame rails, near the back of the sleeper, to “box in” the cab and sleeper area and hide everything underneath the truck.
Once the major fabrication was complete, it was time to focus on the smaller details and prepare the truck for paint. Jason suggested that they paint the truck to match Jim’s custom chopper built by Tony Cenzi of Cenzi Custom Cycles. House of Kolor was kind enough to donate most of the paint for the project, and Jim sent Tony to ETC to do the work. Approximately 400 hours were spent on the paint alone, which includes several exotic colors and ghost flames throughout. The grille, visor and mirrors were painted, as well as the front bumper, and the brackets for the mirrors were cut down so they wouldn’t stick out so far. Fiberglass fenders made by Cool Components were installed over the drive tires, virtually invisible single-diode LED lights with clear lenses were placed throughout the cab and sleeper, and high-intensity headlights were fitted into the front fenders.
While all of this exterior work was being done, the interior was getting made over as well. The bed, closet and cabinets were removed and replaced with a custom wrap-around couch. The coat closet on the back wall was modified to hold a 37-inch flat panel television. The front seats were ordered with the ability to swivel around, which converts the entire cab and sleeper space into one large living (and relaxing) area. The guys at ETC did a lot of custom fiberglass and paint work inside to accommodate all of the speakers that were installed and to create a comfortable, contemporary interior. The sound system features a Kenwood head unit and 14 Kicker speakers, including four subwoofers, and pumps out an amazing 6,000 watts of power. All that was left to do now was name the truck. With so many different people involved, Anthony thought that the name “Mayhem” would fit perfectly. And, quite honestly, looking at the paint scheme and all of the other custom details on this truck, “Mayhem” describes it perfectly.
The truck took four months to build and made its debut at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky in March of 2008. And it was very well received (even the Peterbilt and KW guys liked it). The truck was not entered into the competition in Kentucky, but instead was parked in the International area outside to help promote the unveiling of their new LoneStar truck.
After Louisville, we convinced Jim to bring the rig out to the truck show in Las Vegas and enter it into the Pride & Polish contest where it received a 1st place in the Limited Mileage Paint Bobtail class, tied for 1st place in the Limited Mileage Interior class, and got 2nd overall in the Limited Mileage Bobtail class. Not bad for their first time competing! After the show, we took the truck to Red Rock Canyon just outside Las Vegas and took all the beautiful pictures you see here and on the cover/centerfold. Those New York boys won’t soon forget the picturesque scenery we saw out there in the desert that morning.
Jim is very proud of the truck and very thankful to everyone that helped with the project. Jim’s kids are very involved in the business and played a huge part in the building of this truck. He wanted to thank not only them but the entire crew at Regional Truck & Trailer, his wife Lyn and everyone at ETC, including Anthony Pesce and his brother Steven, as well as their dad, Steve Sr. Like this truck so obviously illustrates, Jim and his crew are committed to quality. Jim wanted his customers to realize that the folks at Regional are creative and open minded. And, again, this truck is a perfect example of that.
Jim plans on attending several truck shows back east this year and then parking the truck at his dealership as a showpiece. At this point, he has no plans to sell it. There are already plans in the works for Jim to build an even more extreme truck for the Louisville show next year, but we are not at liberty to discuss the details (we could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you). We are not sure how you could build a truck more extreme then “Mayhem” but one thing is for sure, it is certain to be one wild ride! Stay tuned.