This month’s cool “creation” was built, well, at least ordered, for Steve Schenian of Francis Creek, Wisconsin and his driver, Brian Schultz. Steve owns a fleet of Kenworths, but one of his drivers really wanted a Peterbilt, so he ordered it for him from Clint. After the truck was built, Clint had Peterbilt drop-ship it directly to Steve’s shop in Wisconsin, where most of the work was done.
Steve is a busy man. He not only owns and operates Steven R. Schenian Trucking Inc., which includes a fleet of 15 trucks that pull pneumatic tanks, but he also owns a brokerage company called ST Freight (www.stfreight.com), an office furniture manufacturing company called Invincible Office Furniture Solutions, and a few other various businesses. Needless to say, Steve is busy!
Born and raised on a farm, Steve (now 53) started driving when he was 18 years old after borrowing $5,000 from his grandpa and buying his first truck – a slightly used Transtar II COE – in 1977. After hauling cheese for five years, he got into the excavating business and bought a dump truck. Over the years, he built his fleet up to 20 dump trucks, but as the times changed, so did his business. Steve is a down-to-earth guy who has been married to his wife Mariann for 28 years. The couple has three grown children.
Brian Schultz (26) has been driving for Steve for the last four years. Before that, he worked in the fields as a custom cutter, then an end dump driver, and then a dump truck driver, hauling asphalt. When it came time to order Brian a new truck, he wanted a Peterbilt, and he requested that Clint be the one to spec it out.
The truck was ordered as a 2012 Peterbilt 389 with a 270” wheelbase, a 36” sleeper, a 525 Cummins ISX with an 18-speed transmission, an air-ride front axle with a car-hauler beam and Low Air-Leaf suspension. Clint ordered it with the name “SST NOT A KW” on the build sheet, so that all of the employees involved at the factory would take special care to make sure that this was not the only Peterbilt Steve would ever order. The color is an unpublished color called Tru Red, and the dash plaque was ordered to say “CUSTOM BUILT FOR 25 HOURS A DAY 8 DAYS A WEEK”.
After the truck was built, it was sent directly to Steve’s shop for all the add-ons, including a painted drop visor, a lift bumper, 359 headlights, 9 bullet lights, strapless air cleaners, painted cab and sleeper extensions and painted fuel tanks. They also added WTI rear fenders, a light bar, a painted flush deck plate with recessed air line connections and a custom hook-up for the hose that “blows off” their loads, a light panel between the fuel tanks, shiny stainless box covers, a shox box and a dump valve on the front axle.
Most of the work was done by Brian and a couple of his friends, along with help from Gregg in the shop. Although Clint builds most of the truck’s he orders, if a customer wants to do the work themselves, that is never a problem. We hope Brian likes his new ride, and can live up to the statement on its dash plaque! Get on it!!