10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

“I LOVE MY JOB!”
New Column Features Custom Creations

Clint Moore loves his job, and it shows in his work. For those of you who do not know him, Clint works for Kansas City Peterbilt, specializing in ordering and building custom trucks. For years, Clint has been nice enough to include us on his e-mail list to which he regularly sends out photos of his “latest creation” and a sentence or two about the truck and its owner. We loved getting the pictures but never knew what to do with them. Well, we finally got smart and decided to put together an ongoing column featuring Clint’s work, appropriately called “Clint’s Creations.” These articles will feature a photo of one of Clint’s latest projects and some information about the truck and its owner. But first we thought we should introduce you to Clint and tell you a little about where he came from, how he got started and what he does.

Clint was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. He has one brother Chris (A.K.A. Gus) and one sister Carol. Growing up, Clint loved art. In high school, he took every class they offered including drawing, painting, photography, ceramics and stained glass. But after graduating and moving on to college, things changed. In college, everything had a deadline and he didn’t like being pressured while trying to create. It felt too much like “work” to him. In 1988, his brother Gus, who was working at a small dealership detailing trucks, told Clint about a position that was available in the office. Clint applied and got the job. As time passed and he learned more about trucks, he moved into sales. Not surprising, he fell in love with trucks. T-Bone Riley called Clint one day in the early 1990’s and said, “Build me something cool and then I’ll come and get it.” It’s been a wild ride ever since.

One of Clint’s best attributes is his ability to choose paint colors and stripe schemes. This talent may have come from his art background, but it more likely came from his mom. Clint’s mother Pat teaches and works at a quilt shop and has been sewing all her life. She taught Clint about colors and coordinating paint schemes by the beautiful quilts she makes. Clint’s father Dave was a switchman for a steel company and always spent his spare time working on old cars and trucks. Clint’s dad taught him to love hot rods and cool trucks. In 1993, Clint married his best friend Cris, and after years of trying (Clint finally figured it out), the two are expecting their first child this June. Clint has been lobbying for the name “Trucker” but has not had much success.

In 1997, Clint changed dealerships and began selling used trucks at Kansas City Peterbilt (one of the last family-owned Peterbilt dealerships). Phil Cooper, who had been selling cool trucks since 1965, took him under his wing. When Phil passed away in 2001, Clint moved into new truck sales and took over Phil’s customers (he had requested that). “I owe a lot to Phil and miss him to this very day,” said Clint.

Specializing in ordering trucks for people who are picky, Clint (35) has made a name for himself as the guy who never let’s the word “can’t” roll off his lips. What the factory doesn’t want to do, he finds a way to get it done. Most of the trucks he builds are Peterbilts with unique colors, clean lines, and classic styling. Clint considers himself more of an “interpreter” than a builder. Most of Clint’s customers already know what they want - it’s his job to make sure that they get it.

For this first column, Clint chose to feature a unique baby blue and dark blue Peterbilt that he recently delivered to Frank “Pug” Pugliese of F & R in Portage, Indiana. Pug had a sweet A-Model KW named “Aftermath” with a V-8 that he ran for 15 years, until a snowy November day, when a truck jackknifed in front of him and forced him to put her into a ditch on her side. This broke his heart. The truck was totaled, so Pug decided to let Clint order him a new custom Peterbilt.

They started with a 300" WB, 600 Cat, a factory two stick 10 over with a 4-speed aux. (shhh, they’re not available), low-leaf suspension, “Old Skool” big rubber and lots of gauges and switches. Clint wanted to make sure that Pug felt at home in his new Pete, so they removed the interior and sent it to Truck Interior Specialists in Seattle, WA where Cliff and his boys made a brand new Pete interior that was a replica of a Kenworth interior. After putting it all back together, Clint then installed wood floors, chopped the lids and painted the breathers, added a flush-mount deck plate, shox boxes, S.S. battery boxes, a hand-fabricated painted visor, double 359 headlights on Double JJ brackets, a blank grill with Kenworth S.S. bars and dual 7" straights with custom catalytics under the bunk. This one turned out sweet. At the same time, Pug contracted Sean Lambing of Serious Platform Productions to build him a custom flatbed, painted to match the tractor, to haul steel. Sean and the boys did a great job. Together, they make an awesome combination.

If you want to see more of Clint’s creations, visit his website at www.custombuiltfor.com, or just keep visiting this site (www.tenfourmagazine.com) to see full color pictures of the cool trucks we have already featured. And if you are thinking about ordering a custom Peterbilt, we strongly recommend that you contact Clint Moore at Kansas City Peterbilt.