Not everyone has stacks of cash laying around or money to spend on expensive truck builds, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a cool ride. Young Rene Camacho (26) of Madera, CA proves that fact with his custom Freightliner Cascadia, built in a short amount of time with limited resources, that still caught our eye for a feature – and not just any old feature, a cover feature! Rene and his family, who he works closely with, have mastered the art of “Ballin’ on a Budget” with their trucks. And we couldn’t be more excited about him or his small fleet of daily workhorses that look great, too.
Born in 1998 and raised in Firebaugh, a small community in California’s Central Valley, Rene did not grow up in a trucking family. He did, however, have a couple uncles who were truckers, with nice equipment, which was just enough to spark his interest later on when it came time to pick a career. Rene and one of his brothers loved to go over to their uncle’s house, who had a nice 2005 Peterbilt 379, and play around with the trucks. But let’s not jump ahead.
After his parents went through a difficult divorce when Rene was not very old, he and his four siblings, along with their mother, struggled to survive. Rene is the second oldest of the five kids – four boys and one girl – but his older brother wasn’t handling things well, so Rene was forced to step up and grow up fast. His siblings include older brother Julio (29), younger brothers Alex (24) and Bernardo (20), and sister Kaitlyn (17). When not in school, Rene started working out in the fields at just 14 years old, and would give all his paychecks to his mother, to help pay the bills. That’s a pretty responsible and “grown up” thing for a 14-year-old teenager to do, which gives you a little insight as to the work ethic and morals of this fine young man.
In high school, Rene got really involved with sports, especially football, and he was good (and whatever he lacked in talent he more than made up for with effort and dedication). He strived to be a leader, both on and off the field, and his efforts did not go un-noticed. After graduating from high school at just 17 years old, Rene got a football scholarship to play for a smaller college in Kansas and then moved there shortly after graduation. Times were good in Kansas – he ate well, lived in a nice place, played a lot of football, and did not have to deal with the daily stresses and struggles he was so used to back home. Majoring in Criminology, Rene thought he might want to one day become a police officer.
Unfortunately, things were not going well for the rest of his family back home, and this began to eat away at Rene’s happiness – he began to feel guilty for not being there to help like he had been in the past, and for how easy he had it in Kansas. So, at 18 years old, he made another “responsible” but tough decision to leave school and go home after less than a year in Kansas. Coming from nothing, Rene was determined to build a better life for himself, his mother, and his siblings, so he scraped up enough money to attend truck driving school and got his CDL at 18 years old. But what he quickly realized was that getting his CDL was not the hard part – the hard part was getting that first job.
After applying everywhere he could think of, he finally got a call back from a local cattle company that offered him a job hauling cows and milk locally, but not in a big rig. However, it was a driving job, so he took it. Not long after that, he ended up at Brazil Trucking, a hay-hauling outfit out of Hanford, CA, and began driving a 2-axle Peterbilt 386, pulling doubles, and focused on learning the ropes as fast as possible. Hauling hay throughout the Central Valley in California, the company saw Rene’s extensive efforts to learn and take care of their equipment, so they moved him into a cool Peterbilt 379 with CAT power, along with a set of air-ride trailers, and he took care of that combo as if it were his own! Then covid hit, and everything slowed down.
Always wanting to have his own truck and run his own business, Rene began scrimping and saving. Money was tight because there was not a lot of work, but equipment was also cheap, so he was looking to take advantage of that fact. By the end of 2020, he had saved enough money to buy a plain white 2015 Kenworth T680, but he had no idea what he was going to do with it or what he was going to haul. Renting a trailer from one of his uncles, Rene formed Double R Trucking and started finding his own loads and taking a few “extra” runs from his uncles. At first, he was barely making enough to pay for his fuel, but eventually he signed on with a broker and things started to get busy.
Being young and ambitious, Rene would take any and all loads offered to him, and that work ethic served him well. After just a few months, he was able to buy his own trailer – a 2010 Utility with a Carrier unit. He remembers taking his first load to Reno and having to cross over Donner Pass, a notoriously treacherous route, especially in the winter. That day, it was snowing, and Rene had never driven a truck in those conditions. But he got through it. Later, they gave him a dedicated route, and he still does that route today. Basically, he starts in the Bay area, goes to Los Angeles, then to San Diego, then back to Los Angeles, and then to the Central Valley, hauling refrigerated and frozen products like cheese, produce and ice cream.
Driving that T680 for several years, Rene was able to buy a small ranch in Madera, CA in August of 2023 that had two houses on the property – one for his mother, and one for him. The ranch also had enough room to build a shop, and he convinced his brother Alex to leave his job and start his own paint and customization shop called All-In Customs. Alex had dropped out of high school a few years prior, and went into the paint and body industry, looking to learn that business. Working at Big Rig Customs in Fresno, CA, Alex mastered his craft quickly. When his brother came to him and proposed that he start his own business, Alex was all-in, just like the name of his customization company!
As Rene continued to grow his business, in April of 2024 he bought a second truck – a red 2019 high-rise Freightliner Cascadia – and put a driver in it, just to test the waters and see how things would go. So far, it has worked out very well. Later that year, in October, a customer came to All-In Customs wanting to get their truck painted, but instead of paying, he offered to give them a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia (the one seen on our cover and centerfold this month and on these pages) – but it did not look anything like the truck you see here today. Obviously, they took the deal, but, not surprisingly, it did not go that smoothly at first.
Hoping to put the bone-stock truck to work immediately, which was equipped with a 485-hp DD13 hooked to an automatic transmission, the Cascadia threw a code not 25 miles from the shop and then went into “shutdown” mode. The brothers were like, “Oh no, what have we gotten ourselves into?” Once the truck was back at the shop, they decided to completely tear it down and go through everything. About this time, our friends at Reyes Polishing & Detailing announced that they would be having a truck show in their hometown of Mendota on November 30, 2024, and Rene decided it was the perfect time to debut their newly redone Cascadia. Funny thing was, nothing had been done yet, and the show was just a few weeks away.
Wanting to build a show-worthy truck but not being able to afford a Peterbilt or Kenworth, they decided to just work with what they had, saying, “Let’s start with this and see where it goes!” Selling the T680 to fund the project, they busted their butts for three or four weeks, and most of what you see today was done to the truck during that time – everything but some of the lights and the air-ride front end, which was eventually done by Noah at RNR Rigs in Dinuba, CA. The entire truck was completely repainted in a cream color, with a teal frame, and teal and orange accents. Alex painted the grill surround and mounted a black mesh grill, a painted deck plate was added, the headlights and fog lamps were replaced with LED versions, and stainless Hogebuilt quarter-fenders were installed.
What really sets this rig apart from the rest is the interior, the lighting, and the pinstriping. Dan from Farmersville did an extensive amount of orange and teal pinstriping, and also painted the company logos on the doors, which were designed by Rene. All the watermelon lights on the truck are dual revolution with clear lenses, and Rene was able to find some unique colors I had never seen before – a different shade of orange and a cyan blue – which both match the truck perfectly. The visor was on the truck when they got it, and it already had “penny” lights on it, so they just decided to paint the visor and leave the lights that were there. Under the truck, the brothers added a curved tip to the weed-burner exhaust that was already down there.
As mentioned before, the interior of this Freightliner has been completely re-done. Smoothing out all the dash and door panels and painting them cream or teal was a huge job, but it turned out nice. All the screws holding those panels were replaced with jewel-tipped fasteners, the heat and A/C controls and air vents were replaced with chrome versions, along with all the switches and gauges, a “trucker girl” steering wheel was painted to match and installed, and polished billet door handles took the place of the stock ones. All the gray interior pieces back in the sleeper were dyed cream, the headliner was done in suede, the passenger seat was removed, and there is carpet on the floor (for now). There are also plenty of dual revolution lights inside, along with a ton of pinstriping, too.
Not many custom parts and accessories are available for Cascadia trucks, so most of the stuff you see was modified or customized in-house by Rene’s brother Alex. They even installed the entire sound system themselves, which includes a Pioneer head unit, (2) 12” sub-woofers, and (8) 6” mids. Some future projects already in the works for “Cream Machine” include replacing the automatic transmission with a 13-speed manual unit, stretching the frame, and adding a painted aluminum floor. Rene and Alex wanted to thank their friend Dominic Gonzalez from Antonio & Sons Trucking for helping them find and get parts fast, since time was of the essence.
Although the truck was not completed, they had enough of it finished to take to that show in Mendota and ended up getting the People’s Choice award – they were shocked – and super excited! This excitement fueled their enthusiasm and energy to keep going on the truck and helped them make the decision to buy another one and build a sister truck to this one. And, seriously, this twin truck is just as cool as this one, if not cooler. It looks exactly the same, except the teal and orange accents have been completely reversed, meaning the second truck is also cream but it has orange wherever there is teal on the first truck, and teal wherever there is orange on the other truck. They also built this one on a budget and in just a few weeks, too.
We met the guys at our Truckin’ For Kids event back in early May 2025, and were really blown away by them and their truck. At that time, they had just purchased the sister truck, so it was just plain white, but it still looked good parked next to their “Cream Machine” rig. And now, having seen a video of what the second truck looks like, I am just amazed at how good it looks and how quickly they did it. These guys do not mess around! The driver who was in the high-rise Cascadia, Manuel Cardenas, will soon be moving into this new truck, and he can’t wait. Rene plans to sell that other Cascadia and replace it with their next project, but mums the word on that one, right now.
The trailer hooked to “Cream Machine” in these pictures was just recently purchased from a guy in Texas, so it is still a work in progress. The 2001 Utility 48’ stainless spread-axle reefer trailer with a lift axle features a painted-to-match Thermo King SB-210 unit (which will soon be upgraded to be CARB-compliant), painted rails, lights down both sides, and low-pro rubber to match the tractor. Eventually, it will be fitted with additional lights, the chassis and landing gear will be painted teal, and it will get some polished stainless-steel quarter-fenders.
For some – even me – the term “plastic truck” has always been considered to be derogatory and demeaning, but Rene and his brothers have embraced it. They knew they would get negative comments from some people because their truck is a Freightliner Cascadia, so they decided to create the “Plastic Truck Mafia” brand, in hopes of overcoming the stigma and encouraging others with “plastic trucks” to be proud of what they have. Not everyone wants or can afford a big fancy long hood Peterbilt or Kenworth and so many out there take great care of their “aero” trucks, so it only makes sense to support and inspire these people to be happy and satisfied with what they have and give them a sense of community with others who have these types of rigs, too.
Breaking the cycle of struggle and negative stereotypes are some of Rene’s goals. To accomplish this, he hopes to have four or five trucks, each owned by one of his brothers, all working together. He wants to provide a better life for his future family (wife and kids) which does not exist yet, along with his siblings and mother. With Alex working in the shop, Rene is encouraging him to get his CDL soon, and their younger brother Bernardo just recently got his CDL, so Rene hopes to get him in the family business and behind the wheel of a truck soon. But Rene also wants to have balance, so he doesn’t want to grow too big – he wants to have a fulfilling life outside of trucking, too.
When it came time to give thanks, Rene immediately wanted to acknowledge his entire family – he may have made sacrifices for them over the years, but they have also supported him. Thanks also to everyone who helped build this truck and helped them get to where they are today. He was also very thankful to us here at 10-4, saying, “Thank you for taking a chance on us and fulfilling our dreams of being in the magazine.” Alex wanted to thank Genaro Ruiz for being his right-hand-man at All-In Customs.
Shooting the pictures on a hot Sunday morning in a dusty turnout near our house, we had a good time with Rene, Alex, Bernardo and Genaro. These guys were excited, and whenever I made them move the truck, even just a little bit, they were out there in the hot sun juicing all the tires again – even the treads – every time. It is so refreshing to meet hard working, polite and humble young people that give us hope for trucking’s future. They may not have a lot of money yet, but they are doing the best with what they have and absolutely killing it. “Ballin’ on a Budget” is more than just a catchy headline for Double R Trucking… it’s a way of life.