{"id":4,"date":"2011-01-31T18:47:16","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T23:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/?p=4"},"modified":"2011-03-31T20:21:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T00:21:16","slug":"the-crazy-canadian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2011\/01\/cover-features\/the-crazy-canadian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crazy Canadian!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Everybody told Andre he was crazy, but ever since he was a kid, he dreamed of owning and driving a Freightliner cabover \u2013 the kind of truck that defined \u201ccool\u201d when he was growing up in Canada.\u00a0 Years later, after owning top-notch Kenworths and Peterbilts, he bought and then rebuilt his dream rig.\u00a0 Today, running between Quebec and the west coast in his cool cabover combo on a regular basis, people can\u2019t believe the amount of time and money he spent on a mere Freightliner cabover.\u00a0 Most who know him refer to him as \u201cThe Crazy Canadian\u201d but he doesn\u2019t care \u2013 he is living (driving) his dream!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Andre Bellemare (48) of Berthierville, Quebec, Canada, was born and raised in a truck.\u00a0 Living in the eastern part of Canada, Andre and his twin brother Marc (who is five minutes older) spent many of their evenings sitting in one of their dad\u2019s trucks, listening to the radio.\u00a0 At school, Andre was known for slipping trucking magazines into his textbooks instead of listening to his teachers or doing his work.\u00a0 He spent his summers and other vacations out on the road with either his father or one of his drivers.\u00a0 At ten years old, Andre can remember going to school dressed like a trucker \u2013 he wore trucking t-shirts, had a wallet with a chain, and even wore a \u201cholster\u201d on his belt to hold his pen and tire gauge.\u00a0 Everybody figured that by the time Andre could actually drive a truck, he would be so sick and tired of them that he would end up doing something else \u2013 but they were wrong!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Andre, who speaks with a heavy French Canadian accent, began driving for his father (Fern) at the age of 17.\u00a0 Back then, he ran locally and hauled a lot of steel pipe on flatbeds.\u00a0 His father\u2019s company, Bellemare Express, had a fleet of 15 trucks that were mostly Macks and Freightliners.\u00a0 Andre fell in love with Freightliner cabovers and polished reefer trailers at an early age.\u00a0 Whenever he saw a cool combination like that out on the road, he longed to run west.\u00a0 But, he also knew that as long as he and his brother stayed on at their father\u2019s company, not only would they continue to run locally, but one day their father would pass the business on to them.\u00a0 Andre did not want that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In June of 1988, Andre left the family business and went to work at Midland Transport.\u00a0 There was no hard feelings \u2013 in fact, Andre\u2019s father let him take his truck, a nice Freightliner FLD120, and even bought him a new Utility reefer.\u00a0 But, Andre quickly learned that pulling a reefer was not as glamorous as he had imagined.\u00a0 His very first load was 5,000 cases of frozen TV dinners, on the floor, not on pallets.\u00a0 Back then, palletized freight was not as common as it is today, so much of what he hauled had to be hand loaded and unloaded.\u00a0 Andre said that he lost about 30 pounds that first month.\u00a0 And even though he thought that he had made a mistake by leaving his father\u2019s company, he wasn\u2019t going back.\u00a0 In July, Marc left the company and joined his brother at Midland.\u00a0 Three months later, in October 1988, Fern sold the family business.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Marc and Andre stayed at Midland for about a year, and then they moved on to E.J. Bourque, hauling fish from the east coast to the west coast and produce back.\u00a0 In 1990, Andre and his brother sold their reefers and bought drop-decks because it was getting hard to find freight.\u00a0 They switched over to G. Bouchard Enterprises for about a year, and then went to R.R. Mondor, where they spent almost two years hauling all kinds of freight out west.\u00a0 In 1991, while running for Mondor, Andre bought a new Kenworth W900L with a 60-inch flat top.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the end of 1992, Andre bought a dry van and began hauling pre-fabricated fireplaces for a company called Security Chimneys \u2013 and, of course, his brother followed. \u00a0The first few years went great, but it became increasingly difficult for them to find dry freight going east.\u00a0 So, in 1996 they bought reefers again and started hauling produce loads back.\u00a0 Over the years, while pulling for Security, he bought several new trucks including a 1995 Kenworth W900L with a Studio sleeper, a 1999 Peterbilt 379, and then a 2004 Peterbilt 379.\u00a0 Andre still has the 2004 Peterbilt, and last April (2010) his 21-year-old son Philippe began running locally with it, pulling a 4-axle trailer in and around Quebec.<\/p>\n

Not long after buying the new Peterbilt in late 2003, Andre got the chance to buy a 1995 Freightliner cabover.\u00a0 The worn out truck, which spent most of its life hauling salt with a dump trailer around Montreal, had a lot of corrosion and rot, but Andre wanted it.\u00a0 This truck took him back to his younger days \u2013 back to a time when Freightliner cabovers were the truck of choice for the cool drivers.\u00a0 But this old cabover needed a lot of work, and Andre did not have a lot of time, so he tinkered around with it whenever he could.\u00a0 Over the next four years, he worked mostly on the drivetrain, rebuilding or replacing everything mechanical, including the 15-speed trans, the 3.70 rears, the air suspension and the steering box.\u00a0 The only thing he did not rebuild was the rig\u2019s 425 hp Cat 3406C engine, which had over 700,000 miles on it but still ran strong.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By the time 2008 rolled around, Andre was getting a little frustrated with his venture.\u00a0 He decided that if he didn\u2019t step it up and finish soon, he never would.\u00a0 At that point, the project went into high gear.\u00a0 Needing to rebuild the cab because of body rot, Andre soon found out that those pieces were no longer available from Freightliner.\u00a0 So, with no other good choices, he had Daniel Bilodeau of Thetford Mines, Quebec, fabricate a new cab \u2013 everything except for the roof and the upper front pieces (around the windshields) was completely hand-made.\u00a0 He would have replaced the front pieces, too, but he didn\u2019t want to pull the dash apart to do it.<\/p>\n

Once the cab was complete, Andre sent it out to be painted black with light blue and maroon stripes, outlined with gold, and then decided to replace the frame rails, too.\u00a0 He wanted this truck to be \u201cbetter than new\u201d when it was complete, so he spared no expense.\u00a0 The new longer frame rails stretched the truck from 230 inches to 244, the maximum allowable length in Canada.\u00a0 Now, it was time to start putting it all back together and adding all of the numerous custom stainless steel pieces Daniel made which included hand-quilted fenders, a custom doghouse frame and all of the exhaust racking on the back of the sleeper, the front grille, rear light bar and visor, the step and battery boxes, the airline box and deck plate, and numerous brackets and light panels.\u00a0 The rubber strips around the front fenders were replaced with stainless strips, 8-inch dual exhaust and dual intakes were added, and numerous LED lights were installed (he has never counted them, but there are a lot), including a row of integrated lights along the lower edge of the cab that Daniel built into the panels when he made them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Although the truck was built \u201cold school\u201d (it has no refrigerator, microwave, inverter or television), it is very technologically-advanced inside, nonetheless \u2013 and it looks awesome, too!\u00a0 All of the gauges are digital and the floor, dash and doghouse cover are all painted light blue (done by Yannick Bonin and St\u00e9phane Robillard).\u00a0 The door panels, headliner, sleeper curtain and winter front (bra) were all done in quilted black leather by Alain \u201cThe Snake\u201d Chauss\u00e9, and then black leather Bostrom seats, on chrome bases, were installed.\u00a0 The kick plates are stainless, the steering column and Rockwood billet steering wheel were both chrome plated, and the door sills and armrests are polished billet aluminum.\u00a0 There are two small cameras mounted on the passenger side of the truck and a monitor in the cab so Andre can keep an eye on his blind spots, and he wired his reefer unit to a digital gauge in the cab that tells him the temperature inside his trailer and how much fuel he has left.\u00a0 He also has onboard scales with digital gauges inside that display the weights.\u00a0 The bed in the sleeper was shortened so Andre could slide his seat further back for more leg room.\u00a0 The final touch, inside, is a monogrammed (with his company logo) hand towel, hanging over each of the door handles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The trailer is a 53-foot 2011 Great Dane polished stainless reefer with sliding tandems.\u00a0 The rails are painted light blue to match the truck, and the TK reefer unit is painted maroon to match, as well.\u00a0 The landing gear have polished stainless steel supports and feet, while the back of the trailer has custom tail pieces, extra panels and plenty of lights.\u00a0 All the galvanized hardware was replaced with stainless steel, including the hooks for the doors and the chains, and a large aluminum box with stainless steel doors hangs underneath.\u00a0 Hooked together, this truck and trailer is a breathtaking combination!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By July 2009, the rig was almost done. \u00a0On its maiden voyage, Andre took the truck 400 miles to be lettered at Allard Lettering.\u00a0 On this first journey, he took with him an old friend named Marcel Lachance.\u00a0 Andre has known Marcel since about 1980, and the two were great friends.\u00a0 At 67 years old, Marcel was nearing the end of his driving career, but he had many fond memories of driving a Freightliner cabover just like Andres.\u00a0 Marcel loved Andre\u2019s rig, and even got to drive for awhile on the trip \u2013 he was so happy.\u00a0 But, just nine short months later, in April of 2010, cancer took his life.\u00a0 Shortly after that, his son called Andre asking for a picture of the cabover and for permission to engrave it on Marcel\u2019s headstone.\u00a0 Andre really misses his old friend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Andre and his brother ran for Security Chimneys until 2009 when the company closed their California facility and the freight dried up.\u00a0 When Andre started working the Freightliner in August 2009, he began hauling LTL freight out west for Normandin Transit and produce back for John Greene Logistics.\u00a0 He ran the Freightliner until November (2009) and then parked it for the winter, opting instead to drive his Peterbilt.\u00a0 In April 2010 he got back into the cabover, and has been running hard ever since.\u00a0 And now that his son is driving the Peterbilt, he won\u2019t be parking the Freightliner for winter anymore.\u00a0 Andre is a true owner operator, he just happens to have a dedicated haul out \u2013 but he still needs to find his own freight back.\u00a0 He currently does two turns a month, bringing several drops out west.<\/p>\n

Six years ago, after 16 years of marriage, Andre and his wife were divorced.\u00a0 As mentioned before, Andre has a son, Philippe (21) and a daughter, \u00c9m\u00e9lie (20).\u00a0 So far, his son is taking great care of the Peterbilt, washing and waxing it after every trip.\u00a0 Andre wanted to thank his family for all of their help and support, especially his father, who helped fund some of the project.\u00a0 He also wanted to thank Daniel for all of the great fabrication and custom stainless pieces, Frank Leduc for all of his buffing and polishing skills, and friends Real Proulx and Pierre Ayotte for their help keeping the truck running smooth.\u00a0 Andre dedicated the truck to the memory of his mother, Suzanne, who died in 1998.<\/p>\n

Doing the job right was crucial for Andre because he wanted this truck to last.\u00a0 After all, it is an everyday work truck, and he runs it hard.\u00a0 In order to get the truck to the level of quality and reliability he needed, he had to spend some money \u2013 a lot of money.\u00a0 In fact, so much time and money was spent building this cabover that many think this Canadian is just plain crazy \u2013 and they might be right.\u00a0 But who cares, he didn\u2019t build it for them.\u00a0 He built it to fulfill a childhood dream, and you just can\u2019t put a price on that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everybody told Andre he was crazy, but ever since he was a kid, he dreamed of owning and driving a Freightliner cabover \u2013 the kind of truck that defined \u201ccool\u201d when he was growing up in Canada.\u00a0 Years later, after owning top-notch Kenworths and Peterbilts, he bought and then rebuilt his dream rig.\u00a0 Today, running<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cover-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/7"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}