Treat a rig right and you’ll never have to put it out to pasture. Unfortunately, that was not the case for this old Kenworth. After years of faithful service, it was "put out to pasture" (literally and figuratively) where it sat for some 30 years - rotting. It wasn’t until 1995 when two young brothers decided to tackle the gigantic job of completely restoring their grandfather’s old hay hauler. It took three years and a lot of money to complete the restore, which now wows the crowds at truck shows. The two brothers, Frank and Joe Schott, are the first to admit that they never dreamed their rig would turn out this good (photo 2).

    Frank and Joe’s great grandparents moved to California in the 1940’s from Missouri. Their son, Frank Joseph Schott (don’t get confused now - there are a lot of "Franks" and "Joes" in the Schott family) came with them but moved to San Francisco for work in the field of fabrication. After a few years of being a "boiler maker" for one of the railroad companies, he left the big city and headed south, to Tipton, California, to rejoin the family and begin his farming and trucking career. Purchasing about 100 acres of fertile farm land, he founded Schott Trucking and Farming in 1946. As the business grew, he replaced his fleet of gas-powered trucks with heavy-duty diesels. It was at this time, in the late 1940’s, that he purchased the used 1946 Kenworth.

    As time passed, Frank Joseph had a son (named Joseph Frank) who began working on the farm and helping his father. Another generation later, Joseph Frank had six children - two of them being (you guessed it) Frank and Joe! Now on its third generation, Schott Trucking and Farming (photo 6) is still owned and ran by Joseph Schott. His sons, Frank (34) and Joe (31), not only help their dad with the farming end of things on the now 2,500 acre farm, but also run a couple of their own companies - Schott Brothers Trucking and Schott Dairy. Growing alfalfa, wheat, corn, cotton and grapes, the farming business keeps them busy nine months of the year. From about the end of November to the beginning of March most of the fields are dormant. It is at this time when all of the equipment is repaired and maintained, getting ready for the next hectic year.

     The two brothers tried to begin restoring their grandfather’s old KW in 1980 and then again in 1987, both times stopping as they realized the magnitude of the job and got frustrated with how things were (or weren’t) turning out. But as they say, "The third time is a charm!" In 1995, they pulled the truck and trailer combination into their shop where it stayed until the restore was completed in 1998. Doing everything
in-house, with their own hands and the hands of some friends, Frank and Joe created an incredible show truck that turns heads wherever it goes. Of course, they built it for sentimental reasons, but in the end they created a whole new rig to just have fun with.

     Disassembling the entire truck was the first order of the day. Once they had it down to just the frame, they began the difficult job of restoring and improving everything. A Volvo air-ride suspension was added as was new Rockwell rear ends. The original Cummins 180 was replaced with a newer Cummins 350 Small Cam and the dual stick transmission was upgraded to a more modern 9-speed "Brownie" unit. Dan Green, both friend and excellent fabricator, built an entire new deck and side rails for both the truck and trailer. Both of the units were lowered by removing the blocks from the leaf springs. The two brothers credit "Yaphy" (pronounced Yoppy) with much, if not most, of the mechanical and electrical work. Once the mechanical stuff was conquered,
it was time to do all the body work.

     Badly rotted from years of moisture, the cab had to be replaced with a 1950’s model (the only difference between the two cabs is that the newer model has wind-wings on the side windows). Not really getting any help from Kenworth made this job a lot more challenging but, in the end, it all worked out. If they couldn’t find an item they were looking for in a wrecking yard or in a parts store, they just made it. Some good examples of that would be the visor, bumper and grill. The customized visor was originally on a modern-day Pete. The boys took the visor and stripped it, bent it, and then polished it to perfection. They wanted a wide bumper so they had one made. Using the original teardrop mounts on the front of the truck, Frank tapped in some threaded studs on the back side the mounts, and then bolted the bumper to them. There are no bolts visible on the front of the bumper (very clean installation). But the biggest headache came from the grill, which had a dent in it that couldn’t be repaired. Since the grill is such a vital piece of the old rig and fabricators don’t bend round hollow tubing like they used to, the boys decided, instead of building a whole new grill, to just cut the dented portion away and weld on a new piece. The slow, meticulous brazing process took several attempts to get the two pieces put together exactly perfect. The grill frame was then chromed over to hide the seam, which is barely visible today. Once again, the brothers wanted to give credit where credit was due. Victor Ceja performed all of the sanding and body work in preparation for the paint. "Victor knows every rivet on this truck," joked Frank (photo 4).

     Next came the paint. The "official" color of just about everything the Schott’s own and operate is what they call Peacock Blue. Originally a 1956 Ford truck color, the Schott’s darkened it a little bit and now call it their own (they always get teased about the 55-gallon drums of blue paint they have in the shop). "Everything the Schott’s touch turns blue," is the common phrase heard around town. And it’s true. All of their trucks, trailers, forklifts, machines, even the flagpole and mailbox, are painted Peacock Blue. It only made sense to paint the truck this color, since it is the fleet’s mascot and it is worked a bit from time-to-time. Most of the paint was sprayed by Frank (photo 3) but the pinstripes, lettering and outlines were all done by
Rueben, who stripes all of the Schott trucks. The truck’s brilliant Magenta front and accent stripes help bring more attention to the hood and grill area, and make for an exciting and colorful look. Some 20 coats of clear were sprayed over the final coat of paint - that baby shines!

     Lastly came the chrome, lights and interior details. Featuring polished aluminum wheels and tanks, straight stacks and fancy emblems (photo 1), the truck is a virtual glare most of the time during the day. But, as cool as that is, at night it’s even better. With over 220 lights on the truck and trailer, this rig literally glows as it drives down the road. Done mostly for making a big impact at light shows, the brothers mounted orange lights along the side rails of the truck and trailer’s decks, but also mounted blue lights and strobe lights underneath as well. There are also blue lights mounted on the inside of the frame rails, which give this unit that incredible blue glow mentioned earlier. There are even four blue lights mounted on the inside of the front wheel hubs, which shine blue through the holes as the wheels rotate. The front brakes were removed to accommodate these lights (who knew that front brakes aren’t required by law). The interior includes a beautifully painted blue and black dash (photo 5), custom upholstery by Brent Upholstery of Visalia, cool air conditioning, power windows and an ear-splitting sound system that includes (2) 10-inch JL Audio woofers, (4) MB Quartz mid-range speakers, (9) Pro Series Boston Acoustics tweeters, and a Precision Power pre-amp. The sound system was installed by Lee’s Stereo in Visalia, and was one of the only things done to the truck outside of the family’s shop.

     Having entered about five truck shows, the old KW truck and perfectly matched 1964 Weber 30-foot pull trailer have taken home many 1st Place awards, a "Best of Show" trophy, and received a coveted "People’s Choice" category win. Most of these shows have been small local events, but the brothers are excited to enter it into one of the big truck shows - namely the International Trucking Show in Las Vegas later this year (June 27-29). Competing in the "Non-Working Antique" class, both of the brothers admitted that it wouldn’t feel right to enter it in a "Working Truck" class, even though it does work every now and again. "It just wouldn’t be fair. The truck wasn’t built to work (even though it can). Why would we want to make everyone upset by competing in a class we shouldn’t be in? Besides, we’ve always hated it when other truckers do that," said Joe. So does everyone else!

     Currently, the F & J Schott Trucking fleet consists of five Freightliner cabovers and two Pete conventionals that haul mostly hay - some their own and some they buy and sell for others. Early in the season (like now) you frequently can find the Schott trucks running back and forth from Blythe, California. It seems the warmer weather in that part of the state yields an earlier harvest, so they buy hay from growers out there and bring it back - some of it is for their own dairy cows and some of it they resell to neighboring farms and dairies.

     With growing families and increasing responsibilities on the farm, Frank and Joe don’t get to play as much as they used to. But that doesn’t bother them. They know that the new memories they are creating for themselves, their families and the truck will undoubtedly live beyond their years, as it did for their grandfather. And what’s better than a legacy of good memories to leave behind when you’re gone. We’re sure Grandpa Frank is smiling down on the Schott brothers at this very moment, proud of everything he created for so many future generations to flourish. Some might say that newer is better, but the Schotts know that older rigs have a character all their own.