The second half of our conversation with Dave Coleman of Jack's Chrome Shop and Chrome and Steel Radio covers the role of a chrome shop, custom trucking trends, the truck show circuit, and what Dave thinks the future looks like for custom truck culture.

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Dave:
The trucking industry is not just a whole bunch of old people that drive trucks around all over the place. Recently, it's been a very vibrant, young community with a lot of young individuals coming in that are very passionate about trucking and just making this community better. So just go for it.

Michael Clements:
Welcome to Trucking for Millennials, where we engage with the future of freight happening now. My name is Michael Clements.

Aaron Dunn:
And I'm Aaron Dunn. And we're here to help trucking and logistics professionals stay up-to-date and ahead of the curve as our industry evolves.

Michael Clements:
We're connecting with every step of the supply chain as part of our mission to increase transparency and provide world-class freight solutions.

Aaron Dunn:
To transition to MATS, we launched our podcast, we launched Trucking For Millennials at GATS and that's where we got to meet Hope and she's wonderful, had her on our show. Actually met Bill Weaver as well for a brief moment. He kind of shook our hand and just said, "What's up?" He's seems like a really great guy. I'd love to talk to him again. But what is it like being a chrome shop? And what do these events mean to you? What do these truck shows mean to you as a owner of a chrome shop? What is the preparation like?

Dave:
It's interesting. I've been going to shows with a whole bunch of different outfits for a long time by myself and then with the chrome shop and then with other companies and other things like that. But when I first started I was kind of a nobody and the shop hadn't really grown and we were just kind of making content and it was just a really good learning experience for me. When I first started, my first MATS was 2018 MATS I believe. And actually one of our friends, Taylor Barker invited me down to the Louisville show.

Dave:
And I don't know if you know Taylor, but he's a good person you could have on this podcast as well. But Taylor invited me down to the 2018 MATS and I went down, had a great time. And like I said, I wasn't known by a lot of people, but as time went on, like that first show season was pretty just kind of checking things out. Last year was a lot more involved and I was at a lot more shows. I was doing a lot more content and stuff. And then this year truck shows have changed a lot because, like I said, I wasn't known very well. And it seems like now when I go to a truck show, I'm always having conversations with people.

Dave:
So opening doors and just talking with people is one of the biggest things that I definitely would suggest to any young millennial who is going to truck shows or who wants to get into this industry in a significant way is go to the shows, talk to people, shake hands make acquaintances. And just network honestly. And then a couple of years from now you'll be connected with a whole bunch of people and it's better to be connected than to not say anything at all. That's my philosophy.

Dave:
So most of our efforts are going to be focused on Chrome and Steel radio this year. And I have a couple other boosts that I'm involved with but that's a story for another day. But the Chrome and Steel booth is where all of our stuff's going to be. And so we normally do... We get our booth numbers and then after that we'd like to do like a sketch of some kind of the booth of what we want to have in there.

Dave:
Because we will have four different hosts in there, a stage, music equipment, a whole bunch of other stuff, merch. But we like to have it at least organized before we go there. And then the shop itself is doing things like right now we're creating a little display for all of our shirts. We are creating content specifically for MATS like a MATS preview and then we'll do like a MATS wrap up and stuff like that. And then we are coordinating like a music shows with some of the other performers that are going to come and buy the Chrome and Steel booth. Obviously Bill will be there. But like Paul [Maher-Hoffer 00:04:04] and Ken Freeman and some other people, were kind of coordinating with them on times when they can perform. And then we're getting camera gear ready already or two months away. But we're getting camera gear ready for the live shows and for some of our content that we're creating.

Dave:
And then chrome shop specifically chrome shop wise, I'm making a new sign for that. Jeff's Chrome Shop sign right there. I'm getting another one made. And then we are actually going to be doing a lot of custom work this year. So I'll be bringing a couple of custom stainless pieces to MATS. So there's a lot that goes on for our customers and stuff like that. We are doing a whole bunch of custom pieces for them right now. So we're either building those, fabricating those or we're ordering them from a company. So installs, we'll start before the show itself, probably here early February, maybe mid February. And then that'll all be wrapped up a week or two before MATS and then all the trucks will head down for the show and we'll be doing rounds, making sure everybody has all their show stuff.

Dave:
So normally we bring down... I'm there on Monday of the MATS week. So we bring down parts to people all the time. You know, if people need an extra bumper or grill insert, cab panels, whatever it is, we bring those with us down so that they can install them in the lot there. So there's a lot of prep work that goes to it. And then one big like convoy that goes down and then we set up and get all our stuff ready. So there's probably two and a half, three months of prep work and then the big show, it's almost like the Superbowl for us. So it's a lot of prep.

Aaron Dunn:
Awesome.

Michael Clements:
Yeah. How do you see going forward, what is the impact going to be of custom trucks, especially with all the changes and things that they're talking about going to hybrid or electric or automated. Like where's the future of custom trucks?

Dave:
So custom trucks I don't think are ever going to be out of style. I mean even in the... I always say that, and this isn't my saying, there's a lot of people to say this, but the trucking industry is between 10 and 15 years behind the car industry. And we're seeing a lot of electric vehicles get up and running right about now. In the car industry or the passenger vehicle industry. And so I don't think it's going to be soon that we see electric trucks in full production and really getting going. And we did a whole video on the Tesla Semi probably a year and a half ago.

Dave:
And at that point they had just gotten done actually creating the prototype and man, I don't know. I think we're a lot farther off with electric trucks and automated trucks than what people think. So I wouldn't be too worried now about them taking over. 20 years from now, maybe 15 years from now, maybe. But there's a lot there. There's a lot there. There's the safety issues. If someone's not behind the wheel or if someone's not tending to it and what happens then? Docking, unloading, all that kind of stuff gets really precarious. Lowboy stuff, especially moving equipment back and forth. We'll never be able to be taken over by automated trucks or electric trucks, just because, I mean, you're unloading equipment off of a removable gooseneck. So there's just no way to automate that, honestly.

Dave:
But custom truck wise, there's a passion for it and a lot of the... I guess what generation would that be? They're not millennials, they're gen Xers that are older than I am, 30s, 40s, 50s that still have that passion for custom trucks. So I don't think it'll ever die, but we might see it go down, I think. I think there'll be a slow a decrease. And then it'll be almost like a legacy thing. Where 15, 20 years from now you'll see guys running a classic trucks just to show basically. Yeah. Because fleets are kind of taken over right now is from what I can tell, the owner operators are getting squeezed out because of some regulations all over the country. California just put one together and there's a couple of other states that are starting to do that.

Dave:
So I hope owner operators stay around because those are our big customers. Those are the people that the build trucks and that really want to spend money on their trucks. But it's going to be an niche thing. Not that it isn't already, but it's going to be more of a niche thing. And there's a lot of pride that comes with building a customer a classic truck, just because obviously it's more expensive to do so. And I think that the people that are going to have that money, it's going to get smaller and smaller, but they're going to want to continue that on. So that's kind of how I feel about that.

Michael Clements:
As far as the Chrome shop goes to, how has... I guess without getting into too much of your statistics, what are some popular items that you see that millennials may be buying that the older generation hasn't bought or vice versa? Products that are more popular for the older generation than millennials?

Dave:
Man. So truck... I don't want to say truck fashion or truck style, kind of depends on the area of the country that you're in less than how old you are. So a lot of the trucks here in the Midwest are either grain haulers, removable gooseneck trucks hauling like ag equipment, or if you get up North, it's more like tankers and stuff.

Dave:
But the style has always been the flat top Pete with the eight inch picket elbows. And that's kind of something that's been universal now for probably 10 to 12 years. But something that I think some of the newer trucks that people are building now is a lot of painted truck parts. And a lot of the millennials and younger guys are going to more painted parts. Meaning when they order stuff from a certain manufacturer, they have it sanded and they paint their body color or whatever.

Dave:
It used to be back in the day that everything used to be exposed Chrome and everything was shiny this shiny that and you had your chicken lights and all that kind of stuff. I think we're slowly going away from that to a more sleek painted style. And I would say almost definitely the younger generation is pushing that look.

Dave:
Door evolutions are really popular across every single truck basically, which are the light changing. They go from amber to blue or red to blue. They change colors obviously they're not very legal to the DOT, but they're very popular. And the old guys, I don't want to say old guys, they're the guys with more experience. They like the cool paint schemes from the 70s and 80s that Peterbilt had. You know, the... You've got the... I don't know if you guys are familiar, but back in the 70s and 80s and I think early 90s Peterbilt did a lot of different specific paint schemes for certain parts of the country. And so there's like a Las Vegas paint scheme. I think there's an Indianapolis paint scheme. There's a Chicago paint scheme, you've got a Jacksonville paint scheme. And so a lot of the older guys, they will paint their trucks to resemble those paint schemes from back in the day.

Dave:
You don't see that a lot with the younger guys. So yeah I'll have to show you guys some pictures, but it's honestly interesting to see a lot of the nostalgia comes from the old guys and they want to build a truck that what they saw back in when their dad was young and doing trucks. They want to make their truck look like what it used to be back in the day. The newer guys are looking to make a slammed whatever. So that's probably the big difference.

Aaron Dunn:
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting how there's regional differences and I never knew about like the paint schemes and stuff. That's pretty cool. The historical value. And then, I guess that is, yeah, slamming a truck and just making it as low as possible. It's kind of a younger generation thing. It's not functional at all, but it does look pretty neat.

Dave:
The kits that they have now are pretty good. As long as you're not leaking or anything like that. The kits that they have are pretty good now. But yeah, I would say it adds a lot more complexity and things that can go wrong on a truck for sure. And almost the younger guys are like, "Yeah, I want it to be... I want the bumper to be on the ground." And I get it. But like still it's a pain in the butt.

Michael Clements:
So man, if I'm going out and getting a truck right now, say a millennial owner operator leases on what's a starter kit? Where do they start with customizing them?

Dave:
Okay. I mean it depends on, once again, like how deep into the show truck world you want to get. If you want to compete on a national level, I've got a list of $35,000 worth of parts that I could give you. But if you just wanted to make your truck look nice and stand out in the parking lot, you're going to want probably a bumper and a grill and some chicken lights probably. Meaning cap cowl panels, sleeper panels and then maybe a visor, people are weird about visors now. Some people don't want it too low because they don't want to... Obviously they don't want to block their viewpoint. It used to be back in the day people used to ask us for 18 inch visors and stuff like that where there's a crack about this big out of the windshield or that you can see out of.

Dave:
But the DOT started cracking down on those. And honestly get hard parts first. When I say hard parts, I mean like get the good stuff, get panels, get bumpers, get grills and stuff like that. Because those are the pieces that... Well there's a couple of things. They protect your truck to begin with. Your investment. So you know your hood and your front end is not going to get beat up so much. And also they're the first thing that anyone's going to see when you're coming down the road. So a grill, a visor, a bumper, those are really great things to kind of set that off. And if you go custom on those and you want to do something really cool, that would really set it apart. So I'd get hard parts first, chrome if you can, and kind of dress it up with some lights. So that'd be [crosstalk 00:14:18].

Michael Clements:
What do you see as more popular? Do you see inside the cab getting more popular with wanting to do things on the inside versus the outside?

Dave:
Yeah, so there are certain builds that I can think of right now that are almost exclusively built. I mean the outside looks really, really nice and it's a very clean build, but the inside is kind of where people want to spend a lot of time doing their... Because that's where they live. That's where they are. A truck that really a stands out in my mind. Yeah. Of having a really, really nice interior. Is Caleb Haman's struck from Haman's Excavation. He has a full... It's all basically hand carved leather on the inside of his truck. I'd have to show you some pictures. It's crazy though, but he had somebody come in and carve all this hand artwork. So that's something that's really cool. And the outside of his truck is obviously gorgeous as well, but the interior is becoming more and more popular as truck's become more and more universally similar on the outside.

Dave:
So there's a lot of looks that are very similar on the outside. But if you can make a statement on the inside, that's a big deal too. Sound systems are becoming really big now. Not that they weren't before, but like high quality sound systems with a whole bunch of woofers and custom door panels and stuff like that. That's getting really popular now. And I would almost guarantee if you're going to go to the MATS show, you'll see some really, really cool trucks that are built for sound.

Dave:
So yeah, I would say so. Interior's getting a little bit more popular since things are getting more universally similar between truck builds on the outside, at least.

Aaron Dunn:
So you mentioned the national circuit and I know that there's show trucks and of course there's usually like a prize or something like that, but I just don't think about a national circuit. Like, "Okay, I'm going to go to this show, this show that show and just collect as many trophies or what have you is I can get. Bragging rights is I can get." So can you talk about that a little bit? Like what is the pro circuit for a truck. Professional, custom truck people. Like what is that like and what makes one truck better than the other?

Dave:
So there's been multiple different leagues. And the circuit itself... When I think of the circuit, I think of all of the really, really big truck shows throughout the year of. These aren't connected events. So there's not like... For the most part these aren't connected events. And so like getting a trophy at the Iowa 80 Jamboree show is a pretty big deal. That's always been a pretty big event.

Dave:
But probably the biggest league or national circuit that you could say exists is the ATSC, which is the American Truck Show Circuit, which is sponsored by Dynaflex. And they used to do four events a year, but now they do three. They do one in Wisconsin, Kansas City and Oklahoma City now. And those three shows are linked in the ATFC circuit, like world, I don't know what they call it, world standings or whatever. But the way to win the ATSE league is basically you have to go to all three shows or however many there are, and then you have to place well in your class basically.

Dave:
So just to kind of lay out what like a normal show season would look like for someone who is going to be in the show truck world. Obviously Matt's is kind of your kickoff there and it's in late March, last week of March there.

Dave:
And that show is the PKY show and it's always really big. Lots of trucks there. And then the next show that you'd probably go to is 75 Chrome Shop, which is down the 75 Chrome Shop Show, which is down in Wildwood, Florida. And once again, these guys are jumping from one show to another. So what they'll do is they'll go to PKY show, they'll work for two weeks or three weeks or whatever, then go to the 75 Chrome Shop Show for a weekend and then work and then go to the next show. So it's all kind of like, you're just basically going from show to show to show interrupted by work.

Dave:
But 75 Chrome Shop and then you've probably got after that an ATFC show in sometime in May. There's a couple of shows that are like the ATHS, which is the American Truck Historical Society, which is going to be in Springfield, I think, Springfield, Illinois.

Dave:
Then you've got some big ones like, let me think. We've got Rantoul, which is in Rantoul, Illinois. That's a top gun large car shootout. And then GATS is obviously at the end of the year which is August, I think. August or September. But there's probably, I don't know, 10 or 15 really big shows throughout the year. So if you're in the show truck world, you definitely want to attend those. Or as many as you can.

Dave:
And a lot of guys do attend 10, 15, 20 shows a year and they have sponsors that help get them there. They have sponsors that help build the trucks. A brand ambassador deals with a whole bunch of different companies to help offset the cost. But yeah it's a really interesting world because as soon as you get into the show truck world, you have a whole bunch of different companies that are kind of wanting you to be involved with them. It's a whole different world, honestly, once you get inside of that. Okay.

Michael Clements:
What's a good starter truck? Is it like a late 90s Pete or what do you see? I guess what's a good starter truck for show trucks?

Dave:
Man. Nowadays, yeah, probably if you can find any kind of like... It depends on your engine choice. Late 90s Petes would have like an E model 3406 in it, which... Man, it depends. If you like electronically controlled motors late 90s Pete would be good. If you wanted something a little bit older that had like a mechanical motor, an A or a B3406 early 90s, late 80s, 379. You could do a 359 honestly, if you could find one for a good price, those stopped being made in '87. Man, that's... The real problem is if you go outside of Peterbilt is finding good parts for older trucks specifically. So 379 is probably your safest bet, I'd say, yeah.

Michael Clements:
And one more little piece in the show truck world is really a new thing to me and I'm very interested as we're talking about this. So what are those classes that you're talking about that they like to do at the shows? So if I was taking a truck, how do I know what class I'm going to be in and where I should try to angle to get my truck in?

Dave:
The main differentiation between a lot of the classes is working or non-working or some people call it unlimited miles versus limited miles. And then you have bobtail versus combo. So bobtail is obviously no trailer, just the truck itself. And then combo would be truck and trailer being judged, limited miles and some people actually go even further than that. And I think the ATFC does this. Is they will go a show truck only or I think it's.. I can't remember their exact distinction is, but basically you can only have a certain amount of miles on it and the truck is only for show. So not working at all. So, for instance, at the Iowa 80 Jamboree, you have limited miles bobtail limited miles combo. You have unlimited miles bobtail unlimited miles combo. Then you have like vocational trucks. If they're on there, you have Aero trucks or whatever it is.

Dave:
So there's different classes. Because you don't want to be judging like somebody who puts 120,000 miles on their truck. You don't want that to be judged versus somebody who puts 1,000 miles on their truck and only goes to shows. Because that truck is just going to be in way better condition. So the whole goal is to kind of match up show trucks with show trucks, working show trucks with working show trucks and working trucks with working trucks. That's basically how the categories are divided. And then bobtail versus combo.

Michael Clements:
Okay, cool.

Dave:
Yeah, so that's the... honestly you guys are going to be at MATS, right?

Aaron Dunn:
I don't think so. We're going to... No. We'll go to GATS.

Michael Clements:
It sounds like we maybe should be at MATS.

Aaron Dunn:
Yeah, we might need to though.

Michael Clements:
Yeah, you may be motivating us to go to MATS today.

Dave:
Yeah. If you guys want to come to MATS, you can feel free to come by at the Chrome Steel Booth and you can hang out with us. But honestly, the PKY show is a really big show. Probably one of the top three or four of the year. You guys are down in Texas, right?

Aaron Dunn:
Right.

Dave:
So yeah, definitely GATS doesn't have a really big like truck show. They have an inside truck show obviously, and it's good, but it's not like world-class. There's world-class trucks there, but I wouldn't say it's a worldclass GATS is more of a trade show than anything. If you guys have time, I would go up to the Guilty By Association truck show, which is at the Four States Trucks in Joplin, Missouri. They have a huge truck show with 800,000 plus trucks and they're all...

Michael Clements:
Wow.

Dave:
Yeah, they're all show trucks. Most of them are show trucks.

Aaron Dunn:
800,000.

Michael Clements:
[crosstalk 00:23:45].

Dave:
No, 800 to 1,000. Sorry. Yeah.

Aaron Dunn:
I was like oh, where are all these people at?

Dave:
Every show truck in the entire United States is going to be there. But yeah, 800 to 1000 we think. Last year there was probably, or not last year, two years ago was probably 600, 700 and they just went to a bi-yearly schedule. So they're overdue for a whole bunch of trucks. Yeah. They're in Joplin, Missouri, so I don't know how far, probably six hours, seven hours from you guys probably.

Dave:
But that's a pretty big show. MATS, GBATS, go to GATS. And then if you wanted like another show, there's also one in Biloxi, I think, down there. That's like a Gulf coast truck show or something like that that has quite a few trucks that show up. But yeah, I mean the truck show scene is really interesting. It's a world that once you get into, it's hard to get out of because everyone in the show truck world basically knows each other. And we all go to the same shows every year. So it's basically just like seeing your family all over again everywhere you go.

Dave:
But if you guys are interested in coming to MATS or if you guys make some plans, definitely drop by the Chrome and Steel booth and if you wanted to you can just hang out there the whole time. So...

Aaron Dunn:
Awesome man.

Michael Clements:
Trucking for Millennials hits the road.

Dave:
Yeah, man, come on by. Come on by, yeah.

Aaron Dunn:
Sweet deal, that's all I've got. Michael, you got any closing thoughts there? Any questions?

Michael Clements:
No man, I think it's really cool what y'all are doing. And I'm excited to see the future generation of trucking and what things like the custom truck and what y'all are bringing to the table for the younger generation. You know, do you have any advice just for millennials that are wanting to get into trucking are already there?

Dave:
Yeah. Just find your niche, niche, whatever. And just put your heart and soul into it. Don't do something if you're not really passionate about it. I think a lot of people, especially our age, my age, really focus on what's going to make them a lot of money and what's going on a really advance their career.

Dave:
And I totally get that. That's what the schools are pushing people to do is to go and make money and be successful and stuff. But the real thing that I would say is go find something that you're passionate about or that you really enjoy doing and then you won't work a day in your life. So I know that's a commonly used phrase, but it's really miserable working a job that you don't enjoy and there's so much freedom out there that you can go get for yourself. So go do your own thing. If you have the passion for it and the trucking industry is not just a whole bunch of old people that drive trucks around all over the place. Recently, it's been a very vibrant young community with a lot of young individuals coming in that are very passionate about trucking and just making this community better. So. Just go for it.

Michael Clements:
Awesome. Love it. Great advice.

Aaron Dunn:
Man. Thanks for thanks for your time today and best look at the truck at MATS and everything else you've got going on. I'm excited to introduce our listeners to this aspect of the industry. It's been an education for sure.

Dave:
Yeah ma'am. And I'd love to be back on whenever you guys one and we can talk more about show trucks or whatever. And I'd love to get the rest of our Chrome Steel people on here. And I don't think... I think I'm the only millennial except for Maddie. But I mean still, maybe they'll have some advice that I don't have. So...

Aaron Dunn:
Yeah, we don't discriminate on age. We just ask generational questions.

Dave:
I'm sure Will and [inaudible 00:27:22] might hear this. So I get it. You guys are like a trillion years old, but feel free to come on here. They're both, I think twice my age. More than twice my age.

Aaron Dunn:
Well see.

Dave:
But yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me on. And if anyone out there would like to see us at MATS will be at booth 61076. And if you guys want to come talk to us we're not that annoying. But yeah, that's basically it. Can't wait for MATS and hope you guys come down.

Aaron Dunn:
Awesome.

Michael Clements:
Cool. Thank you Dave.