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“Peterbilt’s clean-powered alternative fuel platforms provide customers an innovative and economic solution that delivers high-quality performance and fuel efficiency to support their business objectives,” stated Bill Jackson, Peterbilt’s general manager and PACCAR vice president. The photo above shows one of Peterbilt’s highway tractors with a pretty good sized truck sleeper unit, which has become a custom big rig in somebody’s imagination, with some pretty unusual (for a semi) rims. You don’t see too many owner-operators throwing mags on their fleets. Anyway, an eye-catching tractor design.

“As the leading manufacturer of alternative fuel system vehicles, Peterbilt’s products provide the horsepower, torque and efficiency to get the job done.”

Some specs of this model Peterbilt:
Westport GX engine
(Up to) 475 horsepower
1,750 foot-pounds

Peterbilt has other of these types of semi truck models as well. They sell 384, 365 and 320 models with Cummins Westport ISL-G engines — with 320 horsepower and 1,000 foot-pounds of torque. They recommend them for certain uses more than others. According to Peterbilt the trucks make good short-haul, regional, refuse and dump trucks. I have yet to see a motorhome version using this kind of truck as the base — I guess it’d be a “toterhome”, so if anyone has one, by all means send it to us for sure.

Service Truck Bodies for Oil Rigging and Explorations Could Be an Ice-Bound RV

This truck-on-tracks with a truck camper on the back is an oil rigging/exploration truck that came up on our radar recently and we thought it was worth a look. We were initially looking at a few inexpensive Ford Explorer models which ticked our boxes at the time, we wanted an affordable ‘go-anywhere car’. It’s based on a Dodge Ram flatbed pickup, as you can see in the photo, and what is mounted on it is a V-370 service body.

In this particular case, they use this camper-like unit as a break room for BP oil workers. It’s a service body conversion in this case. According to Pickup Truck Toolbox (visit them here), the workers are happy to take breaks in this unit.

Are you seeing this like I am, more in terms of, “Could we take that out offroading in the cold snowy climates and use it as an RV?”

Well, it has 370 cubic feet of storage space — hence the name V-370. It’s actually a Durashell 370 by Fleetwest Transferable Service Boies. That’s lots of room for a work crew (a small one anyway) to take a break and have a coffee and warm up.

The body of this service unit is a Durashell. It’s made of lightweight fiberglass (making it fairly light and therefore fuel efficient). The camper unit weighs 700 pounds. So there would probably be enough room in there to put a bed and have some camping gear, or even two beds or a table that could be laid on the two benches inside to make a platform for a bed, and storage below. If you are looking for extra storage. for example you might need it for a place for your tools then you might want to check out something like this best truck bed storage product.

Custom Truck

How many of you out there have thought about customizing a truck, and then thought if I’m going to customize a truck, why not get a big truck, a big rig custom. That’s what a board member named Sillyneck opened a conversation online with on a custom truck board, and it got me to thinking about that.

The guy was actually a mechanic by the sounds of it. He was working on trucks regularly anyway, including semis. Since he was towing 2 rigs with his dodge, these tractors he was working on made him think about getting a big truck of his own. Also because he had access to all the trailers he could use.

So he asked the truckers who were there what he should look for for buying, and what milage numbers to look for, what services, and that sort of trucking info.

His main goal though wasn’t to use it as a work truck as an owner-operator, but it was to customize it and tow 3 or 4 rigs on a drop deck, and he wanted to be able to get up steep hills with that kind of load.

He was originally thinking 70s Peterbilt daycab or a “coffin sleeper” — mostly we see big studio sleepers, like the ARI custom sleepers that have just been popular a lot lately. But if not a 70s semi, he was looking at an early 90s one.

There were a good amount of suggestions, but some of them included an older Peterbilt exteneded hood with single sleeper unit and around a 444 Cummins or Cat diesel engine. Or 377 for a good price. Another interesting option — and economical — a trucker going by Camarogenius got an F-8000 for $2,500 and its a wedge trailer whiich would be good to work under the vehicles he was towing. At the same time, though, he advised a 90s Freightliner, like an FLD112 or 120 with a Detroit series 60 diesel.

Then there were other people who just chimed in to post the trucks they liked and wanted to customize.

He seemed to be won over by this picture shared by Fabulous, though (the guy said it was probably Roy Jone’s truck), because of its clean lines.

Well, what would you advice for someone who wants a truck mostly to customize it and haul around their cars? Or what would be your ideal truck to customize?

Beautiful Luxury Motor Coach

This luxury motorhome is Newell’s new “Show Coach #1556” — not exactly a catchy name, but the looks of this luxury RV might catch some attention. It’s a quad-slide (4 slide outs), fully computer-controlled motorhome with options of where the entrance is, which allows for different layouts.

So the first things you might notice about this Newell motor coach is that it’s a 45-footer, it looks like usually has a front entry floorplan, and then a lot of luxury coach amenities and features.

Motorhome exterior features:
Flush-mount windows
2 sliding storage bed
Keyless motorhome entry
6 paint styles to choose from

What powers it and its machinery:
Cummins ISX motor – 600 horsepower (1950 ft lbs torque) diesel pusher
Allison transmission (six speed)
Valid levelling and ZF suspension

Luxury interior:
Leather, both for seats (drivers and copilot) and sofa (which also has a bed inside)
The seats also have a lot of features, like heating, massage, reclining
Corian counter tops
Tile floors (porcelain)

Really, there are more features on this thing than I could summarize here. They make a variety of options for this motorhome model, too, so there’s some room on what could be different coming from Newell’s motor home factory, particularly in the arrangement of where the front entry is and how long the vehicle is. These RVs list for over $2 million. Visit Newell Coach (click here).

Classic Cabover

This classic cabover caught our attention and we originally posted it here asking people if they knew what it was. We couldn’t find any details on it, and you guys came through. Now we have some details, and I think after this post we’ll get a bunch more to add in here.

Adam Rust started us of when he identified it as a 1940s Ford coe, saying “The owner had posted some pictures on my cabover page awhile back.” (By the way, Adam, maybe you should send us one or a couple of your favorite cabovers and some details on it, and we’ll post it up here, too).

Apparently, it looks like a lot of trucks, and even cars — one commmenter said it looked “pretty cool, it’s a lot like an old Corvette.”

It’s a 1947 GMC COE TRACTOR w/ sleeper. It was ID’d by James Leamy Sr.

Some others suggested the truck was called Cherry Picker. Others commented on the the work that had gone into making this machine.

And Terry Bose pointed us toward the owner of this truck. It’s James Ryan of N.C. Maybe we’ll get some details on the work that was done to it when we post this update. Although the detailing might not be done for this custom cabover with its classic sleeper.

Apparently, James is even thinking about adding some pinstriping to it.

But here’s the other thing. James has written on some other photos of his cabover that he’s thinking about selling this custom vehicle. That was just last month, so it might be for sale as we speak. So since the owner is definitely wanting to get some exposure for his truck (in light of maybe selling it), we’ll post some of the other photos of it here. If you guys are wanting to buy it, you can just put it in a message or email us. If it’s in a message, it’ll probably get around to James or one of his friends. If it’s an email, we’ll try to get the message to him somehow. It’d be fun to be part of a truck sale, anyway.

This truck is in Belmont, North Carolina, by the way, so if anyone’s out there, you might see it. They take it to the show at Brad’s, apparently.

Liberty Coach Makes Famous Luxury Motorhomes

Liberty Coach has been making custom motorhomes for a while now (it started in 1968), long enough to have annual get-togethers for its customers, including some of the owners of the more famous of their luxury motorhomes:

You may recognize the Liberty Coach Prevost Elegant Lady from MegaRV’s countdown, when Sturgis, South Dakota’s bike-cruising Denise Klein, showed the features of her motor home.

It cost her 2.3 million dollars, but, she said “worth every penny.” Everything is right there when you get there. It has a Volvo D13 with 500 horsepower to pull a 26 foot trailer with bikes and trikes down the road. The custom paint job on that Prevost diesel pusher cost six figures. The luxury interior — a double-slide — expands the motor home interior space to 420 square feet. The interior is all controlled by computer, which means you can control it all from anywhere internet goes. You could check your locks from half way around the world.

There’s a bath and a half, full sized washer/dryer, heated tiled floors, a rear slide for the bedroom as well in this luxury RV. The larger bathroom has a full-sized shower that looks pretty roomy.

As I mentioned, Liberty Coach motor motorhomes has making and sellings RVs for a while. It started in the late 60s in Frank and Jeanne Konigseder’s backyard on the outskirts of Libertyville (that’s where the name comes from). They were building motorhomes the way they wanted them in their back yard. They started with a Greyhound and converted it into a custom coach, and in 1978 they linked up with Prevost, another family business. To visit Liberty Coach, (click here).

A couple of their interiors here (these are all Elegant Ladys, the same model of motorhome featured in the RV countdown (photos look best on large screen).

Country Coach RV

The focus of this post is a big luxury motorhome called the X3-45, by Prevost, which is used by a company called Country Coach in its builds. First off, about this particular Prevost. Prevost, as you might expect, has its name to uphold with every model, so they’re all of high quality and company accountability is there. The X3-45 is touted for its driveability and Prevost says of it “This is the foundation for VIP coaches that reflects the sum total of everything we’ve learned over more than 80 years of building Prevost coaches.”

I looked at the brochure for this one, and they illustrate the low center of gravity of this motorcoach and how it effects the way the vehicle handles and turns, when combined with another company piece of technology: the Prevost Electronic Stability Program. According to Prevost, it “provides levels of agility not found in competitors’ coaches.”

Part of the driveability also comes from the smoothness of the ride. It’s a long motor home — 45 feet, and the wheelbase is also wide — 334.5 inches (8.5 meters) — the longest wheelbase of any Prevost diesel pusher, it looks like. And smoothness of a ride can translate into less driver fatigue and of course more enjoyment driving.

The X3-45 also has under-floor cargo bays, and the AC system and fuel tank is further towards the back. Equals = more conversion space available in the front. That helps the company make customizations to suit what buyers want in their luxury motor home in terms of layout and features.

So then we hand it over to Country Coach motorhomes, who customize the motor coach with a king sized bed, bbq option, motor home exterior or remodelling work, or whatever else motorhome owners look to have done. They have a team of employees who together have over 400 years experience, and they can do fiberglass, cabinets, metal fabrication, and electrical, electronic, vacuumed formed parts. Visit Country Coach (click here).

Luxury Motor Coach

This big class A diesel pusher motorhome is a Tuscany, its the flagship model (the one they use to show their best) for a company called Thor Motorcoach. Its built out of a Freightliner XC-R chassis and is powered by a Cummins ISL Diesel. It also has three or four (optional) slide outs and its a total of 40 to 45 (optional) feet long.

Luxury motorhome specifications:

RV Type: Class A Motorhomes
Coach Style: Diesel Pushers
Chassis: Freightliner® XC-R
Axle: TAG or Single
Engine: Cummins ISL Diesel Engine with 450HP & 1,250 ft.-lb. Torque
Transmission: 6-Speed Allison MH-3000 Automatic
Slideouts: Triple w/Full Wall or Quad
Lengths: 40 ft. – 45 ft.

Thor speaks highly of its flagship motorhome, calling it the ultimate in looks, power and style they offer. The floor plans are “liveable” and it has high end amenities. What do they mean “liveable”? The floorplan is layed out with an idea of being wide open, and they lay the custom furnature on the porcelain tile floors and in with the hardwood cabinets.

Another interesting feature of this particular luxury RV: its the first and only “push button start” motorhome, according to Thor.

Some interior specifications and amenities:

Keyless Entry & Compartment Door Locks (Keypad & FOB)
LED Ceiling Lights
Polished Porcelain Tile Throughout
High-Gloss Glazed Hardwood Cabinetry
Primera™ by Ultrafabrics® Furniture
Decorative Kitchen Tile Backsplash
Solid Surface Countertops
Stainless Steel Kitchen Appliances including Residential Refrigerator with
In-Door Ice & Water Dispenser, 1.8 cu. ft. Over-the-Range Convection Microwave Oven
and Dishwasher Drawer
Denver Mattress® Pillowtop King Size Bed
Exterior 40″ LED HDTV
Winegard TRAV’LER HD Satellite

So, here are some photos of the interior of this luxury motorhome. To visit Thor Motor Coach, (click here).