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When the couple does their trucking routes, they stop for fuel, shop at RV shops, dump waste in RV stations, unhook at RV stopovers and similar locations, and then come back the next morning, hook up and start again on their commercial trucking route.

They drive around 110,000 miles a year in their 37-foot conversion unit. They drive a five-on-five-off sleep-drive schedule. And they’ve been doing it for several years. “After almost 15 years,there’s nothing like being parked for sleeping,” Miriam said of the trucking part of their partnership.

It’s like luxury RVing mixed with a commercial truck driving job.

The motorhome interior is shown in this collage photo, or at least the kitchen / living area of it. The owners didn’t show the bedroom or bath unit.

This truck was first discovered by Todd Dills over at Overdrive Online a while back. Visit Overdrive Online (click here).

Future Truck

How about this semi tractor, which has a bunch of new trucking -progress ideas added: aerodynamics, cab design, fuel, and sleeper changes.

The Roadrunner design semi is based on a “new” fuel source: hydrogen. It’s aimed at a market around 2020, when, the designer stated, “fossil fuels get short and expensive and allowed CO2-expulsion [draws near] to zero.” The truck design is the work of Adirano Mudri.

The truck design, while attempting to reduce emissions, is designed to fit in with the current trucking and heavy industry system. It is compatible with current reloading points and can hook up to currently used trailers.

On unusual point: the driver sits in the middle of the cab, not on the “driver’s side.” This provides him with more space in both directions. Better for comfort, better for the driver’s view, thinks Mudri.

The middle seat also allows design to be more aerodynamic — the front can be more sweeping in design, reducing noise and air resistance.

It’s also equipped with front and rear vehicle cameras.

The unit has a comfortable semi sleeper, although there’s an entrance on only one side. The sleeper has a big roof window to give light to the interior. The sleeper also has steps instead of the more common ladders of the sleepers most truckers are familiar with.

Visit Adriano Mudri (click here). OR see 3 more semi truck designs (click here).

  

The Too-Big RV Tractor

Tow a trailer behind this and you’d have a condo on 18 Wheels!

Any use for a trailer big enough to fit a football team inside?

This trailer was reportedly owned by a fellow in Michigan, but was later sold to a fellow in
Iowa.

The sleeper is a 234 inch with a lot of creature comforts, by Arvin.

In the unit there was a leather set of a fouton and two recliners with round pedestool tables. It had a full-lighted mirror ceiling. It also had a full bathroom with a house camode and a ceramic pedestool sink.

The Michigan guy hauled a 50-foot gooseneck specialized motorcycle trailer with this.

The Iowa owner hauled race car trailers to races on weekends.

Could you imagine pulling a 53′ behind it? What about backing up or cornering? Would it be legal to pull anything other than a 28 pup?

Anyone have more any more information on this RV trailer? Read our update here.

 

 

In Style With A New Peterbilt Custom From Tennessee

This is Dan Brubaker’s 2014 Peterbilt 389 and 2015 Wilson livestock hauler — some pretty new equipment, and it won Best of Show in Working Combo at the 2014 Tennessee edition of Overdrive’s Pride & Polish.

Brubaker and team did all the custom work for this rig themselves in their shop. It started out just doing a bit, according to Brubaker, but ended up being “all in.”

Chome rims on the tires. The whole interior is done green and black. They made the pedals themselves.

A shop in Nashiville did the stripes.

Can you guess how many lights can be put on one truck? This truck hsa 476 lights.

All the fender brackets and frame rails and everything they built and customized themselves.

The truck mostly transports livestock — hauling pigs, specifically.

It’s one of a fleet of six trucks owned by the Brubakers — the father and son. That’s a good amount of tractor-trailer jobs for their home town.

Like a lot of trucks in Blogunity’s Vehicle section (check some of them out, or submit your own truck to us!), this is one of those manufacturers known and loved by many: Peterbilt — which stands out among trucks for sale on our continent: this is one of the easiest used trucks to sell. I’m not really sure where that quality trailer sits on the trailers for sale list. If anyone wants to comment on that, please do so below and we can include it in this writeup.

From Overdrive

Most Expensive RV

A person walks into an RV shop with $3,000,000.00… Rather than spend that money on helping the poor of the world, he/she decides to buy an RV for three million dollars. The is the most expensive RV you can buy, pretty much. There are a couple of these luxury-home priced RVs out there. The one pictured is an Austria-based Marchi Mobile, the eleMMent RV.

But I ask you, readers, is it really worth it to spend $3 million on an RV like this?

Product Features:

• The most expensive and extravagant motor home on the market
• Pop up 210 sq ft terrace with retractable stairs
• Full inbuilt bar
• Huge sky windows
• Master Bedroom with en Suite
• Fully functioning fireplace
• Glow in the dark exterior paintwork
• 2x 40″ HD TVs
• Touch screen command centre
• Automatic underfloor heating
• Black out windows
• Fully customisable interior
• Rotating lazy boy style loungers
• WiFi Connectivity
• Mini Kitchen
• Adjustable lighting, Air con and Heating
• Expandable side creating a massive 430 sq ft living space
• Rainfall shower
• Exquisitely furnished with Italian and Austrian design

Technical Specifications:

• 510bhp Diesel engine
• Capable of 13mpg
• Top speed of 93mph
• Carbon rear diffuser with double sport exhaust
• Aerodynamic design saves up to 20% on fuel cost
• 20 tonnes
• 40 feet in length
• Shell constructed from glass fibre
• Chassis is from a DAF XF105

stats from firebox

 

Freightliner Argosy: They Don’t Make Tractors The Way They Used To!

These huge cabover tractors slash motorhomes are built in Cleveland in the American plant for Freightliner Argosy, which has robotics and the best technology the company has. It was designed in America’s wind-tunnels, too.

The four main objectives Argosy set out to accomplish with this design were these, and they show the focus the tractor company has for owner-operators and truck drivers everywhere: Workplace environment, increased payload, reduced operating costs and driver safety. They have some interesting air control (and debris control) features, including ducts on the front corners to keep splash and debris from shooting up.

They use alumininum for the cabover cabs, so they are strong. It’s not just a frame to shelter the cab from wind.

The trucks not easily buckled, because they’re long (kind of luxury motorhome-length) and riveted with Henrob self-piercing and countersunk rivets. Much stronger than the conventional rivets that pierce the second layer of aluminum.

The cab design is curved to protect the life of the driver in any crash. It’s quite crashworthy, despite being a cabover which most truckers don’t consider particularly crashworthy in general. If you can imagine an impact that forces the walls and things of a cab inward, here you have a curved dash, so the wall being forced in crashes around the driver to some degree, not into the driver. We’ve written before about these models, because they have a lot of interesting truck features:

MORE ARGOSY click

A Big Rig Convertible!

Taking a break from the large custom luxury RVs and motorhomes for a bit with this post: Everyone knows convertible cars need a heavier frame, right? Otherwise they don’t have the structural support and basically collapse on themselves. But does that go for rigs as well? They’re already pretty tough frame-wise. The photography here is credit to Roger Snider, who seems devoted to photographing the custom big rig scene.

“I see these trucks as large-scale sculptures that reflect a pop-culture aesthetic of the society they represent. I am really surprised that these trucks, which are so much more detailed than the trucks back [in the ’80s], haven’t been featured in more films and TV today. I hope my photography makes Hollywood wake up and include them again,” Snider said recently to Rides Magazine.

Some of these rigs cost 500,000 dollars. Have you ever seen a couch with 20 subs in it? This truck pictured here belongs to Jeff Botelho. It’s a lowrider semi. It’s a Peterbilt. It’s a custom truck. It’s a convertible. Have you ever seen one before?

This thing started out as a burned out beater of a truck. It was part of the Louisville big-rig build-off, a 90-day Class 8 truck competition.

“I had to finish my other project first,” Botelho told Ride. “It took me five days to overhaul the motor in itself, so I only had 83 days to put this thing together.” That seems like a pretty fast build for a custom semi truck, doesn’t it?

“My dad was always into hot rods, so they’ve been a huge inspiration to me.” Even though we’re taking a break from the luxury motor home scene with this post (and a few others), could you imagine if this convertible was modified into an RV itself? Like if it had a 5th wheel trailer behind it or even if they added a giant convertible ARI studio sleeper or something?

Kustom Peterbilt 379 Out Of Indiana

This is Dustin Dickerson’s “rolling business card.” Dickerson owns Dickerson Kustom Trucks, which is in Thorntown, Indiana.

Dickerson is actually from Lebanon, Indiana.

He got into fixing trucks after starting to drive night shifts to suppliment his income. Since he was fixing up his own trucks, people in the area started noticing and brought him their trucks, too.

He bought this 2007 Peterbilt 379 to replace his older truck when he needed to. It came with a factory 600 horsepower Cat C-15 Alert. And it had a 310-inch wheelbase. Dickerson pulled this MAC half-round end dump around behind it.

He re-customized the already custom-painted truck himself. It became part of his new business — Dickerson Kustom Trucks.

This custom took a year and a half to complete.

From Ten Four Magazine