At trucks shows you often hear people say things like, “That truck doesn’t work,” or, “That thing is all show and no go.” But you’ve never heard anything like that said about this month’s cover rig – mainly because it’s never been to a truck show. In fact, the best way to describe this custom rig is to say that it is all go and no show. Owned and operated by Dave Charlebois (35) of Les Coteaux, Quebec, this cool truck usually runs back and forth between Quebec and California, but was recently taken off the road so Dave could take a stab at getting a truck wash started. But after only a month, Dave is already itching to get back on the road where he loves to be.
From as far back as he can remember, Dave always wanted to be a truck driver. At the age of 18, Dave got his license and started doing local delivery work, biding his time, waiting for his 21st birthday to come so he could get his CDL and really go trucking. Just as soon as he could, he got his license and hit the road, never looking back. He had socked away $10,000 for a down payment and, with some help from his father, bought his first truck – a 1987 Freightliner Classic similar to the one he drives today. Of course, the first truck wasn’t tricked out like his current ride, but knowing Dave, it was probably pretty cool too.
In 1997 Dave ordered his second truck – the red Freightliner Classic seen on the cover/centerfold and these pages. The truck was ordered with no bunk and a 301-inch wheelbase. Dave and a friend designed and built the totally custom 80-inch long and 102-inch wide sleeper using no rivets. Dave wanted the flat top look, but he also wanted some headroom, so they built it eight inches taller than the cab and created a section of the floor that dropped down between the frame rails. This area has a sliding floor so you can close it and have a flat floor or open it for more standing space. But Dave, not being so tall, decided to just leave it closed and uses it for storage. He always tells anyone inspecting his truck that there is a hidden compartment in the floor. “What do you use that for?” they always ask. Dave joked about smuggling cigarettes and booze but we’re sure he doesn’t joke like that with roadside inspectors.
He did a few things to his truck when it was new, but much of the work was done a year later. He pulled the truck off of the road and decided to shave the headlights. He remembers how odd it felt to take a chainsaw to his perfectly good front fenders. Once the original lights were removed, the holes were filled and Double JJ brackets and single round headlights were installed. At this time, the blue scallops were painted on the hood, then outlined with silver tape and clear-coated.
Another custom feature that was added in the beginning was the front bumper. Made out of extremely durable T1 steel (the same steel that they use to make snow plow blades) and weighing about 300 pounds, this sucker has taken a beating many times but is still straight. He has re-chromed it several times and recently boxed the ends. He has hit deer, curbs, coyotes, the ground, and a whole lot more over the last eight years, but nothing has tweaked this behemoth bumper.
He drove the truck like this until 2003. At that time, he took it off the road for four months and redid the whole thing. While his truck was down, he went ahead and ordered a new trailer as well. Ready for another change, he decided to remove the round headlights and Double JJ brackets and install small, round, high-density headlights into the fenders that he found on a website that sold accessories for street racers (cars). The lights not only look cool but are very functional as well. It’s amazing how bright those little lights can be. He also decked out the truck’s exterior by adding around 250 LED lights. But he didn’t stop there.
Looking for that long and low look, Dave replaced his spring suspension with an air-ride system. He changed out his straight front axle with a drop-down unit to give his oil pan more clearance but keep the truck low. To do this, he had to fabricate all of his own brackets and hangers. His system features a unique dual leveling valve system which allows him to take the truck’s suspension up or down a full eight inches. He also made his own battery boxes and stretched his fuel tanks to be the same length as the sleeper. His visor is all custom, as well as his stainless steel louvered-style grille. Everything on this truck is heavy and tough – Dave doesn’t like plastic. He also switched out the stock exhaust for a larger after-market system to allow for more air flow, shaved the door handles and added a keyless remote entry system.
The truck is powered by a 550 Cat hooked to a 13-speed double-over transmission and 3.55 rears. Inside the cab, Dave tore out most of the plastic and had a friend who makes furniture build him a nice wood center console and armrests. He also added a lot of chrome switches and gauges on the dash and chrome pedals on the floor.
As Dave’s truck was getting its make-over, the new trailer arrived. The 48-foot polished 2004 Great Dane trailer was ordered without a reefer because Dave wanted an old-style cooler, so he found a rebuilt 1997 Thermo King unit and painted it red to match. Then he replaced the reefer unit’s grille with louvered-style stainless steel bars to match the tractor’s grille. He also cut off the trailer’s rear suspension and slid it all the way back to the rear of the trailer. The gap in the spread was originally eleven feet but now it is almost twelve. He also made a unique box to hide his landing gear and mount his air lines, and then installed tool boxes between the axles. Final touches included lots of LED lights and red paint, as well as WTI fiberglass fenders to match the truck.
Soon after getting his trucking career started back in 1991, Dave got a dedicated haul taking rolled denim (for jeans) from a factory in Quebec to Southern California. From there, he returned to Quebec with produce. His schedule took him out on the road for a week, and then he’d spend a week at home, and then do it again. He did this for years until the factory in Quebec closed down. For the last year or so, he’s been running mostly on the East Coast, between Florida and Quebec, but he really misses coming to California.
Dave Charlebois has always been a savvy businessman – don’t let his “punk” looks fool you. In the early days of his career, his energy and enthusiasm caused his business to grow. It grew so much he had to start buying more trucks and leasing on owner operators to handle all the work. In his heyday, Dave had three trucks of his own, six leased-on owner operators and a dispatcher. And remember, he was only in his mid-20’s. But Dave really didn’t like this situation. He hated the business of looking for loads. Eventually, it got too much for him to handle so he scaled his operation back to just him and his one truck. Today, he has a second truck (a 2004 Pete) with a dedicated driver that picks up the slack and takes the work Dave can’t do himself.
Covered in tattoos and sporting a bushy goatee on his chin, Dave looks more like a rock star than a truck driver. For years he has been going to see Debra at Roy Boyz in Lake Station, Indiana for most of his tattoos. Featuring fire, dragons, skulls and devils, Dave’s tastes seem to be a bit Gothic. The sides of his hood have a small picture of the Grim Reaper, with sickle in hand, and the number 666 depicting his truck’s number. When asked about his interest in these things he just laughed and said that he was not superstitious about stuff like that. As we spoke we came to realize that it isn’t that he is “into” all that stuff, but instead enjoys the fact that it bothers some people – especially in the South, he said. Dave is the kind of guy who likes to stir things up, and these demonic references just help him to do that wherever he goes.
For most of the last ten years, Dave has traveled with his longtime girlfriend (and co-driver) Kime, and for the last few years, they’ve been bringing their Doberman Pinscher “Niko” along as well. Dave isn’t a real believer in marriage so he and Kime have no plans to marry or have children. To them, marriage is just paperwork, and a contract wouldn’t change their relationship. Recently, they invested in a very expensive laser hair removal machine. Kime either does the work herself or rents the machine out to local salons, but either way, it is a very profitable business. If Dave didn’t love trucks and trucking so much, we think he’d buy a few more of these machines and retire.
When we called Dave and asked him about doing a photo shoot, he jumped at the chance and immediately setup a load coming to Northern California. From there, he dead-headed down to Southern California and then waited four days for the rain to stop. Having never been featured in a magazine before, he was pretty excited. When the weather refused to get better, we headed east to find sunshine. We ended up at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park near the Salton Sea. The cover and centerfold shots were taken in a turnout with a scenic overlook and a sign informing visitors of the fact that they were standing atop the most active fault line in California – the San Jacinto Fault, a splinter of the San Andreas Fault. At that particular location, a quake of six or more on the Richter scale occurs on average every nine years. And here we thought Dave was shakin’ things up!
Shortly after our photo shoot, Dave took a hiatus from the road to start up a truck wash near his home. Called the Diablo Truck Wash (of course), Dave has spent most of the last month washing trucks. He hopes to get the wash off the ground and then branch out into custom fabrication and installations. But after a few weeks of solid ground under his feet, Dave is itching to get back out on the road. He’s not sure just how long he can last not driving. You’d think after putting 1.2 million miles on this truck alone, he’d be worn out and tired of the road, but not Dave. He’s ready to go.
What Dave would really like to do is get a job hauling a race team or a rock band or something. He recently had the opportunity to go out on the road with the rock band Def Leppard, but he couldn’t get his schedule to work so he had to turn it down. If anyone out there wants a super-cool custom truck to haul around their race cars or motorcycles, get in touch with the magazine and we will pass your number along to Dave. In the meantime, he’ll keep scrubbing bugs off of trucks and dreaming of the open road.
At one point, the phrase, “Coolz da Rule” was on the back of Dave’s sleeper – and that about sums it up for him and his rig. He doesn’t really care what others think of his truck and he doesn’t waste his time judging or criticizing others. That is probably why he isn’t interested in going to truck shows. But who knows – he admits that maybe if and when he does ever go to a show he might get hooked. We know one thing for sure – his cool and custom Freightliner would be tough to beat.
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