Bob Harley says he has spent some time around trucks and trucking.
“Thirty years, seven days a week. That’s all,” said Harley as he prepped his 1972 Peterbilt needle nose with a tilt hood for the judges at the recent Walcott Truckers Jamboree Truck Beauty Contest.
“Bad attitude”Now, the striking Pete’ in a custom deep purple is, said Harley, “My way to slow down a bit.”
He grew up in an Ohio family that ran a water and oil well drilling business by day, and farmed crops and beef by night.
“I worked on the farm, but I was always obsessed with the trucks,” said Harley.
His current obsession is this classic Peterbilt, which Harley says has received plenty of work in order to get it onto the show circuit. His first show with the truck was last year’s Guilty By Association Truck Show at Four States in Joplin, Mo.
In fact, it was the Chrome Shop Mafia team that did much of the work, which included the custom paint job, extending the wheelbase from 265 inches to 300 inches and installing 4,000 well-hidden LED lights to illuminate the bottom of the truck.
“Those guys are great,” said Harley. “I can’t say enough about them. They’re like family to me. They’re just good people.”
It seems the judges at Walcott were impressed by Harley’s Peterbilt, which he calls, “Bad Attitude.” He drove back to his heavy haul and excavating business with a slew of honors:
- Tops in the Show Class
- First for Custom Paint
- First for Polish & Detail
- Third in Lights at Night, bobtail
1972 needle nose, tilt hood Peterbilt
1972 needle nose, tilt hood Peterbilt owned by Bob Harley
Bob Harley
Custom inlay
Bob Harley's 1972 Peterbilt
The man, not the motorcycle
Bob Harley praised the work by the Chrome Shop Mafia
Interior inlay detail
Bob Harley
Inlay even on the wipers
