Texas Show-Offs
By BRUCE W. SMITH 38 CUSTOM RIGS Winter 2009 NEW PRIDE & POLISH ENTRIES TURN HEADS AT THE GREAT AMERICAN TRUCKING SHOW IN DALLAS T he Mendez brothers knew they had some-thing special to enter into 's Pride Overdrive & Polish in Dallas. They'd been working 18-hour days for nearly four months to transform the family-owned '97 379 into a custom showpiece. They hoped their Texas Chrome Shop's efforts would put Project One on the lips of everyone attending the Great American Trucking Show. Some 625 miles north of the San Antonio custom-izing shop the boyz of the Chrome Shop Mafia at 4 State Trucks in Joplin, Missouri, were undertaking a very similar quest. Thomas Ivy, a passionate lover of custom rigs, had brought in his '86 Peterbilt from Kilgore, Texas, to have it turned into a one-of-a-kind. CSM employees worked feverishly to get it finished for its GATS Pride & Polish debut. Neither shop had any idea what the other was building. That's typical of many new builds showing up at Pride & Polish truck beauty shows and one of the surprises attendees savor when coming to such truck shows. When both rigs rolled off their respective Photos by Bruce W. Smith & Patrick Irvin