At this year's edition of the annual Southern Classic Truck Show, show organizer Brad Wike has a special treat for attendees. He and former "American Trucker" TV series host Robb Mariani have spent loads of time this summer reconditioning a special piece of history that Wike owns for the 50th anniversary of its appearance on the silver screen, Mariani said. Their mission? To "get it back to looking like it’s patina’d to 1971," when it first appeared.
The 1960 Peterbilt 351 and tank trailer Wike owns were used in the filming of Steven Spielberg's feature-length directorial debut, "Duel", released in 1971 first as a TV movie, then on the silver screen. It's about a man being pursued by a worn-out fuel-tanker rig that stands in for evil incarnate, as it were (it couldn't have done much for the trucking image, but hey, is what it is ... a horror movie essentially).
Mariani noted that after so many years with little in the way of detail attention,
Wike and Mariani plan to invite all of us to play in their sandbox of old movie rigs, classic restorations and new customizations via a website, SemiFreaks.com, set to launch in time for the show next week, September 11-12.
Also haunting the show grounds, said Mariani, will be a 1940s Chevy cabover used in the "Jeepers Creepers" film series from the early part of this century -- and possibly a big-surprise rig they're working on getting.
As usual for past editions of the show, it's peopled by plenty of owner-operators and small fleet owners showing both classic iron and new builds, and the two days make for a great opportunity to meet new folks, rest and recharge, and have a rollicking good time around a big collection of great people, all told.
Tell 'em we said hi if you can make it.
