Iron Afflicted: Jonathan Eilen’s 2010 Peterbilt 389

Jonathan Eilen says he didn’t want his late brother Jake’s old end-dump to be parked somewhere and go unused or, worse, “have the thing looking cruddy and crappy after a couple of years,” he says. So late in 2008, he hooked the 40-foot trailer onto the truck he drove at the time and put it to work.

The black and orange Maximizer trailer was one of several that matched Eilen’s late brother’s famous black and orange truck. The two colors were his favorites, and his truck and trailer featured the black base topped with orange trim and a few flames.

But after Jake died in a car accident in November 2008, Jonathan took hold of it, he says, “just to keep my brother’s legacy live.”

Less than a year later, Eilen’s dad talked him into buying a truck (he’d driven his dad’s company-owned trucks prior) to see if he liked it, and if not, Eilen says his dad was willing to buy it back from him. “I told myself ‘Well, you’re not getting any younger,’” he says. “Might as well go for it.”

Eilen bought a new 2010 Peterbilt 389 in September 2009 and started “taking one thing off to replace it, then another,” and before long, he says, he had the entire interior ripped out of it. “My dad came out and said ‘What in the heck?’ He looked inside and there wasn’t a thing left in it — just bare wires and plastic pieces.”

Eilen says he wanted to do the black and orange to keep Jake’s legacy going and worked on the truck in bits and pieces, with help from his brother Pat who fabricated and mounted most of the truck’s parts.

*******UPDATE 11/6/2015: Eilen’s 2010 Peterbilt, with four other rigs, is currently in the running for the Truckers’ Choice title among five years’ worth of Pride & Polish National Championship winners — follow this link to vote once every day through November 20, 2015, for your favorite.*********