Dan Titus It was important for us to keep the car as period correct as we could, and Robbie did an excellent job, right down to the beaded Vinyl inside, which looks just as it did in 1983 when it was rolled off the production line. Dan Titus is my name. I own a business called Page Transportation.
Robbie Johnson: I’m Robbie Johnson. I’ve worked for Page Transportation for about 13, 14 years now, I would say. They have all sorts of stuff from aluminum scrap to dirt.
Titus : If you can put it on that dump trailer, we haul it.
This is the last truck in our fleet that my dad purchased. He passed away in 1999. It’s an 1983 W900. It was a work truck up until about 18 months ago, or maybe two years before that. We had the chance or thought to restore the unit in honor of my parents, since it was our last unit.
We’re lucky to have Robbie as our owner-operator, and he has a passion for restoring equipment of this type. As you can see, Robbie did his magic. We have something we think honors our parents, you know.
Johnson :I had to start from scratch, with new frame rails and a newer rear suspension. I also replaced the front axle. It was originally a daycab, so we added a sleeper. The interior was redone and a 36-inch A-model sleeper was added. It was a huge build, a massive undertaking, but I think it turned out really well.
The interior of the cab is almost all original. This is really nice, especially on older models, because you can open up the door and see what they were supposed to look like and how they looked in the past. The entire bunk had to be reupholstered. When we found the sleeper, it had been pretty much roached.
We ended up redoing all the sleeper interiors, and kept the roll and pleated design. We kept the same theme as the cab, so only that part had to be redone.
Titus : We wanted to make sure that it was as period correct as we could. Robbie did an excellent job. All the way to the beaded vinyl on the inside. It still looks the same as when it was first rolled off of the line in 1983.
Johnson : You seem to be satisfied with it so far. It runs well. It has the same mechanical engine as it did in the 425 Cat. Nothing beats it when it comes to older trucks. I believe the transmission is the same as it was. There are a lot original parts in it.
Titus :And I’m only seeing it for the very first time. I can’t describe my feelings. It’s a very special moment.
Johnson: Yeah. We kept it secret from him, his sister, and Chris, vice president. We didn’t think anyone would see what we did, so this was the only place they could see it. It’s kind of cool to see the reactions. I guess.