Big Orange

Just recently we dabbled in a new segment of the used truck industry. The segment I speak of is the world of custom sleeper trucks. We have had trucks on our lot that have had ICT sleeper conversions, but we've never had a large sleeper truck.......at least until now. We brought in a 2007 KW W900L with a 120" ARI sleeper on it and put our spin on it. The truck didn't need much since it was already really loaded up and very well taken care of, but we always have to put the Interstate Trucks touch on every truck we get. So it was solid orange and we painted the fenders black and had custom painted Harley Davidson graphics put on it. It looked sharp!

Well it caught the eye of a man from Minnesota......and his wife, of course. Kurt and Deb Schuetzler with Top Hat & Tails Transportation came across it on the internet and after seeing it in person and driving it, they decided to take it home and leave behind their 1999 KW W900L with a 110" ARI sleeper. Kurt and Deb haul a variety of products, but most commonly they haul for Purina and on their way home they haul steel. They've got a 2003 Wilson aluminum flatbed trailer with a curtain side attachment, so they are really versatile on what types of loads they can haul. They have one of the best and most desirable setups that any trucker could have. If you have to be out there on the road all the time, why not live comfortably? And these folks definitely deserve to! They have been in this business for 25 years and have put in many long hauls and still manage to be a couple of the most pleasant people we've ever come across.

Our hat is off to you Top Hat & Tails!! Good luck with your new addition and keep on truckin'.

The Difference

The difference between us and other heavy duty truck dealerships may not be so apparent by looking at TruckPaper.com, but once you pick up the phone and talk to one of our sales associates or step on our lot, it's pretty obvious. We are a family owned and operated dealership that is built on decades of experience in the new and used truck business. It started 3 generations ago when Carroll Clark started his own truck dealership in Denver, CO. He then passed his passion for truck sales onto his son and our owner, Doug Clark. Doug started in this business as a young teenager and now in his mid-50s, he's still just as passionate about it as he was back then. He has now passed his dream onto his daughter, Mandy. She has stepped into his sales shoes and plans on carrying on the business for years to come.

Not only are we a family, but the others that work for us are just as close as family. Our other sales associate, Tom Avery, has worked for Doug for 25+ years. There isn't a single individual involved in this company that doesn't understand our vision, whether that be employees or vendors. We firmly believe in selling the best used equipment out there and our personal touch is put on every single truck we sell. We go above and beyond what others are doing so that we have something we can feel extremely proud of as well as giving our customers a truck they can feel proud of.

We remember every single customer that buys a truck from us and we feel as though they are a part of our extended family. It's hard to describe the joy and excitement we feel when we see one of our trucks rolling down the road, but it's probably similar to watching your child take his or her first steps. We think so anyway. Interstate Trucks believes in taking care of our customers, because without you, we would be nothing. Thank you to all that have contributed to our dream and we look forward to helping you with your dreams.

Nashville Flood 2010

On May 1, 2010 rain started to fall over Middle Tennessee and it didn't stop for 2 days. It didn't stop until the sky had dropped about 15" of rain in a 36 hours period. Needless to say, our lakes, rivers, and streams were overwhelmed and flowed over their banks submerging most of Middle Tennessee in water. Not just a little water, but a lot of water. This flood is the worst in TN history. Several people lost their lives and thousands of homes, businesses, and cars were destroyed. Among the property lost, were hundreds of semi trucks across the mid-state. If you were one of the unfortunate victims of this flood and you lost your home, truck, or anything else; we want to express our sympathy towards you and your loved ones. All of our employees were spaired from any major loss, so we want to help anyway we can. We have donated to the flood relief and now we want to help put you back into another truck. We have some great inventory on our lot and we are willing to work with you or your insurance company to get you back on the road A.S.A.P. Please contact Tom Avery or Mandy Mitchell with any questions or concerns. We look forward to hearing from you.

Perfect 10

The timing on certain things just couldn't be any better. We recently purchased (10) 2007 Peterbilt 379EXHDs and had plans to dress half of them up and leave half of them stock. We bought all the lights and chrome for the half we were going to jazz up, but one phone call changed all these plans...in a good way. Tommy Hoge from Hoge Motor Company called us up after seeing these Peterbilts on our lot just 2 days after we got them all in, wanting to know a little bit more about them. He was looking to upgrade some of his older equipment and these trucks just so happened to be the same Cobalt blue color as some of his existing trucks.

So he stopped by and we showed him just what they were all about. After a few days of thinking it over, he decided he wanted to purchase all 10 trucks and all we needed to do is clean them up for him. No problem!! So we rolled them through our reconditioning shop as fast as we could and once we had them all ready, we made the trip up to Springfield, TN to deliver them to his facility. Hoge Motor Company pulls flatbeds hauling aluminum coils and these trucks with his trailers make a mighty nice combination.

Tommy's trucking company is a family owned business, much like ours, and we really appreciate doing business with folks like him. Best of luck to you, Tommy, and the rest of you at Hoge Motor Company. We hope to see you out on the road!

Family Tradition

Semi truck sales has become somewhat of a tradition in Doug's family. His father did it, Doug's done it, and now Doug's daughter, Mandy is doing it. I guess you can say deisel fuel flows through their veins.

Red Never Looked So Good

This has been the week of red and black. We just got in a Viper red 2007 Pete 379EXHD Flattop with black fenders as well as a Viper red 2003 Pete 379EXHD standup and as fast as we got them on our frontline, they were both gone. They were both rare trucks on each end of the spectrum. The 2007 had a Cummins ISX 565 with 174k miles on it and the 2003 had the single turbo Cat that a lot of people desire in it and only had 615k miles on it. Since they were painted alike, we decided to shoot them together at our last photo shoot and here's what we came up with.

And here are the proud owners with their trucks.

Donnie Friedrichsen from Grand Island, NE.

Bobby Childers from Vina, AL.

Good luck guys and we hope to see you again!!

Six Days On The Road

Long and Tall

There's a very special group of truckers out there that really dig a long wheel base truck. And when we say long wheel base, we mean loooooooooong. Anything over 300" would fit into this category. Basically a truck that makes some people go "What the...?!" Well, we've got one of those long boys in here loaded up and ready for the next "crazy" trucker that has the guts to drive it. This bad boy is 330"! One things for sure, it may be a challenge to maneuver, but it sure does look cool. Come on guys, who's up for a challenge?

We splashed some fresh paint on this truck (including matching the APU to the rest of the truck), got her all cleaned up, put a new Texas square bumper, custom deck plate, caps & covers, and new mattress and now it's ready for the show.

Before:

After:

Come on to Nashville and make this your personal "pride and polish" truck.

Tricked Out

We have just delivered a 2006 Peterbilt 379EXHD Flattop to Rory Holley of Pulaski, TN. Rory pulls a Hopper Bottom grain trailer and this flattop is a nice fit for his haul. His father Ronnie had previously purchased a 2007 Peterbilt 379EXHD Legacy from us and has been satisfied with his truck, so Rory decided to purchase from us as well. These boys both know what a nice truck is truly all about and they've both got top of the line Peterbilts.

We spent hours upon hours customizing this rig to make it one of the coolest trucks on the road with out going over the top. When this truck rolled onto our lot it was just an average flattop (with the exception of only having 200,000 miles on it), but when it left it was one of the coolest, classiest trucks on the road. Before we even got it finished, Rory came in to test drive it and had a couple of guys follow him back into the lot just to check it out.

Here's what it looked like when it showed up:

And once we had it cleaned up and installed a custom drop visor, Texas square bumper, and SS 1/4 fenders.

Then we got into the really cool stuff and ordered and installed a custom set of 8" straight pipes. We also installed cab & sleeper lights, a brand new deck plate, and extra boxes behind the fuel tanks, SS shock covers, and a rear window visor at this point.

And next came the custom JJ Headlights:

Then we changed the bullet light lenses to clear lenses to match the cab & sleeper lights.

Last but not least, we installed lighted cowl panels, SS hood extensions, and breather lights.

Here is a good look at the final product:

Then we had Jason from Master Creations Photography come do a photo shoot of the truck. We gotta say, the guy did an amazing job capturing the true beauty of this big rig.
And the proud owner, Rory Holley, with his newly tricked out truck.
I hope this blog post has shown you our true passion for what we do. From our owner that buys them, our mechanic that makes them pretty, and our salesmen that sell them; we all love what we do. We aren't like most other dealerships that do a quick clean up to a truck and put it up for sale. We spend hours upon hours on every truck we get in and this truck is no exception. Our mechanic, Jack Jenkins, spent over 60 hours inspecting this truck and installing all of the custom accessories.

Coming Soon...

We're working on the coolest 2006 Pete 379EXHD flattop in the entire country. Stay tuned for pictures.

Ronnie Shirah

Yesterday we delivered a 2007 Kenworth W900L 86" Studio to Ronnie Shirah from Scottsboro, AL. Ronnie is a very enthusiastic guy and well educated about trucks and knew just what he wanted. He's been in the trucking industry for 30+ years and currently pulls a 2006 Fontaine stepdeck trailer. After being involved in an accident in December that left his truck totalled, he knew he wanted to find something that was comfortable and would make him a great truck to ride his career out in. We believe he made the right choice. We customized Ronnie's truck to fit his needs and wants and by the time we were done, he had a show truck on his hands.

Here's what it looked like before:

And after we added a drop visor, breather lights, step box, and SS 1/2 fenders.

It's a beautiful truck Ronnie and we hope you enjoy it!

We Never Stop Working

Here's a picture of one of our sales reps, Mandy, working at 9 months pregnant. This was taken the day before her son was born.

Hello Blog World

We have created this blog in hopes that it will give our customers a greater insight into the inner workings of our dealership and show you how much work goes into every single truck we put on our frontline. We take great pride in what we do and the trucks that we sell. We believe in giving owner/operators a great truck that will not only set them apart from the rest of the trucks on the road, but that will also be very reliable for them for many years. Our tagline "Your Success Is Our Future" is not just a saying, it's what we truly believe in. We don't feel as though we are successful unless you are successful first. We want our customers to be happy with the trucks they drive and our greatest hope is that they'll come back for their next purchase. You're not just a dollar sign at our dealership, you're a valued customer and friend. We love hearing your success stories and we want to share with you how we transform each and every truck we have. We look forward to sharing our love for trucks with you.