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Check out this amazing custom job by the people at Chrome Shop, who we’ve talked about a number of times here on this little blog. The Chrome Shop also has a ton of custom items and it seems they’ve got “chrome cards” memberships with some free shipping options now too.
This one is Doug & Tawnya Tenhouse’s 2015 Kenworth W900L. The couple is out of Quincy, Illinois. Have you seen their truck on the roads there yet, Illinoisians?
You can find Chrome Shop Mafia indexed in our directory of custom truck builders and see their regularly updated work.
Casa on Wheels (with Interior Photo)
The value of custom sleepers for semi trucks has a lot to do with money savings on trucker’s other accomodations. It costs a lot to get a big roomy semi sleeper fabricated onto a tractor unit, or even a big sleeper truck that’s not a big rig, but that means every night the driver is on the road, he or she doesn’t have to pay for a hotel or motel. It’s the truck sleeper cab life!
It’s also useful for RVers or people who drive commercial transport, even owner-operators, who don’t have a house of their own, or even a rental in some cases, because they can live out of their semi sleeper. Some of them are even up to luxury RV motorhome standards – semi trucks with showers and toilets, couches and entertainment systems, that allow their owners to use them for road trips for fun as well and camp out.
They also could be said to increase the types of jobs a driver or owner-operator can take on, because his required costs are lower without hotels, and he doesn’t have to schedule his trip or driving legs around stopovers.
The cost of a big sleeper trucks extra large unit is said to be around $200000, but that’s for a new luxury large sleeper unit with all the trimmings. Some of the best ones are being made by ARI trucks. You can obviously get them cheaper, and a used tractor that has a sleeper on it is usually cheaper than that price. This can be measured against the cost of a cheap apartment or house, which starts at $40,000 or so for the very cheapest, and goes up from there.
Featured truck: An ARI truck sleeper customization, a Volvo VN.
Radical Argosy COE
The Argosy COE, popular in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, appeared to vanish from the U.S. market in the mid-200’s. Recently, however, it came to light that the Argosy COE has continued to be produced in North America, as a glider kit. It was not in high demand and therefore was not advertised along with the rest of Daimler Truck’s catalog. An uptick in interest has caused a resurrection of the vehicle in the North American market, after such marketing opportunities as having an Argosy feature in the 2014 film “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and small companies advertising 2015 glider kits.
Three engine options (Detroit Diesel DD15, Cummins ISX/Signature EGR, or the Cummins X15e5 with ADEPT technology), eRail technology, a spacious cab, and swing out steps make the Argosy a practical, yet luxurious option for companies like Wal-Mart, or even smaller trucking businesses. There are also collectors who have chosen to refurbish or alter the Argosy into something worthy of showing off at gatherings across the country, like the 2001 Freightliner Argosy working as a Mobile Surgical Services Freightliner, which received an extreme makeover from its owners, who partner with Mobile Health of New Zealand in order to provide surgical services as they travel around the country.
The vehicle has a 110 inch hi top sleeper cab, with a Cummins Signature Series 500 horsepower engine. The trailer unit was a custom build from Mills Tui, and weighs in at 42 tonnes. It measures 20 meters, and uses a Roadranger 18-speed gearbox. Two drivers take care of the traveling as the doctors, anesthesiologists, nurses, and patients merely show up at the appointed time and enter the bus to prep and conduct surgery.
If you’re ever in New Zealand, you may have the opportunity to see one of these big guys up close and marvel at the alterations that have made it into the medical marvel seen today. If you’re in Canada and the United States, however, the target market is quite a bit different, usually larger companies such as Wal-Mart, who use the glider kit and install their own preferences for engines. Of course, individual owners or those interested need to be aware that the glider kit is only compatible with certain engines. Do your research before committing, as you will need to find an engine that is from 2004 or earlier.
Now that you know the Argosy never left, does that pique your interest in the vehicle? Want to learn more about the shy vehicle that works behind the scenes? You can check out other sites for more information — I recommend reading up on New Zealand’s Mobile Surgical Units, Trucking Info’s article on the “return” of the Argosy, or EcoModder pages to look at more pictures of this unique vehicle.
