J. C. Schmitz Trucking About Us

J. C. Schmitz Trucking

J. C. Schmitz Trucking started in 1983 with a 1979 Freightliner cabover.
From that day, John wanted to own a large car. The cabover was bought
and we kept it for two years. It was orange and brown and we called it the
pumpkin. This was a dollar truck from Midwestern Distribution. It had a
shiny 290 with a 9 speed. There was nothing fancy about this truck. By the
time we sold this truck, it had a shiny chrome bumper, nut covers, hubcaps,
and chrome curved stacks. We pulled a van at Midwestern. After we left
Midwestern, we pulled a hopper bottom grain trailer with it. Later we bought
a flat bed to haul steel and various flat bed freight from Texas to California
and back. We were leased to a friend who had his own authority.

Since we were running out west, we needed more horse power and a bigger
truck. In 1985, we bought a 1982 Freightliner Conventional which brought us
closer to that large car. We kept this truck for 11 years. John put 1,300,000
miles on this truck. John honed his mechanicing skills on this truck trying to
keep it going. This truck had a 400 Cummins and we hopped it up with
parts from Diesel Injection. This truck was a classic style and many times it
was mistaken for a Peterbilt. We bought this truck because we were running
back and forth to California. We hauled structure steel from Texas to
California and lumber back to Texas every week for a couple of years.
After that, we hauled oilfield pipe, oilfield equipment, and chemicals while we
were leased to various oilfield trucking companies mainly running oilfield
states.

We bought our first Peterbilt in 1996. It was a 1992 Extended Hood
Peterbilt that was black lilac in color. This was our first big bad Peterbilt. A
dream come true for someone who had only dreamed of a truck like this. It
had a 425 Cat that was turned up with a 15 speed. This truck would run
down the road. This was the last mechanical engine we had. This truck was
fun for our girls since they had a bunk of their own when they rode with their
Dad. We were still hauling the oilfield freight. When the oilfield slowed
down for the umpteenth time, we grew tired of the up and down of the
oilfield. We started pulling a tanker hauling fuel and chemicals. We kept this
truck for about three years. This truck was too heavy for tanker work so we
began the process of specing Saddle Up.

The most fun John ever had was working on the specs for his new truck. It
needed to be light weight for the job and still be the large car. There was
lots of figuring going on to try to make the truck as light weight as possible.
Saddle Up was ordered from the factory. We requested that it be stacked
up so it only had 6 miles on it when it was delivered to us. It is a 2000
Peterbilt that is Stardust gold and Hunter green. It has a 500 Detroit in it
with a 10 speed transmission. It was speced for weight and fuel mileage.
The tag weight is 17,340. We pulled a tanker with it for a couple of years.
During that time, we bought a second truck which was speced with our
specs with the exception of the motor, transmission, suspension, and color.
The second truck was only 900 pounds heaver than Saddle Up. We met the
management of Watt and Stewart at this time while talking about light weight
speced trucks. It took us a little while to warm up to the idea of going back
to the longhaul highway. We leased Saddle Up on to Watt & Stewart
Trucking in February of 2002 and were their third lease truck. We wanted to
make sure this was the right move so we waited on the second truck. A few
months later, we leased it on and now we have grown to six trucks. We haul
the big tires that go on mining equipment at various mines across the
nation. We haul just about anything you can put on a flat bed to get us back
to the tire plant. Watt and Stewart are some of the best people we have
ever worked for. We are part of the family here.

We have put Saddle Up in six Great American Truck Shows in Dallas,
Texas. It has also been in the Billy Bob's Truck Show. We have won a total
of eight awards with Saddle Up. Saddle Up has been an ongoing project.
When we originally bought the truck from the dealer, we had them put six
inch straight pipes, aluminum fenders painted to match the front fenders,
stainless for the gauges and toggles on the dash, and air cleaner and cab
and sleeper lights. This is how it started and from then until now, we have
slowly added custom parts with some bought from the chrome stores and
with some made by us. Some of the custom parts added are the fender
bras, WTI fenders, chrome nut covers, visored chrome light covers for all
lights, drop visor, LED lights, diamond plate frame covers, between the
frame storage box, and various additions. Beyond the awards at truck
shows, Saddle Up not only made the Pride and Polish calendar in 2007 but
also was the cover truck. Saddle Up was also chosen for the Photo Card
truck trading card series four. As much as the awards mean to us, the
friendships and comraderee means so much more. Our new friends
through truck show are treasured by our family. We always look forward to
seeing everyone every year.

Saddle Up has been joined by two other flat top Peterbilts. There are also
three other Peterbilt trucks in our fleet that we consider starter trucks for our
employees. The second flat top truck we bought brand new. It is a 2000
and it was speced just like Saddle Up. It has a 500 Cat with a 18 speed
transmission. It is red with black fenders, drop visor, six inch straight pipes,
aluminum half fenders, American class interior, and wide ride low rider
Bostrom seats. The next truck we bought was a 1998 Peterbilt extended
hood flat top. It is a two tone blue in color. It has a 475 Cat with a 9 speed
transmission. It has a drop visor, 6 inch straight pipes, LED cab and
sleeper lights, blue classic interior, and end of frame stainless light panel.
The next truck is a 1998 Peterbilt short hood 48 inch standup sleeper. It is
white with a blue frame and a red interior. It has a 470 Detroit with a 10
speed transmission. It has LED air cleaner, cab and sleeper lights, saddle
boxes, and end of frame stainless light panel. The last two trucks we have
are old Watt and Stewart company trucks. They are both 2001 Peterbilt
short hood 48 inch standup sleepers. They are mocha pearl with burgundy
fenders. They both have C12 Cat motors in them. They both have
American class interiors, drop visors, Drom headache racks, and half
fenders. These are both nice little trucks. As of the Spring of 2008, both of
the 2001 Peterbilts were sold.

We decided to turn a new page and moved to Landstar as of June 2008.

Large Car Pilot