Purple People Pleaser — John Jaikes’ Kenworth W900L

Warren Aitken meets John Jaikes and his Purple People Pleaser at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

Words by Warren Aitken. Photography by Warren Aitken.

So, what happens when you spend too much time watching ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ and already own the Tranz Am? It’s obvious, you become a truck driver! For John Jaikes of Pennsylvania that’s basically the long story cut short, but we need to hear the long story as well because that’s even more interesting, let’s go.

In March of this year I had the pleasure of jumping onto a big fibreglass bird and flying several thousand miles to the BBQ loving city of Louisville, Kentucky for a look at the Mid-America Trucking Show and the PKY Truck Beauty Championship that ran in conjunction with it. It was an eye-opening welcome to a world of ultra-long chassis’, sleeper cabs that you could lose a small child in and bonnets that you could launch a small plane off.

In a car park full of more truck porn than should legally be allowed, one truck caught my eye…parked up against the fence line was the big purple Kenworth of Precision Transport.

When you see a truck with as many lights as John’s and as much class and character as John’s it’s understandable to expect the owner to have as much personality as the truck and in the case of John Jaikes you would not be disappointed.

It’s not for me to talk about ages, but I will tell you John has recently knocked up a half-century, but the man is blessed with the enthusiasm for life more associated with a fresh-faced kid. His passion for trucking and his truck, is enviable and quite frankly contagious.

It was the16th September 1989, that’s the exact date John got into trucking.

He was twenty- two years old, he’d already served four years in active duty for his country in the US Airforce and would continue for four more.

Whilst still on-call he had completed a sixteen-week truck driver school and took up a job with Calex hauling through New England, Florida, Texas and California for Calex’s major customer ToysRus. I was serious at the start when I said he was motivated by the movies, “I watched Smokey and the Bandit” John confesses “I already had the Tranz Am, I loved driving and always wanted to be a NASCAR driver. I figured since that was out of reach I’d become a truck driver.”

For eleven years John was a loyal company man, the irony wasn’t lost on me that John the “big kid” learnt the ropes hauling kids toys throughout the entire United States. It was an unfortunate event that eventually led to John branching out. When John’s close friends lost their son in a car accident in 1999 they approached John about becoming his own boss.

The combination of their assistance and John’s insatiable ‘can do’ attitude meant the decision was made to take the plunge.

He openly admits “I learned hard, I made mistakes, plenty of them, but I never made the same mistake twice.”

It was this outlook that kept the wheels turning and the fuel tanks full.

John’s first truck was a 1995 W900L Kenworth with what was known as a True 72’ Sleeper, which was actually an 86’ sleeper. Don’t ask me how that works I’m still trying to understand how they deep fry bubble gum… yeah you read that right.

Back to John, his W900L served him faithfully until July 2013 when any drivers worst fears were realised.

As John was happily cruising along singing country karaoke at full noise, a Chevy Silverado came full noise at John. Police later confirmed the driver was attempting to take his own life.

Whilst the driver failed in his attempt he did manage to hit John hard enough to split the engine and write the truck off. John underwent three months of rehabilitation before he was able to get back to what he loves.

During his rehabilitation John also had the task of replacing his beloved W900L. He managed to find a very tidy, all be it, white 1999 W900L with the 86’ Sleeper. The truck’s 550 CAT motor already had 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometres) and for the next year or so John got himself and his livelihood back on solid ground. In late 2014 he was bailed up by one of his two lovely daughters and asked why he hadn’t painted the truck or blinged it up yet.

John’s response was typical of the man he is “I didn’t want to spend your inheritance” to which his daughter sternly replied, “you’re my dad, you don’t drive junk! Go spend my inheritance. ”Well you don’t have to tell a truck lover twice do you. The truck ended up off the road for two months. One month at the workshop getting a full rebuild front to back, top to bottom and the second month at the paint shop getting repainted in the stunning purple you see now.

The colour choice is also a show of John’s character.

“The previous owner of my first truck’s son liked purple, since he was killed in an automobile accident at 17, I dedicated that truck to him for his family, since his family gave me the opportunity to become an owner operator.”

Now whilst the colour catches your eye in the daytime at night the truck turns into a rolling advertisement for Grand General LED lighting, in case you hadn’t noticed John likes lights.

In fact, he’s a previous winner and multiple placeholder of the night lights competitions at the PKY Truck Championship as well as many other prestigious shows. What isn’t as obvious is the fact John has done most of the lights himself.

When he first went to get a price for the lighting setup he wanted, the $11,000 quote damn near knocked John over, even though his height meant he didn’t have far to fall he still quipped back with “are you nuts or nervous!! All you’ve got to do is drill holes and connect the wires!”

The lighting people retorted with “if it’s that easy, you do it!” So, he did.

With only high school electronics under his belt John dived into the task.

Spending 88hrs of wiring and 34hrs of fabricating you can see why he wins trophies around the country.

So, in the five years John’s had his second big purple Kenworth, he’s now taken the truck up to 2.6 million miles (4.2 million kilometres).

His route takes him from Wisconsin to California and all the way back to New York. Everywhere he turns up though the pride in his job is evident by the smile on his face and the shine on his truck.

“You’re not going to get rich, but I live a comfortable life.”

John admits when I ask about life as a truckie in the USA, “I love my job, I get to go from different parts of the country, there is never a dull boring moment.”

I will finish John’s story with a special shout out. When I first spotted John’s truck, there was a lovely lady hard at work adding the purple lettering to the tyres. That lady was Kim Grimm. Kim is John’s partner, but that’s not all.

Kim is also a fellow truckie as well as a regular writer for Ten-Four magazine.

It was through Kim that introductions were made to John and this story was able to happen. Kim is perfectly matched with John, never have I met two people with such a zest for life, trucks and all things shiny.

So if you ever make it over to the land of liquid cheese, make sure you keep an eye out for this stunning W900L.

You may struggle to see John over the dashboard, but his smile will find you, and Kim will be not far behind, in her own immaculate Kenworth (it’s her Peterbilt in the photos, but she’s since moved to a Kenworth as well).

Thank you very much for the great time, John and Kim.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

Do you know where this truck is today, or have an update on its story? Tell ACT what happened next. We will verify current updates before adding them to the archive.