A Classy American Gem: Mike and Judy Oliver’s Peterbilt 388

Words by Anthony John-Pier. Photography by C5 Photography.

One of the most striking Peterbilts ACT found in Issue 2 was not living a sheltered show-truck life. Mike and Judy Oliver’s Peterbilt 388 was based in Cloncurry and built to work in the outback.

It had left the Peterbilt factory at Denton, Texas, as a plain green truck with a red chassis. By the time ACT photographed it, it wore a vivid green, purple and silver paint scheme, extensive lighting and polished stainless steel.

A Peterbilt connection going back decades

Mike Oliver’s connection with the badge went back to 1961, when he drove an imported three-quarter cab Peterbilt for Pioneer Asphalt in Townsville. That truck had a 250 hp Cummins, a 4×4 transmission and aluminium chassis rails.

The 388 was a very different proposition: a 72-inch sleeper, 6.8-metre wheelbase and a final price the Olivers put at well over half a million dollars.

“We wanted something really nice,” Mike told ACT, “but I didn’t think that we would go the expense that we did.”

Designed by the family

Judy and their son Allan developed the paint scheme. Rod Tickle of East Coast Airbrushing on the Gold Coast then spent more than two weeks turning it into the finished artwork.

American Truckworks in Adelaide imported the truck and converted the cab to right-hand drive. Hundreds of lights, stainless work and paint went into a build that took about five months.

Built to pull road trains

The Olivers operated a small but versatile fleet of trucks and equipment from Cloncurry. Their Peterbilt was intended to work with road-train combinations. Allan told ACT it had been pulling triples and would return to quad work.

The specification included a 600 hp Cummins ISX producing 2050 ft lb of torque, an 18-speed 20 Series Autoshift, Dana Spicer axles and Neway rear suspension. A 20,000 lb front axle rode on taper-leaf suspension.

Inside the sleeper were a double bed, television, DVD player, microwave and captain’s chairs that swivelled around. The family also fitted a Haire air-suspension system.

The bush finds weak points

Mike said the truck was beautiful to drive, although there had been teething problems with the Cummins and some stainless work. Outback roads and vibration quickly exposed anything that was not strong enough.

That was part of the appeal of the feature: this was an expensive custom American truck, but it was still being judged by whether it could do the job.

As Mike put it, the family wanted a big American truck that worked — they were simply doing it “with a lot of class”.

ACT archive note: This story describes the truck and the Olivers’ operation as reported in Summer 2013. Specifications, ownership and business details may have changed.