By Robert Conrad

The hottest trend in the trucking industry during the past couple of years has been giving new trucks an "old school" look with various customizing techniques. Many owner-operators have gone back to putting custom paint jobs on their trucks using the factory paint designs from the 70's as their guide.  The most recent trend sees many drivers purchasing a quality older truck and restoring it to use on a daily basis. 

Our July Working Show Truck exemplifies the idea of making an older truck work in today's tight economy.  Tony Scinto's 1987 Autocar dump truck is a true working classic and it screams "old school" from the front bumper to the mudflaps.  Tony is 61 years young and has been trucking for over 44 years.  He runs the N.J.-based A. Scinto & Son Trucking and uses his classic Autocar every day to haul loads of asphalt, stone, and dirt.  This truck is a workhorse and with over 385,000 miles on it, and it's one truck that doesn't sit still for very long.

Tony's Autocar has plenty of power to go along with its rugged good looks thanks to a 3406 B CAT engine that's paired with an 8 LL transmission and a set of 55,000 lb. Rockwell rears. The truck has a number of custom features that make it a one-of-a-kind.  Tony has added a custom stainless grille insert along with Peterbilt grille bars. There are polished stainless front fenders along with a custom stainless visor and extra roof horns.  Tony has also changed the air cleaners, added stainless fuel tank straps & steps, and added one foot to the truck's dump body to make it easier to dump asphalt into a paver.  Speaking of the dump body, it is fully polished and you'd never believe it hauls loads of stone and asphalt-but it does!  The "old school" theme even carries down to the rims as Tony runs classic red spoke steel wheels with grey trim rings and chrome caps.  This truck looks like it was teleported to the year 2012 by some kind of trucking time machine!  One thing's for sure, Tony has built a showstopping Autocar and he turns heads on the jobsite as well as at the various truck shows that he likes to attend.

In his 40+ years of trucking, Tony has seen many things and he's had a number of interesting experiences.  He said his most memorable came when he got his first dump truck in 1968.  He was hauling asphalt, and while dumping a load into the paver, he rolled out and accidentally dumped part of the load in front of the paver.  The end result was that the crew had to shovel it back in by hand.  After they finished cleaning up, they told Tony that they realized he was new but his payback was that he had to go get them a case of beer.  He explained that he was only 17 so he couldn't buy the beer.  They wound up getting the beer themselves but Tony had to pay them out of his earnings.  Needless to say, from that day on, he made sure he kept his truck in the paver until all of the asphalt was emptied!

Tony Scinto takes a great deal of pride in his classic Autocar dump truck and it's the perfect combination of power and good looks.  He shows that you certainly don't need a brand new truck to be successful.  In fact, you can look cool running a restored classic like he does.

Congratulations to Tony Scinto for keeping the old days of trucking's roots alive and for being chosen as the Movin' Out July Working Show Truck of the Month.