Built by: TRUX Accessories | Written by: Josh Foster

Truck drivers love to see a decked out show truck. Other drivers can see the creativity, as well as the off-the-cuff ideas we use. Then they take that inspiration home with them and use it to make their own ride a little more custom. At TRUX Accessories we strive to be more creative with each build, and hopefully inspire the next guy to be a little more original with his customization. At TRUX we live by the mantra “BE ORIGINAL.” You’ll see this emblazoned across our packaging, our website, our business cards, and every show truck we build; Code Blue is no exception.

Code Blue started as a working truck from Pennsylvania, owned by my friend Scott George. He hauled gravel and other dry bulk products with a dump trailer all over the Pennsylvanian mountains, as well as up and down the east coast. Scott had decided to retire his flat top and get something with a little more space. I just knew that a flat top curved glass W900L would be the perfect follow up to our successful Purple Haze, which was the truck we built in 2018.

After taking the truck back to Arkansas to begin the low rider transformation on Code Blue, we decided to add 10″ of frame to maximize our wheelbase at 272″ (we had to stay under 31’ total length for the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville). We also decided to install late model flex air suspension to make it a better ride. Since we had the truck cut in half and taken apart, we decided to go ahead and add the unibilt sleeper ring, so that the seats could move back enough to make room for the big guy!

We knew all along that we would be doing a low rider theme to follow up on the success of Purple Haze, but we certainly didn’t want to just change the color and copy the Haze truck. After all, our mantra is “BE ORIGINAL.” So that’s where our good friends at White Trash Customs from Fredericktown, Missouri came into play. I told Dave Couch at WTC what our color choice was going to be, plus our goal so he could map out the beautiful paint job. In just a few days, we had what would become the wildest build to date for TRUX Accessories.

Dave used a candy blue paint with little bits of darker blues added. Coats of candy blue were applied all over a silver flake metallic base coat. The frame is a glass prism over black, and the prism colors change depending on the angle of the sunlight. The frame paint is a crowd favorite; people are amazed by the infinite color shifting effect.

With a hot rod like this we knew that the stock Kenworth hood wasn’t going to be the statement piece we were looking for. So, once again, we outsourced the work to the best in the business: Dave Jones at Jones Performance. I told Jones it needed hot rod scoops, a cowl induction, and model headlight holes. After years of admiring the work that Jones does I should’ve been more prepared, but the finished product blew me away and continues to impress onlookers at every show we attend. Jones built the one-piece hood with all its custom touches in a very short time, and we couldn’t be happier with the finished product.

A custom truck couldn’t be custom without some custom stainless, so we had our friends at Aranda Truck fab the panels, visor, and bumper with a double layered backlit design and arched scallops all over. The stainless work on this truck is second to none and draws attention all over the country.

The lighting on Code Blue is all dual revolution TRUX Accessories lighting. Today we take for granted our color changing lights, multifunction work lights, and amazing technological tricks that we have built into many of our products. But Code Blue is here to remind us how cool these products really are, and how much fun we can have with our show trucks. We’re all just big kids; our toys are just more expensive and shine a little bit brighter. All the marker lights, cab lights, 4-inch, and watermelon lights (over 400 in total!) are all capable of being used in a DOT legal form and color but can be easily switched to a brilliant blue for the maximum “Code Blue effect.” Every panel is backlit with the all new TRUX glow series strip light, also in blue. To light the ground around the truck, we used blue strips inside the air cleaners, all around the interior, on the fuel tank straps, and around the air cleaner lids, as well as under the deck plates. You could say that this is over the top, but in a dark parking lot, it’s the shining light of originality telling everyone to buy TRUX Accessories at your local Iowa 80 Group chrome shop.

TRUX also uses the show trucks as a way to promote newly developed prototypes. That’s the case with one of the biggest design elements of the Code Blue, our all new molded tail light series (coming soon). The rear of Code Blue is lit up with an amazing 3-piece panel set with modeled tail lights that wrap around the corners, giving the ultimate in stop tail turn and reverse technology that would look more at home on an Italian sports car than on a semi-truck. Our new tail light series is bringing the TRUX “BE ORIGINAL” sentiment to the masses with a truly original design for the future of truck lighting. Be sure to follow TRUX and Iowa80.com on social media to keep up to date with the final release date for these exciting parts.

While TRUX is certainly the leader in originality we also know how to kick it old school when we need to. With our retro series headlight set you can have that wicked old-school model look without sacrificing the incredible optics of a top shelf LED headlight. What’s a classic show truck without straight stacks? The 8-inch TRUX pipes on Code Blue are our stock pipes that we have always offered at great prices through any of our dealers. We are working hard to introduce Kenworth elbows this year, along with our already successful Peterbilt exhaust line. We are also adding several new and exciting exhaust products that are sure to catch the eye of even the most old-school driver out there.

TRUX is known for lighting but we’re also one of the largest fender suppliers in the country. All our show trucks focus on our stainless steel fenders. For Code Blue, we decided to use our least expensive single axle fenders and “roll” them forward to look more like a custom quarter fender set. The fenders have gotten a lot of attention at shows and people are shocked when we tell them that the fenders are not custom and can be purchased anywhere that TRUX Accessories are sold.

Other TRUX parts on Code Blue include Kenworth battery and tool box covers, TRUX pointed axle covers, TRUX door window shades, TRUX mirrors & mirror visors, among other stylish parts.

We hope you enjoy Code Blue as much as we enjoyed building it for you. If you see us on the road between shows, be sure to give us a shout on the radio. Follow us on social media and see #codebluekw to keep up with where we are and what’s going on with our crazy little show truck!

Follow Josh on Instagram: chromejunkie

Too see more pictures of Purple Haze and Code Blue CLICK HERE to view our album on Facebook.