Austin Kiser drives this 2018 Peterbilt 389, “Midnight Shadow,” for his father’s Rosedale, Virginia-based Greg Kiser Trucking. Austin Kiser showed the rig at the Kenly 95 East Coast Jamboree this month in Kenly, North Carolina.
The small fleet pulls mostly pneumatic tanks and dump trailers locally, hauling cement powder, fertilizer, sand, coal, rock and more. Kiser drives this truck himself, pulling a 2019 Trailstar dump.
Austin Kiser's 2018 Peterbilt 389 picked up the Best Company Truck award at the Kenly 95 East Coast Jamboree.
“I haul out of a rock quarry every day,” he says. “I haul a material called dolomite down to a glass plant pretty local to us, and they mix it with sand, soda ash and other stuff and make glass with it.”
The trailer is a 39-foot with 60-inch sides, which the Kisers had polished when they ordered it. He pulls it on his daily runs and tries to keep it out of the snow in the winter to keep it looking new.
Kiser pulls this 2019 Trailstar daily out of a rock quarry.
Under the truck’s hood is a 550-hp 6NZ Cat with an 18-speed and 3:55 rears.
When the Kisers ordered the truck, it was only one color, which is still the lighter blue of the cab. Rush Peterbilt painted the front fenders and frame the darker blue, which Kiser says is a unique Peterbilt color. A local painter, Elijah Leonard, painted the double-hump fenders on the back of the truck. The engine has been painted to match the exterior.
The truck’s nickname, “Midnight Shadow,” was coined by Kiser’s mother.
“When we first built it, we were trying to think of some name, and she’s like, ‘I think Midnight Shadow because you run a lot of the night and it’s lit up.’”
The truck got its name, "Midnight Shadow," because Kiser tends to run at night a lot and the truck features plenty of lights.
The 6NZ Cat is painted to match the frame and fenders in Peterbilt's Legendary Blue color.
In addition to the numerous exterior improvements, the Kisers also redid the interior of the truck.
