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Mini Semi Has A Sleeper Cab
"I built it to look like a 1988 Peterbilt and call it my Mini-Pete camper special. It gets noticed right away wherever it goes," says Mike Korzan of Prior Lake, Minn., about the home-built mini semi that he built around a Chevrolet 1-ton extended cab pickup. His friend Dallas Denison helped him build it.
    The doors are off a Freightliner cab-over semi truck. Features include air horns, air ride seats, dual CB radio antennaes, chrome alloy wheels, a pair of stainless steel exhaust pipes, a chrome bumper, and a TV inside the custom upholstered sleeper cab. Power is supplied by the pickup's 6.5-liter diesel engine and 5-speed transmission,
    The cab still has the pickup's original dash, firewall, air conditioner, and pedals. Both the cab and hood were built out of 1-in. sq. tubing with 18-ga. sheet metal riveted on. The sleeper measures 4 ft. long by 80 in. wide and has a 2-ft. wide bunk.
    He built the grille out of 10-ga. steel, with vertical tubing with 1/4-in. dia. rods set horizontally through the tubes.
    "I drive it to a lot of bluegrass festivals and car shows and pull a fifth wheel camper behind it. It's a super camper puller," says Korzan. "I can bunk down in the sleeper cab whenever I need rest. I came up with the idea because I drove a truck for 25 years over the road and always liked Peterbuilts.
    "I had built four other mini sleepers, which were much smaller, before I built this model. Two of them were built on Datsun pickup frames, and the other two on Chevy pickup frames."
    The mini sleeper has air bag suspension on the tandem axles, controlled by an onboard compressor. Only the middle axle drives. "If I'm on uneven ground I can let air out of the bags on the tag axle right from the cab. That way the drive axle has all the traction so I won't get hung up," says Korzan
    He outfitted the stainless steel exhaust pipes with homemade heat shields that have little holes in them to keep anyone from getting burned.    The windshield is made out of safety glass and was custom cut by a window shop.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Korzan, 6635 E. 170th St., Prior Lake, Minn. 55372 (ph 952 447-5030 or 612 685-1186).


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2007 - Volume #31, Issue #4