Hitting the road in a style all his own

When it comes time for Ryan Danylchuk to hit the road in his semi-trailer tractor, he likes to do it in style.

The 23-year-old Tuxedo resident is the proud owner of a unique rig that has been remodeled as a hotrod.

The truck, valued at $300,000, has $80,000 worth of upgrades including: a candy purple and crushed orange paint job; suicide doors with automatic releases; strapless gas tanks; hardwood flooring; button tuck upholstery; a 650 horse power engine; and all the chrome you could ever imagine.

So how does a 23-year-old trucker afford this kind of luxury?

“I worked for about two-and-a-half years and my mom saved my money,” says Danylchuk, who estimates that he puts on 12,000 to 15,000 miles every month, trucking all across North America.

“I just love driving. Once you hit the road you just keep givin’ ’er,” Ryan said.

Although Danylchuk says his hotrod semi is “more of a toy than a work truck,” he still uses it to haul in the summer.

“I gotta work it. If it just sat here all the time, no one would see it,” Danylchuk said.

Danylchuk and his rig have enjoyed remarkable success at a number of recent truck shows. He recently claimed the best in show award at a truck show in Las Vegas. He also won a $10,000 prize for best in show at the Shell Rotella SuperRigs competition in Iowa.

The biggest honour will come this summer when Danylchuk travels to Dallas, Texas to an invite-only truck show at the Peterbilt factory.

“It’s invite-only and you can only do it once in your life,” Danylchuk said. “I think I’ll be the second person in Canada to ever go.”

Danylchuk credits his parents with helping him along the road to realize his dream of a hotrod semi.

“I wouldn’t have been half-done if it wasn’t for them,” he said.

Danylchuk’s father, Bruce, owns EBD Enterprises, and originally bought his son the rig when it was just a regular Peterbuilt semi.

Since then, the semi has undergone one complete overhaul and several upgrades to make it the truck it is today.

“At one point all it was was two frame rails sitting in a garage,” said Danylchuk, who was only 15 when his dad bought him the semi.

Randy Viskup, a mechanic at EBD, did most of the work on the truck, which included major body work and an all-new engine and transmission.

When he first started work on the semi, there was “no engine, no transmission, no wheels, no cab,” Viskup said.

After two years WORK, he successfully brought Danylchuk’s vision to life.

“We extended it five-and-a-half feet, and we lowered it about four inches,” Viskup said.

“I built a custom bumper that goes up and down with hydraulics. We stretched the hood out and redid all the interior. The only thing I didn’t do was the paint job.”

Danylchuk already has more plans to improve his ride.

“We’re going to put some crazy flames on the side and new stacks,” he said.

While Danylchuk doesn’t mind cruising around the country in style, he hopes to one day run his dad’s business.

“I’m going to keep trucking for a couple years, and then help my dad run the company,” he said.