During his daily commute to work, Bond just happened to pass a 1972 Kenworth Cab Over sitting idle on a farm for an extended time. No for sale sign. Just sitting, rusting.
That social media post went viral. Fans from all over the world wanted to see an 'original' Optimus Prime replica. Bond contacted Fiduccia and explained how he, too, was interested in making it happen. The only difference, Bond was willing to take that leap of faith...putting up the money and purchasing it a few months later.
"I saw this truck sitting out there everyday on the way to work. Finally the guy was sitting out one day and I asked him if he wanted to sell it," explains Bond.
While Bond is still uncertain exactly which Optimus Prime he plans on replicating, he seems to be leaning towards the Marmon version...made popular in the 2014 cinematic film
Transformers: Age of Extinction. He acknowledges that his truck is not a mirror image to the Marmon, but still plans on pursuing that style anyway.
"It's a very tough decision. We tried letting the fans pick, and the fans are all over the place. Pretty much whichever way it starts going...it starts going. But it's a budget build and we're doing the best we can", Bond says.
Bond readily admits the project is much more complicated than he expected. The truck has been towed from shop to shop while Bond gets the runaround from mechanics who promise to work on it but don't deliver. Shane eventually decided to bring it back home and do some of the work himself.
As of the date this article was written, his truck was residing at a friend's home who works on it from time to time. In 2018, he was able to get in running and shifting under it's own power. But a lot of mechanical and body work still remained. Here are some photos of it's current condition:
