GARDINER (AP) – After three months in the shop, the rig in which long-haul trucker Jeff Crane transports valuable items around the country has a stylish new look and a new name, all thanks to a television show.

The 1999 Freightliner tractor-trailer, now dubbed the “Ice Breaker,” is bigger and has a customized interior and a new paint job that features icebergs airbrushed around a blue background.

Inside, new amenities include a queen-size bed, an electric fireplace, a small kitchen area, a flat-screen TV with surround-sound speakers and cab seats upholstered in leather.

Crane, of Gardiner, first became aware of the motorized makeover when he was ambushed by a camera crew in the parking lot of a Missouri truck stop.

“A guy came up to me and said, I’m taking your truck,’ ” Crane said. “I said, No, you’re not.’ Then he explained he was with the show Trick My Truck’ and that my son had written a letter and recommended me for the show.”

Mark Coloumbe, Crane’s son, contacted the popular Country Music Television show to nominate his father as a deserving recipient of a “tricked-out” truck.

Coulombe said his mother was unable to join his dad on the road as much as she wanted to because the truck’s bunk was too small.

“Trick My Truck” – a “Pimp My Ride” for the country-music set – selected Crane to be profiled on the show. Its producers loaned him a low-mileage truck so he could continue working while his rig was being revamped.

Crane, an owner-operator, has been hauling for Mayflower Transit for 30 years, moving anything from Smithsonian Institute diamond exhibits to NASA equipment and other highly sensitive items.

He also transports refrigerated medical supplies used in research in such areas as cancer and DNA. A special generator powers freezers capable of storing items at minus-80 degrees Celsius.

The Cranes said they were “totally shocked” when they got the truck back from Chrome Shop Mafia in Joplin, Mo.

“I was completely blown over when I saw it,” said Crane’s wife, Jackie, who now looks forward to months on the road alongside her husband. “I even cried, and I’m not a crier.”

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/

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