Very Sweet Aluminum Contractor from Pro Tech

Pro-Tech builds one of the nicest aluminum flatbeds on the market. Polish the side rails, add some nice aluminum wheels and you have a decked out truck that gets attention--even on a white truck. I have sold a number of these over the years.

While cruising through the NTEA Work Truck Show last week, I spied this gorgeous contractor put together by Pro-Tech. I'm sure it was put together to show a number of their products, but I would love to stock one exactly like it. Here's some features that I liked:

• The base is the Pro-Tech aluminum flatbed. In this case it appears to be a 10' model. The side rails have been polished (a 1-hour or less job at the dealership with a buffer). It has the tapered headboard of which I think Pro-Tech does a particularly great job on the dimensions and design of.
• It has an aluminum backpack box behind the cab with access all the way through with upper and lower doors as seen in the photo. This box is 24" wide, so this along with the 10' flatbed are a perfect combination on the 84" CA chassis this is shown on.
• On the streetside is a Pro-Tech contractor box with the open top lids. Beautiful and very functional.
• Right behind the contractor box is an underbed box mounted on top with a 3-drawer assembly mounted in it. Doesn't that look hot! Very nice.
• Coming around back is a very nice fold down aluminum gate. I love the design of this gate.
• On the curbside is an aluminum basket. A very thoughtful addition.
• Next is a drop down lid box that is a nice tall one to carry some sizable items.
• Under the bed are some underbed boxes attached to the bottom of the backpack.
• Then there is the HD aluminum forklift loadable rack. (I recommend you ask them to build it with cleats and bolt it on rather than welding it). There is also an aluminum stop at the headboard and screen protecting the cab.

The best part, other than not dealing with rust, paint, peeling and all that maintenance stuff is the fact that the whole package is 40-50% lighter than the steel counterparts. This makes for more fuel efficient operation, and equally important is additional cargo capacity. Pro-Tech is in Vancouver, WA (Portland area) and LaVergne, TN (Nashville area). They also have a distributor network nationwide. Check out their website at www.protech.net.