This massive ’06 Ford F-750 XL Super Duty is owned by Frank Zoglio of Jamestown and is powered by a 300-horsepower Caterpillar 7.2-liter diesel engine. Two gas tanks combine for a range of around 2,500 miles.
The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo
WEST WARWICK Frank Zoglio has always driven big trucks, partly because he grew up with them in the family business and partly because he is an avid outdoorsman.
Two years ago he bought a 2006 Ford F-750 XL Super Duty truck from Truck Customs by Chris, a Georgia-based company that customizes large trucks that is owned by Chris Walker.
“It’s got so much stuff on it I don’t know where to begin,” Zoglio said during a recent interview. “It’s an incredible machine customized with everything I need.”
Certainly the truck is huge, weighing in at 26,000 pounds (13 tons) with massive 22.5 inch wheels and air brakes. It’s powered by a 300-horsepower Caterpillar 7.2-liter diesel engine with 860 pound-feet of torque and is armed with an Allison 6-speed automatic transmission with double overdrive and air brakes.
Zoglio said the engine has a 500,000-mile warranty and the transmission has a 400,000-mile warranty. He said he used to own a Humvee, but found the 100,000 mile warranty limited.
“After 100,000 miles, the expenses come back at you,” he said.
The cabin is equipped with a screen for a rear view camera and a separate navigation screen. The seats are leather and Zoglio said the ride is smooth, courtesy of air-ride front seats and suspension airbags in the rear of the truck.
He said he has put some 90,000 miles on the truck, driving it all over New England and into Eastern Canada in pursuit of his passions for bird hunting, canoeing and fishing. (He has also taken sporting trips to Cornwall in the southwest of England and to Slovenia.)
He said that the truck has a two-wheel “over the road” drive because the ride is smoother than a four-wheel “off-road” drive.
Zoglio said he gets 12-to-15 miles per gallon, with the two 107-gallon fuel tanks giving him a range of around 2,500 miles. Dual vertical exhaust pipes allow him to drive through four feet of water.
Towing capacity is 15,000 pounds and the payload is 16,000 pounds. Zoglio uses it to haul his canoes and a Ridge Runner he carries for extreme off-road travel. The bed tilts down to load and unload the smaller vehicle.
Zoglio, 62, who is married with two grown children and two grandchildren, grew up in Providence and now lives in Jamestown.
He grew up in the family business, Zoglio Paper Company, a distribution company, learning to drive delivery trucks at a young age.
He said he has always owned big pickups for his personal use, including Dodge and Ford “Dually” trucks, which have a heavier payload than regular pickups and four wheels on the rear axle.
Having sold the family business in 1999, Zoglio said he is basically retired but has a small paper packaging brokering business and retains an office and work schedule.
“You can’t retire and not do anything,” he said.
Zoglio said he fishes for trout and salmon and hunts pheasants, partridge, chukars (Hungarian partridge) and geese.
Indeed, he had just returned from a morning of goose hunting in Portsmouth prior to the interview and was dressed in warm outdoor gear while his black Labrador, Bugsy, lay outside the door to his office.
He said she was tired after the morning’s hunt, in which she had retrieved a couple of birds. He said he and his hunting party had shot four geese and debreasted them for eating later.
“We could have shot more, but we only shoot what we eat,” he said. As a bird hunter, Zoglio said he is conservation-minded and a member of Greenpeace.
Indeed, Chris Walker said he would be contacting Zoglio in the New Year with an offer to upgrade his truck with an HHO package that would convert it to a diesel-hydrogen hybrid.
He said the technology can reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent while increasing horsepower and torque.
“I’ll be e-mailing 900 people,” said Walker from Georgia in a phone interview, adding that he expected Zoglio to be interested because of his concern for conservation.
“Sure, no question,” said Zoglio when asked of his potential interest in such an upgrade, adding that Walker “is always keeping me up on everything.”
Walker said his company customizes around 150 trucks a year, with sales currently split between the United States and overseas.
“Right now we have a truck going to Scotland, another to Argentina, another to Dubai and another to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Walker’s background is in his family’s contracting business. He customized his first truck in 2000 and his upgrades include making the trucks capable of higher speeds on the highway..
He said his customers include athletes (the truck he created for Shaquille O’Neal is featured on his Web site www.f650supertruck.com) and film stars who “use them when they are in the mood,” as well as everyday drivers and outdoorsmen.
Indeed, Zoglio’s truck is modest by comparison to others at the company’s Web site, with some sporting six doors, six fuel tanks and exotic paint jobs.
Zoglio said he used to take regular trips involving both white-water kayaking and canoe camping with a core of about 10 of his former employees.
“I believe in working hard and playing hard,” he said, noting the group would take about six trips a year for 10 years. Nowadays, he said he mostly canoe camps.
Auto Biography tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your car, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put “Auto Biography” in the subject field.
The car doesn’t have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.
