In this episode of Trucker Talk Radio, Erica Felton, national accounts manager at First Gear Inc, joins Justin for a deep dive into the world of officially licensed diecast truck replicas. Erica traces her path from selling lab equipment to working at Hirschbach Motor Lines in Dubuque, Iowa, and finally landing at First Gear, where she has spent nearly a decade helping trucking companies, OEMs, and brands turn their fleets into detailed miniature replicas. She breaks down how custom runs work, from receiving OEM CAD files and scaling them to size, to in-house graphic design, tooling, and mass production, and why she pushes customers to plan for a six-month lead time on fully custom builds.
Erica walks through First Gear's full product lineup, including the Big Rigs series for show trucks, the Fallen Flags line honoring carriers that are no longer operating, the Legacy Series celebrating decades-long milestones, and the highly anticipated Kenworth W900 Legacy Edition box set, a first-of-its-kind limited run of 1,000 sets. She explains why 1:64 scale has become the dominant size in the collector market, how officially licensed CAD files from PACCAR and Mack set First Gear apart from cheap knockoffs, and what makes certain trucks, like serialized ABF retiree models or the cult-classic Maximum Overdrive truck, command prices well above retail on the secondary market.
The conversation also covers the business case for diecast as a promotional tool. Erica makes the argument that unlike tumblers or branded hats, a custom diecast replica ends up on a customer's desk or in a lobby display case, functioning as a long-term miniature billboard that sparks conversation for years. She shares how carriers have used custom runs for driver appreciation, anniversary milestones, and customer gifting, and how companies ordering at scale can include serialization certificates, custom boxes, and trading cards to elevate the package.
Justin and Erica close out with a look at the collector market for newcomers, including how to use First Gear's annual guidebook, find dealers through the website locator, and spot rare pieces worth adding to a collection. They also touch on the younger generation picking up the hobby, the parallel between the trucking industry's driver pipeline challenge and other industries facing the same workforce gap, and how diecast trucks at a young age might just be the spark that gets the next generation interested in a trucking career.
Chapters
0:05 Intro
1:00 Erica's Path to First Gear
1:44 Growing Up with Ertl and Diecast
2:10 Custom Replicas as Advertising
3:42 What Erica Does as National Accounts Manager
4:10 Product Lines: Big Rigs, Fallen Flags, Legacy Series
7:33 How Big Is the Commercial Truck Market?
8:20 OEM Partnerships and the Kenworth Legacy Edition
9:45 How Diecast Trucks Are Made
15:34 How Limited Edition Numbers Are Set
18:17 The Collector's Market Explained
20:17 Finding Dealers, Shows, and the Guidebook
23:59 What Makes a Truck More Collectible?
24:44 ABF, Cheetos, and Cult Classics
27:21 Why 1:64 Scale Won the Market
29:24 Volume and Production Scale
32:07 Ready App Truck Giveaway Campaign
33:34 Serialization and Custom Packaging
35:47 Diecast as Long-Term Promotional Value
37:30 Younger Collectors and the Next Generation
40:08 Trucking's Importance and Autonomous Trucks
41:49 What's Coming from First Gear
43:14 Erica's Favorite Truck She's Produced
44:35 Dream Brand Partnership
47:00 How to Connect with First Gear
48:42 Outro and Sponsor Messages
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phone: 563-690-1257
Website: https://firstgearinc.com
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