Nothing in hot rodding is ever “cheap”, right? How many of us have started with “free” cars only to sink huge sums of money into them to make ’em what we want. If you take things to the next level where you are competing whether it be racing or showing, things get even more insane, right? The world of custom show big rigs has its own level of mania and you can see it right here in this massive hunk of yellow. This is a custom Caterpillar 3406 show truck engine and it is on eBay right now for the princely sum of $72,000. Yes, $72,000.

The engine has been completely rebuilt and warmed up some with a combo that will produce 700hp according to the builders. Beyond the machine work and the actual engine construction stuff is the level of detail they go into for show purposes. Everything has been painted and cleared, there’s braided lines running all over the place, stuff that could not be polished was Jet-Hot coated, there are custom pulleys on the front of the engine, and lots more.

Unlike engines in really crazy show cars that may never actually run, this thing is built so you can haul hogs or Christmas trees up mountain grades and then show it off on the weekends. If there is ever such thing as a “handsome brute” this one may well be it.

So yes, spun aluminum tank and all this thing is pretty awesome and would look really good in the nose of the big rig brand of your choice. Me? I’d like to see it tucked in an old 1980s Peterbilt 379.

CLICK TO SEE THIS INCREDIBLE CATERPILLAR 3406 SHOW TRUCK ENGINE