Stertil-Koni announced that Idaho-based Legacy Classic Trucks – recognized as one of the top vehicle restoration companies in the nation – has selected and is currently using Stertil-Koni heavy-duty lifting systems to give new life to historic vehicles. 

Recently, Legacy Classic Trucks landed a contract for a multi-year restoration project upgrading 33 model-year 1937 White Motor Company Model 706s tour buses. Each of these 80-plus-year-old vehicles will be transformed from gasoline-powered buses into environmentally-friendly hybrid vehicles. 

Explained Legacy CEO Winslow Bent, “By updating the buses to an electric hybrid system, they will have a much lower carbon footprint. Adding regenerative braking will charge the batteries during downhill descents.”

Coincidently, this braking process is much like the Active Energy Retrieval System (AERS) of the Stertil-Koni EARTHLIFT – the “green” Mobile Column Lift – chosen by Bent to assist with the refurbishment project. These portable lifts safely support the iconic buses so specially trained technicians can modernize the fleet. 

Legacy’s four EARTHLIFTs contribute to this precise work performed at the busy shop where a lot is riding on the finished product. Here’s what’s unique about EARTHLIFT:

• Columns made with 98% recyclable components with 100% recyclable batteries.

• Models and Capacities: ST 1085 at 18,500 pounds or ST 1100 at 22,000 pounds.

• Safe mechanical locking system with overload protection and synchronization.

• Powered by AERS, each lift achieves 5% more lifting cycles at maximum lifting load, thus providing up to 50 lifting cycles without recharging.

“Two or three years ago Jay Leno showed me his lifts,” noted Bent. “If I had sucked it up then and spent the money then, I would be ahead of the game. As soon as I went ahead and got the lifts, it was ‘why did I not do this before?’”

Once the Mobile Column Lifts were purchased, Bent and his crew were pleased with the results. “You do heavy work in a transit facility, but in a shop like mine you do heavy and precision work,” said Bent. “The EARTHLIFT is way better than our previous lift. I have expensive trucks, why hoist them on an old immobile two-post? I’m raising vehicles that are irreplaceable.”

With a long list of future projects, Legacy Custom Trucks plans to build its own larger facility near its currently rented shop, and Bent has already set the plans into motion, “We will be ordering more Stertil-Koni Mobile Column Lifts,” said Bent.