Music pounds from the speakers and LED lights ripple across the customized cabs at a “truck party” hosted by proud Thai drivers showing off their lorries with swag.
They own 20-wheeler behemoths that turn heads on the road with lurid graphics and paint-jobs of everything from unicorns to Transformers and Disney characters on their cabs and trailers — while large Michelin Man dolls often add to the visual assault.
Thailand is a major logistics hub and long-haul truck routes connect goods from Myanmar and Laos to the North, Cambodia to the east, to Bangkok and Malaysia to the south.
Like their South Asian peers, Thai truck owners are enthralled by decorous vehicles — with new designs spinning out across social media and the best artists charging up to US$1,600 (about THB50,000) for their work.
“These trucks are used in real life,” said Teerasak Inklom, while controlling the state-of-the-art sound system on his heavily decorated 10-wheeler at the party in a usually quiet field in Rayong, on Thailand’s eastern seaboard.
“The relationships it creates can also be useful when you have accidents or technical issues on the roads,” he added, of a job that is often lonely and prone to being targeted by criminals in remote areas.
“These friends can help.”
Michelin mania
At a vast warehouse near Bangkok, dozens of workers cut stickers and spray designs onto trucks ranging from traditional flower patterns to the Japanese robot anime craze Gundam.
The warehouse belongs to Sirintra Phichitphajongkit, managing director of Soonchai Industry, one of Thailand’s largest truck assemblers that has recently devoted one section to painting the trucks.
“I think it’s about psychology” Sirintra told AFP.
When the trucks are “nicely decorated, drivers are motivated to be extra careful and not to leave any scratches on them.”
Thailand’s lavish vehicle decoration originated with bus paintings — and the Michelin Man.
The tubby white mascot known as “Bonhomme Michelin” in French are given by the Lyon-based tire company to customers who buy a certain number of tires.
Many drivers say they then use the figurines for decoration as a way to show off their wealth.
But truckers today are adding wackier local designs to the mix and installing accessories like loudspeakers and extra wing mirrors.
Though decorating vehicles is prohibited by Thai law for safety reasons, drivers most get away with small fines and sympathy from admiring police officers.
Saddam and Che
That wasn’t always the case.
The community was long perceived as led by shadowy, drug-ridden machos who idolize “bad boy” icons from Che Guevara to Saddam Hussein with stickers on the sides of trucks.
“That reflected the tough guy lifestyle of people who endure long drives on the roads,” said Suphot Saengow, leader of The Artistic Mind Truckers Club of Thailand.
“I think now we look more polished and friendly.”
That is certainly the case for Wichukorn Wongdara as he drives a bright green truck carrying rocks from an out-of-town quarry destined for a Bangkok construction site.
The unicorn on his truck — designed by his daughter — aims to attract admiring eyes and deter thieves, who sometimes siphon off fuel from parked trucks.
“It’s been a dream to create my own fancy truck,” Wichukorn told AFP.
“What do I get out of it? I get the feeling of pride when people come to look at my trucks and praise how beautiful they are.”
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