Hooray for Hollywood! Freightliner Argosy 10-Ton Grip Truck

RoninUtah · 2025-09-15T17:25:24Z

I lived in Southern California for a while a few years ago, where the entertainment industry is king. Film productions were a ubiquitous sight, and they always seemed like a big deal, blocking streets and sidewalks with crew, cables running everywhere, and fleets of specialized equipment and vehicles.

I was always impressed with those vehicles; always meticulously clean, equipped with lots of shiny polished aluminum, belly boxes, and giant lift gates at the back. The biggest were full-sized Class 8 trucks, somehow seeming massively overpowered for their little box-truck bodies. A surprising number were older cabovers, usually Freightliner FLBs and Argosies, with an occasional Peterbilt 362 or “Darth Vader” 372.

This build represents a typical one of these, from Universal Studios Transportation Department. It’s technically referred to as a “10-ton” truck in the industry, although the GVW is obviously much greater. It could be a grip truck, a camera truck or an electrical truck, equipped with a pintle hook to pull a generator. The cab is a first-generation Freightliner Argosy from A&N, the chassis is bashed from the parts box (since I knew it couldn’t be seen) and the truck body is cut down from a Moebius smooth side trailer. I scratchbuilt the belly boxes and side door, and the brilliant @Jürgen generously designed the lift gate from a couple of photos I gave him, and as usual for his designs, it printed perfectly, fit correctly and looks great. Thank you, Jürgen!