This Is World's First Fan-Built Optimus Prime Truck

A dedicated father with no mechanical training has manufactured the world’s first fan-built Optimus Prime truck. Back in the summer of 2016, 36-year-old Joe Fiduccia worked day and night recreating the giant full-size replica that weighs around 21,000lbs. Optimus Prime is one of the most renowned characters to hit our screens from the hugely successful Transformers franchise that has taken more than 4 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. And being the determined father that he is, Joe from Monroe County, Pennsylvania, managed to produce this impeccable replica in order to inspire his 10-year-old son that anything is possible.

Joe says that this is the only fan-built replica and the other two trucks are owned by Paramount. He also adds that the inspiration behind this truck was his son because he loves the Transformers movies as much as his dad does. Why Optimus Prime? Because he is the character that has strong morals, strong ethics. He is always making sure everyone is okay. Before he could start any work on the vehicle, Joe chose to get permission from Hasbro – the toy company that owns the Transformers products. Of course, they got the approval and from the time he got Hasbro’s permission, to the time that Optimus was out on the road, it was about a year.

In addition to weighing a colossal 21,000lbs, the spectacular truck is around 30ft long and 12ft wide. And that means another tough job for Joe - the cleaning. “Unfortunately, there is no car wash big enough to take Optimus Prime,” he said.

“You know, I couldn’t have built Optimus Prime without the full support of my family. It makes a big difference when you go up to somebody and you tell them no matter what’s going on in your life, no matter how impossible something seems, whether you are a kid or grown adult don’t ever be afraid to try. Don’t ever be afraid to pursue what seems impossible. Because you never know, one day, you could be behind the driver seat of Optimus Prime.” - Joe says. His words are a real motivation to us all.

This is the only fan-built replica that’s out there, there’s only two other trucks like it, and those are trucks who are owned by Paramount. Meet Joe Fiduccia from Monroe County, Pennsylvania, the owner of world’s first fan-built Optimus Prime truck from Transformers, the Age of Extinction. The thirty-six-year-old father has rebuilt a full-size replica of one of the most renowned vehicles from the Transformer movies.

Many of you know that Transformers has fast become one of the biggest franchises in the world. In the 80s he was the leader of the autobots, he still is leader of the autobots. He is the character who has the strong morals, with strong ethics, he’s always looking after the little guy, making sure that everybody else is taken care of. However, that wasn’t the main reason why Joe decided to build the giant replica.

Namely, the inspiration behind this truck was from his son. Apparently Ryan loves the transformers just as much as his father does. He probably has hundreds of characters in his room and to be able to build something like this for him, one might have a strong motive! This inspired father-of-the-year got onto it right away! With the help of close friends and external parties, Joe worked tirelessly day and night to complete the job and own the world’s first fan-built replica.

Given its size, you can only image the work it takes to wash this baby clean. Of course, there is no car-wash big enough to take Optimus Prime through, so washing this massive vehicle is the full-time job in itself, which takes approximately 5 hours. The truck alone has a Detroit DD 15 motor in it, it’s a standard Detroit motor, no fabrications or modifications have been done to it. Optimus has maxed out at 65 mph, it can’t go any faster than that!

The paint skin it’s quite intense, he’s got the red and blue warrior colors on it, and it also has a bunch of autobot logos all over it. The central piece autobot was a solid block of aluminum which was custom-cut to fit the contours of the hood, and that was actually one of the most complicated pieces they had to make! Nonetheless, the end result was definitely worth it!