Hollywood came for Apocalypse Manufacturing, a Pompano Beach-based truck customizer that converts Big Jeep, Hammer, Land Rover and more into six-wheeled monsters with names like Hellfire and Bone Saw.
Truck Dynasty is a new reality series that will premiere on Discovery Channel on Tuesday, August 12th at 9pm, putting the operation under the microscope.
Viewers meet celebrities, sports stars and wealthy business leaders who can buy more than $150,000 to buy modified vehicles or modify their trucks.
They will see how the shop crew customize each build to meet the specific needs of customers like Nick “Wrangler” Bishop.
And they will meet energetic families who do everything.
Owner Joe Guttas has a former car dealer who has slammed side hustles for more than a decade towards a multi-million dollar business headquartered in a $10.7 million factory near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Powerline Road.
Gattas’ wife, Ashley Gattas, met her husband in the early days when she was about to lease some empty work bays at the dealership where she worked. Now she manages the company’s books, allowing Gatta and his 80-man crew to focus on the build.
Ashley’s brother, Jerry Eisenband Jr., handles and sometimes sells marketing. He arranged a discovery agreement.
And then there are two veteran salesmen. There are another brother of Ashley, the Frankie Eisen Band of Handlebar Mastachio, and his father Jerry Eisen Band Sr., who boasts to appear in television commercials for his own dealer in the 1980s.
Much of the series revolves around tensions and interactions among this New Jersey family. In a recent interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, joined by Ashley and Jerry, Joe Guttas said explicit language “must stop the water” as the camera was rolling.
Nevertheless, Ashley says, “The insane family dynamics will be extremely enjoyable for America.”
The premiere episode features a scene in which the bishop takes Franky to the Everglades to hunt a snake, so Franky gets a better idea of how to configure a camper. Unfamiliar with outdoor living, Franky travels through trees and disappears into a pool of swamp water.
Bishop and the video crew “didn’t know what was going on,” Bishop told the Saint Sentinel. “There was a moment of silence, but he stood up and continued his trekking. We spotted some water snakes right after he fell.”
The premiere episode will also feature popular reality show chef Gaifieri.
Future shows will highlight trucks built for Shaquille O’Neal and Jay Reno, Jerry said.
Joe said plans for the series have been in progress since 2020. While wearing a mask and having a meeting on Zoom, “Jerry comes over to me and says, ‘These guys pitched TV shows,'” he says.
“They read articles about Sofro Customs (the company’s sales division) in some obscure magazines,” Jerry said.
The producer was Scott Brothers Entertainment, creator of Property Brothers, revolved around a long list of shows on HGTV and other cable channels, as well as a drama about buying tormented properties and renovating old homes.
Filming began in December 2023 and continued until the end of the summer of 2024, Jerry said.
Joe, Ashley and Jerry said they believe that the subsequent episodes follow a plot similar to the premiere. He said the confusion continues as the crew understands how to change vehicles to meet the needs of eccentric buyers.
But they admit that they don’t know what the producers chose to include from all the footage they filmed.
“I haven’t seen every episode,” Joe says. “I don’t know from what everything was captured and you’re actually going to get to the TV.”
The crew not only said they didn’t say what was being presented in the program, but also said they didn’t make any money from participating.
Ashley said, “To be honest, like the whole shoot now, the whole process we went through, so far, we’ve never done it before and if it’s all that, if it can do it, if it leads to more than that, Hallelujah, do you know?”
Exposure from the series can lead to more sales, more orders, and more restructurings. The factory is currently cranking out the vehicle at full capacity, but Joe says he finds a way to expand to meet the additional demand the series is creating.
“If more people know about us for that, it’s an absolute victory.”
Ron Burtibise covers South Florida Sun Sentinel’s business and consumer issues. He can be contacted by email at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or rhurtibise @sunsentinel.com.
Original issue: August 9, 2025 7am EDT
