A parking lot at a heavy-duty truck dealership in Horizon City transformed into a glowing showcase of custom rigs this weekend, as builders from across the borderland region rolled in their vehicles for a two-day gathering called Chuco Rig Down. The free event, open to the public, ran from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and continued Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at MHC Kenworth, drawing custom trucks, semi-trucks, and cars for display alongside an evening LED light show and a competition for bragging rights.
The event was hosted at MHC Kenworth in Horizon City, according to KVIA, with organizer Luke Cole, an MHC branch manager and car enthusiast, saying the event was put together for community engagement. Cole shared that he plans to pass on his car-building passion to future generations, a tradition he already shares with his own two children. The station reports his proudest build is a restoration project on a 1969 Ford F-100 that he bought from a friend's father, a vehicle his family has invested heavily in restoring.
A Father-Son Bond Built On Cars
Among the attendees was Daniel Garcia, a car enthusiast and mechanic who has been passionate about cars since a young age and now shares that passion with his son. Garcia told the station that bonding with his son over cars feels amazing, and that starting a new car project and completing its building process is exciting. Cole echoed that sentiment in his own remarks to the outlet, describing the completion of a vehicle project as something special that provides real satisfaction.
Cole explained that a vehicle project typically begins with a vision and is materialized piece by piece, though he noted that a builder's vision can change along the way as the project develops. He said car building allows him to highlight the time, money, and effort invested in a vehicle, a philosophy that seemed to resonate with the broader crowd of builders and hobbyists who turned out for the show.
Custom Lighting Meets the Open Road's Limits
Custom vehicle light fixtures were installed on every part of many vehicles at the show, feeding into the event's signature evening LED light show. Off-road dealership lots like MHC Kenworth's give builders a rare venue to demonstrate full LED setups that would otherwise run into legal trouble on public streets. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 547.305, non-emergency vehicles on public roads are barred from using flashing red or blue lights or projecting beams brighter than 300 candlepower directly onto roadways, making a private dealership lot one of the few places builders can show off their full lighting rigs without restriction.
The gathering also drew an international guest: Sophia Santos, a special guest from Guatemala who races a semi-truck in quarter-mile heavy-rig drag competitions generating over 1,000 horsepower. Santos, who competes with Team Guate across Guatemala and Mexico according to her own social media posts, had her appearance highlighted by KVIA's reporting as demonstrating just how far the reach of the car community extends beyond the borderland.
Regional Roots and a Multi-State Turnout
The event's name nods to El Paso's historical nickname, El Chuco, a term that traces back to the Pachuco zoot-suit culture of the 1930s and 1940s that helped birth the region's custom automotive and lowrider traditions, according to Texas Highways. That heritage of post-World War II vehicle modification and community car clubs still runs through events like this one. Regional clubs embraced that legacy directly, with C10 Club New Mexico organizing a convoy from Las Cruces to roll into the Horizon City show together, according to a post shared in the club's Facebook group.
Local food vendors also joined the two-day gathering, including the Tijuana-style mobile kitchen Tacos El Mora, which served attendees over the weekend per a post on the vendor's Facebook page. The turnout reflects Horizon City's position along Interstate 10 in far East El Paso County, a rapidly growing municipality that has seen significant commercial and residential development, as previously reported by Hoodline.
A Dealership Built for Heavy-Duty Trade
MHC Kenworth's Gateway Boulevard facility sits along the I-10 corridor, a primary East-West commercial freight route connecting international trade ports across the U.S.-Mexico border, a location that anchors the dealership within the region's commercial trucking economy. The dealership is part of Murphy-Hoffman Company, North America's largest privately owned heavy-duty truck dealership network, operating more than 120 locations across 19 states. In 2025, Kenworth named the company its North American Parts and Service Dealer of the Year after all 76 of its full-service locations earned PremierCare Gold status.
That commercial pedigree gave Chuco Rig Down an unusual backdrop: a working dealership that ordinarily serves fleets and owner-operators turned, for one weekend, into a stage for restoration hobbyists, weekend builders, and a champion drag racer from Guatemala. Custom rig shows like this one, which blend commercial vehicle displays with evening light exhibitions and competitive judging, have become a way across the Southwest to connect working truck drivers with the hobbyist builders who share their love of the road.
