1999 Ford F-350

Behind the scenes in the making of the movie Jaws, things didn't go well at all. Among other problems during filming, the mechanical Great White shark, dubbed "Bruce" by director Steven Spielberg's hard-pressed special-effects crew, encountered numerous technical difficulties.

Similarly, Sean Porter ran into a few of his own snags building up his "Great White," a '99 1/2 Ford F-350 that features nearly as many mechanical tricks as Spielberg's monster. The buildup didn't come cheap in getting an older 7.3L to perform as well as a Cummins or Duramax. How much dough are we talking about here?

"I'm sure around $200,000-no bull," Sean insists. "After putting on stuff, trying things, yeah, $200,000 for sure." What's impressive is that he did everything himself, from suspension to motor work to paint and body-all of it, with no professional shops lending a hand (although he does work for ATS Diesel, so he has quite a few resources to draw from). What makes him so self-reliant?

"I grew up always wanting to be the only one to work on my stuff so I would have only myself to blame if something went wrong." While many diesel enthusiasts have learned from the school of hard knocks, Sean just might be a star pupil.

"I've built three motors for Great White over the years to keep the shark out there," he admits, underscoring to his passion for sled pulls and diesel drags. Even though his rig is mostly for competition, "it's still licensed and insured for the street, and it still has the original engine blockin it."