ATHS Delivers Trucking History at York Expo Center

For those who were around, and fondly remember, the 1970s, the workaday ways of the American trucker became an entertaining element of popular culture. Stories in song, which were once largely relegated to the Country and Western charts, were suddenly mainstream, thanks to artists like The Grateful Dead (Truckin’) C.W. McCall (Convoy) Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama) and Jerry Reed (East Bound and Down.) TV and film quickly followed suit (remember B.J. and the Bear?) Fashion trends embraced the casual, rural flair; and it seemed half the sedans and family wagons on the highway were sporting CB radios.

With interest in trucks and trucking at an all time high during the 1970s, it’s not surprising that a group of individuals turned their headlights onto the past, and established the American Truck Historical Society (ATHS).

Last weekend, the ATHS was in York, PA for its annual National Convention and Truck Show. The premier convention for historical trucks, the show ran from June 6-8 at the York Expo Center.

Incorporated in 1971, the American Truck Historical Society was formed to preserve the history of trucks, the trucking industry, and its pioneers. ATHS began hosting an annual convention in 1972 to educate the public on the profound impact trucking has had on American production and consumerism. With the establishment of the Zoe James Memorial Library in 1977, ATHS positioned itself as the world’s largest historic trucking repository.

Over the years, speakers have shared their experiences and perspectives on the truck restoration community, highlighting the role of nostalgia and tradition in shaping their work… And they have provided details on specific truck models and their features, showcasing their enthusiasm for the hobby. (ATHS website)

Enthusiasm is the key word here, and everyone we spoke with at the show in York shared a passion for trucking, old trucks, and the history of the industry.

Larry Martin, a working trucker from Reinholds, PA, was on hand with wife Lori, and their beautiful 1968 Kenworth.

“I’ve owned it since ‘88,” said Larry. “Tore it apart and redone it the second time completely. It has 5 million miles on it, which for a ‘68 isn’t a lot, but it wasn’t on the road full time. It was down for 10 years the first time I refurbished it. Now, I try to only run it in the summertime.”

Larry told us he got started in trucking in 1985.

“I grew up working in the truck shop, though, and when I was 27, I decided I couldn’t go to them four walls every day. I think I always wanted to go trucking, but I wanted to learn my way around.”

Larry’s Kenworth has a sleeper cab, so we asked if wife Lori ever serves as his co-pilot?

“No, I mainly run local – hauling high concrete and a lot of over-sized loads to North Jersey and D.C. – so I’m home most every night. But Lori joined me for the Reno show last year.”

Having logged more than 40 years in the trucking industry, we wondered what changes in trucking Larry Martin has observed?

“I’d have to say the drivers out there today are different. That’s my biggest problem that I’d want to get ahead of. The respect for each other is not there. I could retire, but my wife’s retiring here in the fall, and maybe we will go do a little bit longer cross-country stuff together. But yeah, it’s just really the respect to drive, and for drivers to watch out for each other. And that really changed in the last 10 years. You know, they started finding drivers wherever; it became go to school for three weeks and you’re a truck driver!

“Back in the day, there was an apprenticeship that you had to kind of go through. For a lot of guys, it’s what they dreampt about doing all their life. There wasn’t no school. You went somewhere and somebody taught you. And you hung around somebody that had a truck, or a trucking company, and that’s how you became a driver. Today, the government says, ‘Here, we’ll put you to school for three weeks, and now you’re a truck driver,’ right? That’s a big difference.”

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Not every truck on hand was as ready for the highway as Larry Martin’s Kenworth. In fact, there were quite a few primer-coated projects scattered about the expo grounds.

John Nikodym, with the Kraft Auction Service, showed a rare, brass-era 1919 Velie. Used in decades past as a work truck in California, the Moline, Illinois-made flatbed is just one of only two 3 ½ ton Velies known to exist (the other is currently on display at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.)

Then, too, there was a sprinkling of military trucks, courtesy of Miroslaw “Mike” Hrycak and his soon-to-open Wheels of Liberation Collection.

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Another former work truck was a 1959 Dodge owned by Ben Kline of Hagerstown, Maryland. Ben was away from the vehicle when we dropped by for a look, but his proud father Gene gave us a brief history of the lumber-yard-truck-turned-Frankenstein-toy.

“This truck came to us from Cockeysville Building Supply, and I’ve got to say it was an ugly old truck. It was so ugly on the outside – they took a faded red truck and brush painted it with white house paint. And believe me: they didn’t miss anything! But the body worked good, so we set a dump body over on the chassis to make a dump truck out of it. We used it for quite a few years that way, and then the Hemi engine in it blew up. So we thought ‘we’ll just switch the body to another chassis.’

“Now, by then my son was in diesel college, and he said he’d like to have that old truck to build up someday. When he got back from diesel college, he priced parts for the Hemi, but I said it’ll cost too much money to build a Hemi that’s diesel powered. So we found a reconditioned Cummins engine, and the works out of the suspension from a Ford. We married current brakes and axles, power steering, and an Allison automatic to it. And then we found an‘08 Dodge dually bed. That way you got a Cummins diesel in a 59 Dodge. The best part is we built it together.

“So it’s a bit of a Frankenstein, but it’s a unique piece that draws a lot of attention. If the boy had $5 for every picture that’s been taken of that truck, he could pay his mortgage off with it.”

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Continuing with the unexpected (and endearing) family affair theme of our many show interviews, we spoke with Ryan Yonish of Bethel Park, PA. Ryan was happy to tell us all about his meticulously restored 1948 Diamond T.

“I just happened to come across it by accident. Ended up paying 1500 bucks for the truck, completely unrestored. It didn’t run, but mostly the bones were good.”

Ryan said he picked the Diamond T up in 2002 – even though he wasn’t looking for one.

“It spent its working life as an old corn truck in Nebraska. I bought it from a guy from Ohio, and we brought it to Pittsburgh. I didn’t have a house yet, and my wife Bobbie and I weren’t even married. So it sat in storage for a year and a half till we bought and remodeled a house. Once that was done, I brought the truck home and started taking it apart; restoring it over the course of the next number of years.”

How did Ryan’s wife feel about him having a second wife in the garage?

“Bobbie was very supportive of the project from the moment I bought the truck. She helped me with lifting up the heavy things or holding pieces in place while I was putting things together; polishing chrome; going with me to get parts, even running out to get parts for me!

“We ended up having two daughters, so we’d put the girls in bed and go up in the garage for an hour at night and work on it. Took about seven or eight years. Did a complete frame-off restoration on it. I did all the mechanic work. My dad did all the metal body work and paint. It was a real labor of love all around and nothing was spared.”

Ryan’s Diamond T may be factory correct mechanically, but he went his own way when it came time to choose the paint.

“Most Diamond Ts were red with a green stripe, but I wanted something different. Minneapolis-Moline Tractor had an orange color I really liked, and I had settled on that. Then I went to a car show and saw this butternut yellow – a 1960s GM color. I saw that color and I’m like, ‘That’s it! That’s the color I’m gonna do for the body.’ For the fenders, I tried a couple of different greens. I ended up with the Ford ‘Bullitt’ Mustang green, and it really goes together well. It’s just a cool truck. I mean, I’ve always liked them since I was a kid, but I’d never actually seen one until I bought the one that I did.”

* * * * *

Ryan was as quick to mention his wife Bobbie by name, as Larry Martin was happy to introduce us to his wife Lori. But all we got from whimsical Kentuckian Byron Fuller was the name “Tammy.”

That’s not to say Byron’s wife doesn’t exist, or that she does not fully support his other love interest. In fact, Byron and his wife bought the 1954 Chevrolet truck they named “Tammy” together.

“I can’t take credit for the restoration of this truck. This is pretty much how it looked when my wife and I bought it 20-some years ago. We’ve just maintained it.

“It’s a 1954 Chevrolet, half ton pickup, 3100 series. It’s not got every option/accessory that was offered in ‘54, but does have a lot of them. You know, back in those days, trucks weren’t usually seen in the suburbs like they are today – as first or second family vehicles. They were primarily used for work, so the colors and options were pretty basic. In 1954, Chevrolet started offering more color options and creature comforts. There were quite a few differences between the ‘54 and everything that was ‘53 and older. Again, in 1954, they were headed toward making the pickup more acceptable as a second vehicle, not such a ‘Get that truck out of the neighborhood!’ eye-sore.

“1954 was the first year they offered a two-tone color option. The radio wasn’t unheard of in the older trucks, but this one has a nice factory radio. It’s also the first year they offered the automatic transmission in the pickup truck, and the first year they offered the optional clock. It still had an inline six-cylinder engine, which some people sneered at, but it was a solid engine. Remember, the early Corvettes also were powered by inline six-cylinder engines. Cadillac and Oldsmobile may have been ahead in the engine department, but then Chevrolet was perceived as more of an economy line.”

Byron wasn’t sure of the exact names in his truck’s eye-catching two-toned color scheme, (we guessed they were Polo White and Skyline Blue). But he IS fairly certain of a special aspect of the truck when he refers to the Chevy as “Tammy.”

“You know, there’s a movie that was made back in the ‘50’s, with Leslie Nielsen and Debbie Reynolds, called Tammy and the Bachelor. If you look closely, you’ll see a two-toned 1954 Chevrolet truck in several scenes. The guy we bought this truck from had it in storage in California, and I’m not sure how many of these trucks with this particular color scheme were made and sold out there. So, while there is no way to prove it, I’d like to think this may have been the truck that was in the movie. In any case, when we were in Colorado for a show, my wife found a key fob with the name ‘Tammy.’ I laughed, but she said, ‘We need this’ and she was right.

Please enjoy the following pictorial spread of the trucks we saw at the 2024 American Truck Historical Society Convention. (credit all photos Anthony C. Hayes)

 

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