The best collection I've ever seen of such classic old trucks is in Jerome, Arizona, where the abandoned pit copper mine terraces are a parking lot for many, many trucks. Most are in working order and date back to the early 1900s. The pictures are nice, Gene, but actually seeing these old beauties is a great experience.
A nostalgic trip back to my younger days of yore, and a capsule reminder of how progress so often results in the loss of something along the way; something we miss, even when we appreciate the changes progress brings.
"Sanity is a relative concept. If you don't believe me, let me introduce my relatives."
Gene,
I enjoy all your columns, but as the daughter of a man who loved and drove trucks during various times in his life I really appreciated this look back.
Here's my dad, circa 1935, with his truck. He was 16.
http://www.854w5th.com/assets/dad&oldtruck.jpg
He started driving trucks at age 14 when he got tired of taking care of his step-fathers team of horses (which they used in their logging business).
One other interesting look back at trucking - the 1940 George Raft & Humphrey Bogart movie "They Drive by Night" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033149/
You'd never know from the poster that it was about truck drivers and trucking... http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1923058176/tt0033149
Monta
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Monta Gael May
http://montagael.blogspot.com
http://www.854w5th.com
Submitted by monta gael on Tue, 05/19/2009 - 08:41.
I guess I'm not the only one wondering how that thing turned. Maybe that's why it's a "jungle yacht" and not a "city yacht"--you could only go straight. No roads, no problem.
Mark S.
Submitted by marksimonson on Tue, 05/19/2009 - 10:44.
As you can see in this photo, the back end is a trailer, and it doesn't actually fit the truck part as seamlessly as it appears in the ad illustration.
Mark S.
Submitted by marksimonson on Tue, 05/19/2009 - 10:52.
Gene, if we didn't know you better we'd say you just made it up, painting this ad in your studio.
This contraption belongs in every history of Surrealism, especially on account of the "extruded" look of the front end and the eyebrow motif of the "observation" windows. What could people have thought of this monster in "The Equatorial Heart of Darkest Aftrica"?
Making mole hills out of mountains. Just before my Dad joined the Air Force in 1956, he had a job as a truck driver for a small South Omaha (NE) oil company. The truck was a 1953 single rear axle REO with a small tanker trailer. Dad always says that the REO had NO POWER and had trouble on the hills of US 75 along the Missouri River to Kansas City. Don't believe everything you read!
Jungle Yacht
Would love to see a whole article dedicated to campers.
trucks
Love these ads! What a great collection. Would love to have the diecast versions of some of these.
real trucks
The best collection I've ever seen of such classic old trucks is in Jerome, Arizona, where the abandoned pit copper mine terraces are a parking lot for many, many trucks. Most are in working order and date back to the early 1900s. The pictures are nice, Gene, but actually seeing these old beauties is a great experience.
Jungle Yacht question
How in the world did the "Jungle Yacht" go around corners?
Just keep truckin'...
Absolutely wonderful, Gene.
A nostalgic trip back to my younger days of yore, and a capsule reminder of how progress so often results in the loss of something along the way; something we miss, even when we appreciate the changes progress brings.
"Sanity is a relative concept. If you don't believe me, let me introduce my relatives."
truckin
:)
Truckin'
Gene,
I enjoy all your columns, but as the daughter of a man who loved and drove trucks during various times in his life I really appreciated this look back.
Here's my dad, circa 1935, with his truck. He was 16.
http://www.854w5th.com/assets/dad&oldtruck.jpg
He started driving trucks at age 14 when he got tired of taking care of his step-fathers team of horses (which they used in their logging business).
One other interesting look back at trucking - the 1940 George Raft & Humphrey Bogart movie "They Drive by Night" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033149/
You'd never know from the poster that it was about truck drivers and trucking... http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1923058176/tt0033149
Monta
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Monta Gael May
http://montagael.blogspot.com
http://www.854w5th.com
Jungle Yachting
I really like the two seats *on top* of the Jungle Yacht.
Jungle Yacht
I guess I'm not the only one wondering how that thing turned. Maybe that's why it's a "jungle yacht" and not a "city yacht"--you could only go straight. No roads, no problem.
Mark S.
Jungle Yacht - Mystery Solved
As you can see in this photo, the back end is a trailer, and it doesn't actually fit the truck part as seamlessly as it appears in the ad illustration.
Mark S.
Jungle Yacht!
Gene, if we didn't know you better we'd say you just made it up, painting this ad in your studio.
This contraption belongs in every history of Surrealism, especially on account of the "extruded" look of the front end and the eyebrow motif of the "observation" windows. What could people have thought of this monster in "The Equatorial Heart of Darkest Aftrica"?
Clyde McConnell
Calgary
Nice collection
Nice collection of vintage art., thanks for sharing it.
The mack trucks and Reo trucks pic are awesome
The REO ad
Making mole hills out of mountains. Just before my Dad joined the Air Force in 1956, he had a job as a truck driver for a small South Omaha (NE) oil company. The truck was a 1953 single rear axle REO with a small tanker trailer. Dad always says that the REO had NO POWER and had trouble on the hills of US 75 along the Missouri River to Kansas City. Don't believe everything you read!