GMC photos from history

[GMCDAC]

Originally Posted by Cayoterun

Sure made this kid's knees weak loading and unloading.

That was tricky, too. A combination of raising and lower the bed, as well as the ditch you backed in had to be so-so. We used a 4 X 4 on hooks in the stake pockets so we'd have more than half of the drive wheels on the bed.

My boss sent me and another young kid with it, to haul grain to elevator when we were cutting. I sure didn't want to bring his new truck home as a modified convertible. He stayed home.

When we got home, the boss split the profits with me, and I paid cash for a '55 Chev. conv. The car cost less the $900. Wish I'd kept it. Hindsight is 20-20.

Mods: If I'm off-subject too far, please delete.

I hope they don't delete, as it is relative to the history part of this thread! Thanks for that pic. the loads probably wouldn't fly with the DOT nowadays!
Got pics of the '55?

As Rockdriller said, they are GMCs, first pic is my daily driver, a '55. Second pic is a '58 or '59 I've been getting some parts from. one of those are a few trucks back in your pic. The small pickups still shared a lot with their big brothers.

Cool pic---Thanks---DAC

[Rockdriller]

Originally Posted by Cayoterun

Sure made this kid's knees weak loading and unloading.

That was tricky, too. A combination of raising and lower the bed, as well as the ditch you backed in had to be so-so. We used a 4 X 4 on hooks in the stake pockets so we'd have more than half of the drive wheels on the bed.

My boss sent me and another young kid with it, to haul grain to elevator when we were cutting. I sure didn't want to bring his new truck home as a modified convertible. He stayed home.

When we got home, the boss split the profits with me, and I paid cash for a '55 Chev. conv. The car cost less the $900. Wish I'd kept it. Hindsight is 20-20.

Mods: If I'm off-subject too far, please delete.

I gotta say, the "good ol' days" were wrought with danger....
I spent my younger years hauling heavy equipment around....no reason to go into it too far....but dicey at best...a little hydraulic fluid leaked onto the deck....some rain or snow mixed in....and it was always a recipe for "rubber knees"....
I sure respect ya' for hauling that kind of a load....while you're short on sleep....sore from who-knows-what.

But....I know very little about the Agg Industry, but I know that the "Harvest Migration" , from South to North through the Heartland is very interesting.
From what I have seen, they actually "Road" their equipment quite often....all the way up north to the end sometimes.

I don't think anyone will ever "delete" a guy with the experience you have. I'm thinkin you should tell us a bit about your time in the field.

[Cayoterun]

Rock:

I maybe should start an "ol' timers" thread in general discussion to see if others on here from my generation will chime in.

The old trucks you guys are restoring now are the ones we made a living with back then.
The equipment we used, and the world we lived in was so much simpler, but more manual labor than today. The equipment was easy to work on, too.

I've been in Ag. almost all my life, so really don't know much about most of you guys world.

I can't savvy what our two sons in their 30s are talking about on the stuff they work on, and both are around and repair mechanical equipment for a living. One on aircraft, the other road trucks.

I sure enjoy watching what you do to "our" old trucks, modernize them, and making them look purty.
So will try to slowly fade away, and let the next generation take the wheel, but now and then, throw a post in. I have lots of good memories with the same "girl" for 47 yrs, raised 4 onery kids, and life has been good. If I could do it over, I'd do it again.

GMCDAC: Hauling them like that has been history for many years. We had to stop at the state port-of-entries, and and get an Ag. exemption permit even back then. Probably cost $25.00 each rig.
I might be able to find a pic. of the '55, trailer/w propane nurse tank for combine and truck, with the truck and combine the second year I went. They both were converted to propane by then.

[Rockdriller]

Thanks, Yote.
We respect that.
Don't keep us waitin' too long.

[GMCDAC]

Yeah, I sure wouldn't mind you starting an old timers thread at all! I dig the history of darn near anything mechanical and rural!

DAC

[Rockdriller]

That's right.

I think I could read Coyoterun's history thread non-stop for days.
And of course....like he says..maybe some more of the Pioneers like 'Yote will pipe up and give us a history lesson.
I for once......, am the student in the front row...paying attention.

[BarryGMC]

This old 1950 Jimmy hauled a lot of rock up in Sitka AK. in the early 70's. here is a before and after shot of my grandfather Gordon Berglunds operation.

[Cayoterun]

What an improvement.
What kind of operation was it? I'm guessing a lumber mill of some kind, maybe?

The old Jimmy could probably tell some stories about the good drivers, as well as the bad ones, and some of the wild weather it busted thru.

It reminded me of the song by Red Simpson that tells the story from the truck's point of view. I think it's called "Hello, I'm a truck"

Thanks for posting, Barry

Found it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLeae1KQSac

[BarryGMC]

Started as a little saw mill. But Grandpa and my great aunt Dorothy Darrin built it into a barge terminal. Its still there. its just north of Sitka. The two of them also had a quarry and crusher near by. So when grandpa had some spare time he filled in the area where the dock is. That old jimmy started hauling logs up north of there in about 62. 10 foot bunks 40 long. He then put a box on it and some bigger rears. It hauled rock until about 95 0r so. When he retired and moved back to Abberdeen Wa. in the 80's he brought it back with him. Near Aberdeen he used it on 80 acres of industrial land that he raised up about 8 feet, hauling fill from some land of his across the road. When he died in 07 the old 500 cube gasser still ran but a life on the washington and alaska coast had ate up most of the truck. Barry

[BarryGMC]

I have some more old truck pics from my family history that i need to dig up Here is my great grandfather Jacks 1927 white truck pictured in 1940 . He bought a section of Idaho white pine land near Elk city Idaho, and hauled his whole mill up there and cut pine for Diamond match Co. My surviving grandfather hauled over 1 million board feet of lumber to a rail spur about 15 miles from camp in the summer of 40 with that truck. He did this when he was 14. We still have this truck and it runs well. Hand crank start on that old guy. I am getting ready to rebuild the cab... Some day... sorry its not a jimmy, but I think it's cool. Barry