Conrad Vogel's 1940 GMC 6x6's

July 23 -

From Conrad:

             I have two old family farm 1940 ACKWX-353 6 x 6's that WILL be restored one day. These are the oldest of my family trucks.

             My great-grandfather Oliver Ruen bought them in the early 40's (I'm not sure if he bought them new or not). The yellow '40 was used for hauling hay, plowing out the north Idaho winter roads around the farm and to town, hauling potatoes to the spud cellars and any other tough-truck jobs.

             This black & white photo is of my grandfather Vernon Ruen feeding hay to the cattle (in the middle of the county road - we built it and maintained it, so I guess we could feed our cows in it...) in 1947.

             The blue '40 (at least it USED to be blue) was used by my grandpa's brother, Dorian Ruen, who was in charge of the Ruen Lumber Company, and the logging jammer on the back is a sight to behold. It has a flathead v-6 with a few hand and foot levers and weighs quite a few pounds. Looks just a bit dangerous to me. I'm pretty sure that between the 6-wheel drive and the jammer, they didn't have any trouble with the logs. These trucks worked for many years on the farm, and someday I hope to have them living a life of leisure.

             The picture of the yellow one was taken in 1956. In it, my grandfather Vernon is driving and his brother Dorian is driving the tractor. This was taken up at the "Old Place" as my Grandpa called it (the original farmstead).

Thanks,

Conrad

          Conrad's got a few trucks in the Gallery ... a 1948 COE Loadmaster ... a 1962 GMC 3/4-Ton 4 x 4 ... a 1961 GMC 1/2-Ton -- Editor