Hello Everyone: I have a bone stock '53 model 6400 flat bed dump truck with heater and the grain box sides. I've had this cool old truck for 10 years and love it! My truck was found on Ebay, and came from Illinois. I found old grain elevator receipts that show anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 lbs of soy being offloaded at the local elevator. I keep this truck stock as a reminder to myself and people I talk to that these old trucks kept America and our Canadian friends fed, helped create highway systems, made local deliveries and took an incredible pounding on all the unpaved roads when this truck was built all without all the creature comforts we take for granted today. This truck was probably a big deal, because the farmer opted to put a heater in the truck.
The other day, I came across a post on Facebook that had a video clip from an old Pathe movie that was shot in 1952. This clip was of interest because it showed a portion of a Canadian wheat harvest and prominently shows our AD series trucks on the job. You wont believe what these trucks hauled, and how the trucks were handled at the grain elevator. Not being from a farm background, I was amazed at the 3-1/2 minute video.
Here is the youtube link:
In case the link fails, the name of the video is "Wheat Harvest Canadian Film Board (1952)" you can do a name search and find the video as well.
Reminds me of a story my Dad told me after I had bought my first 2-Ton. He was in Army boot camp when Germany fell and the Pacific war was still going on. He was sent to Germany as motor pool replacement troupes. When he got out in late 1946, his older brother had a logging and saw mill operation. He worked with him for several years and his brother bought a new 1948 1-1/2 or 2-ton flat bed. This was in southern Mo. In the ,Ozarks, very rural and not much population. He was driving it out of the woods across an open area with a steep sideways downhill slant. The oak logs were piled higher than the cab. Well, it did a slow roll upside down with the logs holding the truck up. He decided not to walk the many miles to get help and took the double bit ax that they kept in the truck and cut the log chains. He said when he cut the last chain, the truck rolled off the logs and landed on its wheels. And get this, no damage to the cab other than a bent mirror. Checked the fluids and drove it on out and home.
He is gone now and I have no reason not to believe his story. How do you make something like that up.
Thanks Phil for the link and bringing back memories. Don
1967 GMC 9500 Fire Ladder Truck "The Flag Pole" In the Stovebolt Gallery '46 2-Ton grain truck | '50 2-ton flatbed | '54 Pontiac Straight Eight | '54 Plymouth Belvidere | '70 American LaFrance pumper fire truck | '76 Triumph TR-6 Of all the things I've lost in my life, I miss my mind the most!
Cool story's & real cool videos, but not a single COE truck in the lot. You would think that the shorter cab would give um room for a bigger box to haul more pay load on the same wheel base truck. Cab over trucks, the best invention since sliced bread.
Last edited by OLDSCHOOL CHEV; 07/09/20173:20 PM.
Darrell, W.L. 1939 Chevy COE tow truck/My Stubbed toe 1939 Chevy 2 door Sedan
Car chat means talks about Chevy's. All other car makers only build transportation. I don't work on my cars, I entertain my self in my garage, so my nabor tells me.
