A family project Mark Weisseg calls the search for his dream pickup “a true family love story.”
“Without my brothers and my nephews, it would still be sitting in North Dakota. You simply would not believe this family. I am blessed,” the Cranberry resident says. “They know this is my dream project, and because of my health issues, they are doing all the heavy lifting and restoring it for me. The male side of my family is all pitching in to get this old truck back on the road.”
Weisseg, 54, always was intrigued with the idea of locating a “barn find” truck. “I found one on the Internet on a farm in North Dakota, a 1949 Chevy, stashed away since 1980,” he says.
He made arrangements to have it shipped to his brother, Craig Weisseg, 60, in the Chicago area, who volunteered to lead the restoration team that includes his oldest brother, Bruce, 64, and three nephews.
Mark Weisseg confers with Craig almost daily and anticipates the truck will be in his possession at the end of summer. “I will finish it off with a lot of minor items, and it will be road-worthy by year's end,” he says.
He has been documenting the journey and hopes it will become a book.
“Old trucks for me represent a simple way of life. It is associated with a farm or hard work for a decent wage,” he says. “A real guy understands the truck and what it means to have one.”
