Restored trucks are neat to look at and admire. But a genuine farm truck still in its working clothes, and still at work, is just downright cool!

Thanks to Dave Williams, Middlebury, for sharing a photo and information about one of his prized possessions with us. The 1.5-ton Chevrolet truck loaded down with seed in the photo is a 1942 model. Williams says it has 40,000 actual miles.

The truck is 75 years old. That’s one reason it comes with a hand crank, Williams notes. It was made at a time when manufacturers were transitioning from hand cranks to batteries and electric start. If you ever need to turn the engine over to start it, the crank is there and waiting, he notes.

This truck has been in the Williams family on the farm in Elkhart County for 65 of its 75 years.

“My dad bought it in 1952 from a local furniture store that was going out of business,” Williams says. “He paid $400 for it, and I still have the receipt in the glove box to prove it.”

The old truck brings back memories, Williams says, and many of them involve hard work. “When I was a teenager, I hauled ear corn out of cribs for the local co-op elevator in the summer with this truck,” he relates.

The truck has been used in a variety of ways over the years, Williams says. It’s hauled antique tractors more than once. And it’s been used to carry crates of apples for the local church youth group. “It’s even been a float in a parade before,” he quips.

Today the truck is most often used for what you see it doing in the picture — hauling seed. “We still use it to haul bagged seed in the spring,” Williams says.

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