You can find a Ford truck from the 1930s that looks showroom-new sitting in what looks a showroom. Only it’s not a showroom. It’s the lobby of the new Premier Co-op headquarters in Seymour, Ind. The truck is restored to represent a fuel delivery truck used to take fuel to farms in the 1930s and 1940s.

The truck is believed to be a 1936 model, and is outfitted with equipment used for fuel delivery in days gone by. It’s unclear where this truck was actually used, but it is outfitted just like a delivery truck would have been back in the day. The fuel tanks and fuel cans are also restored, and it carries the Farm Bureau logo. “Premier Energy” is painted on the side of the door. Premier Energy is a division of Premier Co-op, which was formed when the existing Premier co-op, itself a merger of county Farm Bureau co-ops, joined with Jackson-Jennings Co-op, whose service area extends to the Ohio River and into Ohio. 

The restored fuel delivery truck sitting in the lobby also appears in the first panel of a four-panel mural in the lobby. The mural features farming scenes from the 1940s all the way to the future.

According to howstuffworks.com, 1934 was the last year for the open-cab and four-cylinder engine in Ford trucks. Ford introduced new styling in 1935 in both cars and trucks, and took over sales leadership in the U.S. in both categories. The design of 1936 models was similar. Ford began to put more emphasis on trucks for business in the late 1930s, promoting panel trucks as delivery vehicles. Obviously, a panel truck wouldn’t work for delivering fuel.