IRRICANA, Alta. – When a group of antique truck enthusiasts gathered at Westaskiwin, Alta., in 1991, they melded their penchant for restoring old vehicles with an appreciation of Alberta’s social history.
“We are trying to preserve the old trucks and we are trying to get the story of the trucking pioneers,” said Harry Reding, a founding member of the Alberta chapter of the American Truck Historical Society, which has 20,000 members worldwide.
Over time, the group erected two buildings at Pioneer Village park at Irricana, north of Calgary, placing 70 rare old trucks on display with a waiting list for more.
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Ron Carey, a private collector in Calgary, owns most of the trucks and helped finance the building.
Collectors attend farm sales, check classified ads in farm newspapers or hear by word of mouth about abandoned vehicles.
The Irricana museum has trucks from every decade dating back to when the province first joined confederation to others used in the 1950s. A truck can be considered eligible for antique status if it is more than 25 years old.
When trucks lumbered across the province hauling products or doing farm work in the early days, they competed with horses because people could not afford vehicles and there were few gas stations. Therefore, some of the oldest vehicles on display were found in the United States where mechanization took place earlier.
Many of the trucks have been restored but with few pictures or other information on some of the rare models, no one was quite sure how the finished unit should look. Keeping a few rusty original pieces allows them to see how the mechanics worked and how the trucks were detailed.
“A restoration is one man’s interpretation of what was originally there,” Reding said.
“There is a lot of value keeping some of the originals, too.”
As much history as members can find is displayed with each truck. Some of the oldest vehicles are just motorized versions of wagons while others are more sophisticated.
There is a 1916 International truck complete with an ad touting it as “every man’s car,” selling for $485.
There is a 1905 Cadillac one cylinder gas powered unit and a three quarter ton, four cylinder Mitchell Mountain bus from 1908 used to haul tourists around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
A specially designed Mack truck used in the construction of the Hoover dam is there, along with a 1918 four- wheel drive unit used in the First World War.
A Benz Gaggenau four cylinder truck came from New Zealand. Built in 1912, it is the only known one in the world and there is little information available from Mercedes Benz. It was manufactured in Gaggenau, Germany, but the town sustained severe bombing in the Second World War and records were lost.
Many of the trucks are open without windshields or tops. Some of the earlier trucks have rollup canvas covers, otherwise the riders were exposed to the elements.
The restored trucks have new tires that are sometimes the easiest part to find since they can use original moulds from manufacturers.
Other parts are scavenged from all over.
“For some makes like Mack there are some people who will reproduce some parts, but many times you are limited by what you can find,” Reding said.
“That is part of the fun, the hunt.”
