Old Red rides again

Most old farm trucks are destined to rust away quietly in a tree line when their working days are done. That seemed to be the fate of Old Red, a 1937 International Harvester that Sue Sallees grandfather had bought new and used for many years.

I dont remember riding in it, but my mom did, Sue Sallee said. The pickup, its fenders battered and its paint gone, had been consigned to a resting place on the farm many years before Warren and Sue Sallee stumbled upon it in 2009, while attending her mothers 80th birthday celebration.

It was known as `Old Red back in the day, Warren said. The old truck had somehow survived a tornado that collapsed a building on it in 1991. When the Sallees mentioned finding it, her mother was surprised it was still there.

Mom had sold it after the tornado. She got $35 for it, but the guy apparently never came and got it, so it sat there for another 18 years, Sue said. Her mother told them if they were interested in it, they could have it. It required cutting down a tree to drag the old hulk out, but they hauled the relic out and stashed it in their oversized workshop where Warren was busy building a customized 1951 Ford.

I knew what I was going to do with it, Warren said. Thats about when rat rods were starting to catch on and I really wanted to build a rat rod.

With two projects staring her in the face, Sue said, I had to slow him down a little bit. She suggested he focus exclusively on one of the projects.

I wanted to see it done before I died, she joked.

When they began cleaning out the interior of the truck about three weeks later, they found they had inherited an unwelcome guest: a skunk had taken up residence inside the cab and was still there.

She screamed and I took off running, Warren recalled.

Eventually, the stinky offender was captured in a live trap and removed from the building with only a slight aroma left as a reminder.

Follow this link:
Old Red rides again