For those who have the space to accommodate them, noting compares to having a collection of classic highway trucks, the ones that moved commerce across the United States on the Interstate system as well as the two-lane ribbons to the horizon that preceded it. Imagine tooling along with planet-shifting torque under the huge right foot pedal, diesel stack blatting as you stir your way through multiple gearboxes while towering high in your air-ride seat above the masses. It’s heady, modern-cowboy stuff, and truck collecting is a vibrant adjunct of today’s automotive hobby. When it comes to presenting these rigs of old for sale, few do it better than Mecum Auctions of Wisconsin.
To that end, Mecum is offering 10 historic big rigs from the holdings of truck collector and restorer Gene Olson at its upcoming Gone Farmin’ Spring Classic auction, which focuses on antique tractors, trucks and implements, and is set for March 24th and 25th at Bend XPO in East Moline, Illinois. The collection being offered will include vintage haulers produced by Kenworth, Peterbilt, Mack and International Harvester. The arguable star of the group is this classic of the American highway, a 1954 Peterbilt 350 cabover tractor, known as a “bubblenose” for the frontal protrusion on its tilt cab. It’s got a long “West Coast” wheelbase and five-hole aluminum wheels. Power comes from a supercharged Cummins diesel that produces 275 horsepower, linked to a four-speed main transmission and three-speed auxiliary gearbox that are guaranteed to keep the driver busy with their twin shifters. Incidentally, we recently researched Cummins engine history as part of our retrospective on Cummins’ 1952 entry in the Indianapolis 500, in which the Indiana firm built the first turbocharged engine ever to race at the speedway. The story is in the current issue of Tazio, the quarterly journal of international motorsport history that you ought to be reading.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 