Double The Fun: 100th Birthday Party For 1919 Trucks

Aug 16, 2019 - 6 years ago

Iowa 80 Trucking Museum hosted a 100th Birthday party for two of its 1919 trucks on Friday, July 12th; a 1919 International Model F1 and a 1919 Pierce Arrow The event coincided with this year’s Walcott Truckers Jamboree.

“The 1919 International is the first truck Bill Moon ever purchased”, says Dave Meier, museum curator. “He kept the truck at his house under the car port. His kids played on it and Bill drove it in many parades. It was the truck that started his love of collecting.”

It’s important to note that that same model of truck was the first to climb Pike’s Peak. 1,591 of these trucks were produced. The truck has a top speed of 17 MPH.

Then the 1919 Pierce Arrow was purchased, it looked nothing like it does today. The truck has been completely restored. It is a crank start, has solid rubber tires and a worm drive. The dump bed is hydraulic.

According to Meier, “By 1919 Pierce Arrow already a history of building luxury cars, but there was nothing luxurious about this 1919 Pierce Arrow truck. It performed well and held up under heavy use, but there was definitely no luxury involved.”