Every once in a while, you see one out on the open road.

At first glance, they look like every other truck out there. But upon closer inspection, you realize you’re looking at a piece of history.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of truckers purchase, restore and drive antique trucks, keeping the trucking industry’s past alive for the next generation.

At first, you think those truckers and the events where they display their rigs are all about the trucks.

But when you talk to the people who own the trucks, a very different picture emerges. This is about families.

Ed Rocha is a good example. Rocha had several rigs at the annual antique truck show and national convention of the American Truck Historical Society, held earlier this year at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, KS. And those trucks are directly connected to his family’s history in the business.

Rocha says his family’s company is the oldest livestock hauler in the state of California – a tradition that started with his father and that continues in his family to the current day.

“Well, the company started in 1924 by my father,” he said. “I came aboard in 1952, and I have a son now who came in 1992, 1993, and he’s kind of running the show now.”

One of the rigs Rocha brought to the show is a cattle-hauling rig his father used in the 1940s.

Rocha has taken a hobby that started as a way to preserve family history and expanded it into one in which he helps preserve the history of his entire industry.

“I’m also the executive director of the Hays Truck Museum in Woodland, CA,” Rocha added. “We have over a hundred trucks in there of all years and makes.

“Trucking has been my life, it’s been good to me, and that’s why I want to support it.”

Rocha isn’t the only good example of the role family plays in the preservation of the trucks that were on display at the show.

George and Lois Wacker came to the show from their home in Manchester, MI, with a replica of the truck George’s father drove. And although it’s a replica, the vehicle is made entirely out of parts from other trucks of the same make, model and era.

“Took me 30 years to find the pieces,” he said. “My dad’s original truck was 29-115 for the tank number that was on the plate. And this one was -168. So, considering that he was in Michigan and I found this tank in Minnesota, it’s not too far off.”

Like Rocha, George Wacker followed his father into the trucking business. And his children have followed him into trucking as well.

“We had our, a year ago July we had our 75th anniversary,” he said. “Between him and me, and now my son, daughter and daughter-in-law, we’ve been in business, July it’ll be 76 years.”

Wacker and his wife, Lois, are clearly proud that their children have followed him into the family business. But it’s not just the trucking part that their children picked up.

“Yeah, I got a son that’s already accumulated five Macks in various stages of disrepair,” Wacker said.

It’s not just collecting old trucks – the next generation’s restoration work has already begun as well.

“In 1980, I bought a ’76 Mack Cruiseliner, which was made in California, so it’s a western,” he added. “It’s in the shop right now being restored. So, he’s working at it, but at the rate he’s going, it’ll take him 30 years, too.”

While some were in Hutchinson to show off their family’s history, others were there looking for it. OOIDA member Ken Quick of Geneva, NE, was among them. Ken and his girlfriend, Jody, spent the day Saturday looking for a red 1974 Peterbilt cabover.

“Well, it was my dad’s truck, and he sold it to a guy down here in Kansas,” he said.

The red Pete had been used to haul grain as part of the family’s operation. They also hauled salt, including loads out of Hutchinson, which has a number of salt mines. Ken was hoping the owner would have the truck on display at the show.

But even if he didn’t find the old family Pete, Ken wasn’t going to leave unhappy. There were plenty of other trucks he hoped to find while at the Fairgrounds.

“I like the old Kenworth conventionals with the wide hood and the wide grill,” Quick said. “It’s kind of nice, but I don’t think I could afford to drive one. It didn’t get very good fuel mileage, some of those older motors, you know, but I like the way they look.”

He wasn’t disappointed. Less than 50 feet away, Dan Potter of Cunningham, KS, was revving up the Detroit Diesel engine on his 1973 Kenworth A.

Paul Rutherford wasn’t there to look for his family’s truck, or to show off his grandfather’s truck, or his father’s. But it’s very possible he saw the kind of rig they drove.

“My dad drove mainly the old cabover Internationals, hauling cattle. There’s some (at the antique truck show) that resemble that.”

Rutherford is a third-generation driver and OOIDA life member from Sterling, KS, about 20 miles from Hutchinson. He said he was drawn to the show “by a love of trucks and trucking.”

“Trucking has always been in my family,” Rutherford said. “My granddad drove, my dad drove, I have uncles that drove trucks. I fell into it … before I was born.

“Driving a truck and being a cowboy, that’s the only thing I know.”

The American Truck Historical Society’s Wheat State Chapter played host for the event, which was during Memorial Day weekend.

Bill Johnson, executive director of the historical group, said the fairgrounds proved to be the perfect place for the show, with large parking lots, buildings designed for vendors, and large exhibition halls that easily accommodated some of the trucks on display.

“This is one of the best facilities we’ve had in a long time,” he said. “The staff at the Kansas State Fairgrounds has done anything we’ve asked. It’s been very easy to make our arrangements.

Other facilities we’ve worked at … our shows always come off well, but sometimes, there’s a little more negotiation that has to go on to get things done. But everyone has been very accommodating. The city of Hutchinson has welcomed us to town, and we’re very happy to be here.”

Many smaller trucks – including some of the earliest examples of pickups and delivery trucks – were displayed in the Meadowlark Building, a place normally reserved for businesses selling Ginsu knives, politicians hawking to voters, and handwriting analysis booths.

Larger antique trucks made up the bulk of the vehicles found throughout the fairgrounds, occupying ground normally taken by Ferris wheels, Tilt-O-Whirls, and the questionable carnival games where – for some reason – no one can ever win the really big stuffed animal.

Running a close second place in numbers to the trucks were the innumerable golf carts used by those in attendance to run about the fairgrounds, enabling them to see as many trucks as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Despite the festive atmosphere and the camaraderie among those attending, the show wasn’t all sunshine and happiness.

The massive collection of historic trucks narrowly avoided being turned into a dent and scratch sale in the midnight hours before the event’s final day.

A massive storm system threatened the city of Hutchinson that night. And for an outdoor facility loaded with several hundred antique and historic trucks, it was the worst kind of storm.

Local weather forecasters said the system contained strong rotation – a sign of possible tornadic activity. Storm spotters reported several wall clouds, funnel clouds and at least two brief tornado touchdowns. In addition, radar indicated the possibility – even likelihood – of up to baseball size hail.

The massive storm developed in Pratt County, about an hour’s drive southwest of Hutchinson, and then moved northeast toward the city, almost paralleling Kansas Highway 61.

But then, suddenly, as the storm system approached the city of Hutchinson late Friday, May 23rd, the rotation ceased, the hail moved to the west, and the storm entered Hutchinson with only rain and wind.

That didn’t mean that the danger was over. The storm’s straight-line winds – recorded at the Hutchinson Airport – exceeded 85 miles per hour.

Truckers staying at the convention’s headquarters hotel, the Grand Prairie Lodge, were escorted to a central room to wait out the storm.

Bill Johnson of the truck historical society said officers from the Reno County Sheriffs’ Department escorted truckers who were staying at the Fairgrounds’ RV campsite into a secure building nearby for shelter. He and others had high praise for the officers’ help during the storm.

The next day, Johnson said it was evident that the storm had little effect at the Fairgrounds.

“There was minimal damage,” he said. “We did have a couple of tents go down, and a tent crew is on the way to take care of that.”

Many of the truckers – especially those from other regions of the country who were unfamiliar with Kansas weather – were very nervous, concerned about their own welfare, and the welfare of their trucks. And the next day, many talked as if they had dodged a bullet.

However, Johnson took a more philosophical approach.

“Well, this is Kansas, and it’s tornado alley; we know how those storms can happen,” he said. “Our guests from the East and West Coasts that aren’t used to tornadoes were kind of nervous at the hotel when the tornado alarms were going off.

“But it’s kind of one of those Midwest storms that blew a little bit, and then it rained some, and that was it. We didn’t have any hail, which is fortunate for the trucks that are restored here, but all in all, it was good night, and it’s going to be a great day.”

Next year’s show is scheduled to take place in Alabama, hosted by the Alabama/Mississippi chapter of the society.

And no matter what the weather is, it’s certain that once again, the history of the trucking industry will be carried on, preserved for future truckers to appreciate.

– By Mark H. Reddig, host, “Land Line Now”
mark_reddig@landlinemag.com