10-4 Magazine April 2023

Trucker Talk: By John & Kim Jaikes The term“limited edition” has been thrown around a lot, but some things truly are exactly that – and Ryan Wichtner’s 1982 Marmon cabover is certainly one of them. With only a few still existing today, Ryan named his rig “Limited Edition” in honor of its rare standing. In conversation one day, Ryan Wichtner and this cool old Marmon cabover was brought up. The conversation turned into a phone call, which turned into a planned visit to see and shoot pictures of this awesome truck, and that visit turned into a friendship for me, as well. Setting up the photo shoot location at a horse ranch near where Ryan and his wife Cindy live in Eustis, Florida, the trees, with the Spanish moss hanging, the warm late afternoon sun, and a beautiful truck was a picture perfect scene. When we got to their home the truck was just sitting pretty in the driveway, and getting to see her up close was everything and so much more than John and Ryan had told me. The attention to detail everywhere on this rig is phenomenal. I remember the days whenMarmon trucks shared the roads I traveled, and in conversations with other friends, the ones we remember the most are the ones that hauled military loads out west across I-80. They had bullet-proof glass for windshields and several black cars that traveled with them, and when you passed one, you didn’t slow down to stare, even though you wanted to. I had the pleasure of riding in a Marmon for the first time going to the photo shoot location with Ryan, and for a rig with spring ride and not air ride, it was pretty smooth. When he was a young man, Ryan dreamed of owning a Marmon, but they were too expensive. Here is where we started to learn a lot about Marmon trucks we didn’t know. I knew that they were literally hand built, and because of that, Marmon earned the nickname “the Rolls Royce of trucks” because of their high quality and craftsmanship. In 1982, the estimated cost of a new Marmon cabover was about $85,000. The specs on this 1982 Marmon 110P “Rolls Royce” include a Cummins Big Cam III engine, a Fuller 15 double over transmission, 4.40 rears, a Reyco suspension, and a 210-inch wheelbase. This is a VIP edition and only three or four are known to exist today (based on registration records). The bumper and grill are “V” shaped which distinguish it 78 10-4 Magazine / April 2023 LIMITED EDITION