10-4 Magazine April 2023

80 10-4 Magazine / April 2023 trucks, so Marmon-Herrington started developing military trucks. In the early 60s they developed a Class 8 commercial truck, and there’s only one known to still exist. In 1964 Marmon-Herrington sold the rights to build the highway trucks to Space Corp. and production was moved to Denton, TX, and then, eventually, to Garland, TX. The new company was known as Marmon Motor Trucks, with production running until February 1997 when the last one rolled out the door – a model 125DHR which was bought and is still owned by the previously mentioned Ken Matuszak of McKinney, TX. Growing up loving trucks, Ryan had an uncle who hauled cars. When Ryan was 19 years old, he purchased a 1980 Kenworth K100C cabover from its original owner in 1982. Being only 19, he couldn’t go out of state, but he knew a couple farmers, so he pulled a 3-deck cattle pot, hauling cattle and hogs, picking them up in western and northern Michigan and bringing them back to a packing house in Utica, MI. When he was old enough to start running out of state, he started working for a local automobile dealership, hauling cars, just like his uncle. He pulled a car carrier for a while, running from San Francisco and Los Angeles, bringing cars back to Chicago and Detroit. Married for 31 years, Ryan and Cindy have three children – Nicole (Nikki), Coltin, and Daniel. Both Nikki and Daniel like trucks because their dad likes them. Ryan and his family moved to Florida in 1993. At the time, he was working for Roundtree Transport out of Jacksonville, FL doing heavy haul. He’s been working at Ring Power since 2012 and, when he’s not being a mechanic, Ryan hauls big equipment locally. We would like to say thank you to Ryan and Cindy for all your hospitality and for sharing the beautiful trucks that Ryan takes such pride in. Owning a second Marmon – a 1986 57P conventional with a flat top sleeper, 3406B CAT, Fuller 13-speed, 3.80 Eaton rear ends, and Hendrickson air ride – we did not get to peek at this one because she was all wrapped up in blankets to protect her from the Florida sun. His trucks are always wrapped up inside a building built just for them. We did, however, get a glimpse of the 1980 Kenworth K100C he has owned all these years. He misses driving this truck, that he worked for 21 years, and said, “Inside this cab is my happy place!” This cabover Kenworth has been completely restored, as well, and Ryan even overhauled the engine and added nitrous! But this is a story for another day. Owning a truck that you worked for over two decades and then restoring it is rare these days, and I can’t wait to tell her story one day. But this one is all about Ryan’s “Limited Edition” Marmon cabover, which is truly a limited edition vehicle for many reasons, and one we won’t soon forget! n