60 10-4 Magazine / May 2026 Midwest,” said Duncan. Other featured cover stories included the Team Penske Freightliner IndyCar transporters while covering the Indianapolis 500 for TI. Some of Duncan’s other notable stories included Charlie Cantwell and his sons, J.D. and Lyle, and their collection of Diamond T and Diamond REO trucks, Bob Daumer’s rare 1963 Mack C-607, as well as the trucks of Paul McCartney’s 1990 World Tour during the tour’s visit to Market Square Arena in downtown Indianapolis, along with many other stories on both Irish trucking (when Duncan was still living in Ireland) and US trucking from 1987 to 1995. “TI then wanted to focus more on the European market. I was informed that they were changing direction, and that the US trucks were no longer their focus any more,” Duncan told me. Duncan’s last story for TI featured Frankfort, Indiana based Debbie Stewart and her beautiful 1978 International 4070B Transtar II and grain trailer during harvest season. I was fortunate enough to be along with Duncan for that photo shoot, and have also been the subject of a story by Duncan back in 1993, while in high school, that was published in Truckers News and Overdrive, about my science fair project on the aerodynamics of trucks. Winning the Central Indiana Regional Science Fair allowed me to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair that year. Then, nearly seven years later, after I became a truck driver, Duncan did a beautiful photo shoot with my 1986 Kenworth K100E when I was still at Horseless Carriage Carriers, Inc. While Duncan has always had a preference for photographing vintage iron, little did he know, but while at truck shows like Walcott and Louisville during the early 1990s Pride and Polish events, he captured many now classic early show trucks. Rigs like Glen Rice’s 1988 “Sweet Dreams” Peterbilt 377, Bob and BJ Montgomery’s “Something Special” 1986 Kenworth T600A, Brian Dax’s “Fight Doctor” 1990 Diamond REO Giant, Chuck Kemner’s 1963 Peterbilt 351, and Dave “Beerman” Brewer’s 1970 needle-nose Peterbilt 358, when it was still white, before getting stretched and receiving its 120-inch Double Eagle sleeper, and being painted into the iconic green and yellow of Passport Transport. Little did Duncan know, once again, that he would photograph Beerman’s Pete in its red and cream paint scheme nearly 25 years later, along with another classic Peterbilt, Left Lane Louie of Passport Transport and his CAT 3408 powered 1984 Peterbilt 359 extended hood, also equipped with a classic 70-inch Double Eagle sleeper, in May of 2015, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, during the Mecum Auto Auction. “My attitude about shooting trucks was that I wanted to capture as many vehicles from the 1945 to 1980 era as possible, so I concentrated on old iron and, as mentioned earlier, we had the restriction of film costs in the day. I ignored a lot of the current 1970s models such as Brockways, R-model Macks and F-model Macks, Autocars, etc. (Petes and KWs were still somewhat rare in the East in the early 1970s). I’m kicking myself for ignoring them now and, had we had digital cameras then, I would have one hell of a vintage portfolio now. But I have shot thousands of photos through all those years up to now of new trucks,” said Duncan. “Since I couldn’t photograph full time, there were a lot of pictures of trucks taken as I drove around to and from work and, being in the Northeast, I also had to deal with a lot of crummy weather. I tried to document working trucks, ones that were covered with mud or soot or ice or whatever. Some of those old ones were actually held together in some places with coat hanger wire, or so it seemed. I met fellow truck shooter Bette Garber back in the 80s at shows and always envied her being able to shoot full time. She had time to go to exotic places like the desert Southwest and spend time setting up shots with great sunsets and beautiful vistas, which I would have enjoyed doing. But I did capture a lot of what I consider classic iron from back in the day,” said Duncan. After primarily shooting 35MM transparencies (slides) with his pair of motor drive equipped Nikon SLRs, Duncan made the transition to digital in the late 2000s with a Nikon D40 DSLR, which is still his primary shooter to this day. A few years ago, I shipped Duncan a Canon EOS 5D, which is a full-frame DSLR, and this particular Canon camera was once owned by the late trucking photographer, Bette Garber, herself. Many of Duncan’s more recent truck photos, that have been featured here in the pages of 10-4 Magazine, have been shot using this Canon camera. While Duncan and his wife are both retired and now reside in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Duncan has enjoyed contributing to a truck magazine once again, either with his own articles or Duncan and myself teaming up together for stories. “Working for Dan (Linss) here at 10-4 is so refreshing compared to when I was writing for TI,” said Duncan, as he continued telling me, “At TI, it was all corporate, and I had dealt with something like four different editors during my time there, which was fine, they treated me well, but here, 10-4 is more laid back and like a family with our editor (Dan) working with us all closely to bring the best trucking content to the readers of 10-4 Magazine.” n
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA1MjUy