10-4 Magazine November 2021

Autocar cattle hauler, which was a full on diorama, featuring an entire scene. I had a chance to talk to Brandon Carpenter of Haul’er Back about his blue and white 1981 W900A with a 14-liter Series 60 Detroit Diesel, which he put in it a little while ago. I saw him last year and talked to him briefly and found out that he had just put the Detroit under the hood. Over the past year, he was able to get all of the bugs worked out and get the motor running as it should. Both the truck and its owner have an interesting story. Brandon has been able to collect a lot of cool information about the truck’s history since owning it. I got to talking with Chad Adams of Bulter, OH as he was sitting in front of his dark red single-axle Peterbilt with a single bunk and plenty of pinstriping, and he mentioned the fact that he had a copy of our October 2017 issue. Chad went into his truck and showed me the magazine, which featured a picture of his truck in the report on this show that year, which was pretty cool. Another truck that caught my eye was Chad Keegan’s blue and white 1983 Kenworth K100 cabover. This tractor, with a short wheelbase, reminded me of the trucks from the 70s. With red and white stripes, mud flaps on the front bumper, and steel wheels all around, it was just a cool truck. Then, a week or two later, I was on YouTube and saw he has a YouTube channel (look him up). Cowen Truck Line of Perrysville, OH brought a freshly restored red 1969 W900Awith white stripes, a 36” sleeper, a short wheelbase, and a Cummins 350. Bob Cowen has had the truck since 1970. Cowen has had a very impressive fleet of trucks throughout the years, with a lot of big sleeper rides, so this older truck with a small sleeper certainly stood out – for a multitude of reasons! Ohio State Troopers, Patrolmen Mills and Brown, were on-hand to talk about their “Slow Down and Move Over” campaign to protect the troopers as they work. Talking to drivers and anyone willing to talk to the patrolmen, both told their stories about difficult and dangerous situations they have had to deal with in the past. It’s always good to talk to patrolmen like these, in any capacity, to share stories and build relationships, because you never know what will happen out there. Please do me a favor, when you see flashing lights on the side of the road, move over if you can, and if you can’t, at least slow down. Everyone should be able to go home to their families at the end of the day. Usually, the show wraps up on Sunday, but there is still plenty going on. Oftentimes, people going home from other shows that weekend, stop by to check it out. One person who I always enjoy talking to is Gary Blizzard, who sells hand-drawn truck t-shirts. His company, Truckwear, can be found on Facebook. Gary is always talking about cool trucks, telling truck-related stories, and chatting about famous people in the trucking world. He shared a story with me involving Alfred Hitchcock and actor Chuck Napier, known as Hammer, in the TV series BJ and the Bear. All told, there were 200 registered trucks at this event, but the people who really benefit from it is the Ashland Food Bank and The Shriners Transportation Fund. This show raised almost $6,000 for the two organizations to split. I would like to thank Roy Franks, Bill Peters, and Collin Vannewkirk for providing me information for this article. Also, a big “thank you” to Joey Ols for allowing me to take his cool 1978 blue and white J20 Jeep pickup truck to the show. Man, that thing is built like a tank, but it sure was fun to drive down there! n 10-4 Magazine / November 2021 69