12 10-4 Magazine / September 2025 stainless on the truck including the visor, deck plate (which swings up on a hinge), light panels and more were built by Dieter’s (this company, which also owns Panelite, is now owned by High Bar Brands out of Minnesota). For the shows, Dieter’s also made Mike a set of stainless and louvered mudflaps and a stainless fifth wheel cover with lights underneath! Almost everything under the truck, including the suspension and rear ends, were either painted and pinstriped, chromed or polished. To get the front lower, Mike removed a few leaf springs and then hammered the rest flatter. Mike also installed polished external breathers, with lights inside, which were not available on the Eagle in 1989. And speaking of lights, did we mention that this truck has a few of them? With 24 across the bottom of the frame on each side, 16 along the bottom of the back of the sleeper, 18 along the bottom of each fuel tank, 10 along the bottom of the cab on each side, another 5 on the front and back of each air cleaner, 12 up on top of the cab, and even a string of 16 across the firewall, under the hood, to light up the engine, there are lights all over this thing – 478 of them in total! For me, the single coolest thing on this truck are the blinkers on the front fenders, mounted just above the dual square headlights. Mike took bullet-style cab lights with watermelon lenses, cut them in half, and then mounted them atop the fenders, replacing the ugly square ones that were there originally. Mike and his old Eagle were both way ahead of their time. A few years later (Mike could not remember all the exact dates, which is why I have been a little vague on the years in this story) Mike sold his company and moved to a new place that did not have a shop. The International was the only truck he kept, but it had to be outside, and after seeing it sit through a cold and harsh Canadian winter, Mike decided he had to let it go. Listing it on ebay, the truck quickly sold, and then the buyer came to Detroit to pick it up and drive it home. That was around 2003, and the last time Mike saw the truck. Mike does not remember the name of the person who bought it. Typically, the story would end there, but this one doesn’t. Enter the next player in this story. Craig Thornley (74) is the owner of National Equipment Services in Hyrum, UT, which specializes in the sales, service, transportation, and rental of construction and other heavy equipment. Back in the day, Craig did repossessions for some of the larger banks, and he got a call around 2009 to pick up an old International in Bountiful, UT. When he got there, the truck had no stacks, no front bumper, and what he described as “three inches of dust” on it. But it was dark inside that storage shed it was parked in, so he got out his flashlight, opened the driver’s door, and then immediately realized this truck was something special. Many of these repos he ended up buying, and this one was no different, so Craig became the International’s next owner. After replacing the bumper, adding some 6” stacks, and cleaning it all up, he started taking it to a few local car shows and parades. Along with a few other things, the batteries had to be replaced, and when Craig opened up the box, he was shocked to find that even the batteries were painted purple with flames! Every event Craig took the truck to he drove it there, and it always ran perfectly. That old Cummins 444 may have been rebuilt way back in 1999, but it probably has less than 10,000 miles on it to this day.
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