14 10-4 Magazine / September 2025 at the dealership with him at one point. For the past 30 years, he has had a commercial and residential window tinting and paint protection film business, and he was once tasked with the job of “exercising” the cars in Wes’ collection (meaning he got to drive all of them) – what a tough job! For years, Mike, who back in the day was a local truck driver, saw the International just sitting there, and for some reason, it called out to him in 2022 to get it outside for some love. Asking Wes if he could take it the Great Salt Lake Truck Show that year, Wes said, “Of course!” So, Mike took the truck to the show in August 2022, where our contributor, Stephanie Haas, got a picture of it. The truck got a lot of attention, but nobody dug any deeper after that. The following year, as I was preparing to attend the Salt Lake Truck Show personally, I began reviewing the photos from the year before, looking for something I might want to shoot while there for a feature or a cover. I came across the picture of the International and started to get intrigued. I am always looking for the odd ducks or unique trucks, and a custom International Eagle, which for some reason seemed familiar to me, really stood out. I called the show promoters to get a contact name and number, and ended up getting Mike’s number, who in turn gave me Wes’ number. After some calls, I planned to go check out the truck after the show and possibly do a future feature on it. Heading over to Hank’s Garage in 2023 to meet Wes, I was blown away at the truck, and at his car collection. Since Wes couldn’t legally drive the truck anywhere, we went ahead and did a quick photo shoot inside the garage, with the cars all around it. The shots turned out nice, but I wanted to find out more about this truck – and so did Wes! Doing some more digging, I found out that Bette Garber had put this truck in one of her books, and I just happened to have that book, so I found the pics and I read a bit about the guy who built it – Mike Duffy. Now, the story was getting really interesting. From there, I went into a full deep dive into the truck and Mike Duffy, but nobody had Mike’s number or knew how to get hold of him. This went on for months. Finally, sometime in 2024, Mike Duffy found out that his old truck had made an appearance at the truck show in Utah, and from that, he was able to get Mike Burdick’s phone number and call him. The two talked for well over an hour, and Mike (Duffy) got really emotional, reliving his glory days with the International. He could not believe that the truck still existed – and that it was nearly in the same shape as when he had sold it 20+ years prior. From this point on, we were all in contact, but we were still hitting snags. In June 2024, I had plans to go visit Wes again and re-shoot the truck properly for the cover, but our entire 10-day trip to that area to go to a couple truck shows, do some photo shoots, and visit our daughter in Montana, was all canceled at the last moment because a wildfire was bearing down on our house here in Central California, so we could not leave. We postponed the trip a year, and then did everything we were planning to do in 2024 in 2025 – we even got to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary in Park City, UT! Meeting up with Wes and the truck at Mueller Park in Bountiful, UT (which just happens to be the city where it was originally found by Craig), a popular hiking and picnicking location in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains just a few short miles from Hank’s Garage, Mike Burdick drove the truck there for Wes. While shooting the pictures, a few visitors showed up, including Craig Thornley, Don Fisher, and his wife Patience. The only person we were missing was Mike Duffy, who wanted to be there, but couldn’t. It was quite the reunion, and quite the photo shoot, and I could not have been any happier with how all the pictures turned out. So, after three years, we finally put all the pieces together, got the pictures, and talked to everybody involved, which was a lot of folks. The only thing we were never able to figure out was the name of the person who bought it on ebay from Mike. Otherwise, we got the entire life and pedigree of this 1989 International Eagle. And what you see here is the culmination of all that work. I want to thank everyone who played a part in getting this together, as I could not have done it without a lot of people (you know who you are). I especially want to thank Wes Johnson for his patience and hospitality through all this – you are an amazing guy, with an amazing collection of cool vehicles, and a nice human, as well. I know this story went longer than most, but there was a lot of story to tell. And, honestly, there was a lot more I kept out for the sake of space. Not every cover feature comes together quickly and easily – some take time to develop, and this was one of those, for sure. But I truly believe this ultimate barn find was worth all the work, because even after 25 years, Mike Duffy’s ideas and creations are still relevant and cool. And this old show truck is proof of that! n Hank Mike and His Family 2002 Mike and His Family now
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA1MjUy