8-1-06
North Walpole Men Organize Weekend Truck Show
By Charles C. Bingaman. Contributing Writer
North Walpole’s Dave Durling and Gilbert Gay expect over 100 trucks at the 8th annual truck show sponsored by the Green Mountain Chapter of the American Truck Historical Society Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Bellows Falls Union High School. And it’s free!
Durling, 77, the original president of the chapter, said Monday “I’ve been involved with trucks for over 40 years, and my dad was involved before that. In high school I started loading and unloading trucks and did the ‘grease monkey’ stuff on the weekends.” Durling later spent many years in trucking, primarily on a regional level based out of Bellows Falls.
Durling, who noted that “we don’t charge our vendors to come and we don’t offer prizes”, stressed that the trucks, some very old, some very rare, are quite interesting, and, “you meet all these great people…and everyone’s got a story!”
Durling himself is busily polishing his three showpieces this week: a 1953 Mack single axel tractor, a 1966 Brockway tractor (manufactured in Cortland, New York), and a 1971 Brockway. While Durling expects trucks and truck enthusiasts from all New England states to be present, he noted that Chapter president Roger Martin of Bradford, VT will be there with his ’52 Mack and likely his ’34 International and that Chapter secretary Jan Phelan of Perkinsville, VT will likely have her ’66 Chevy pickup on display.
A number of vendors selling truck t-shirts, truck toys and truck parts are expected, and refreshments will be available. Information on the American Truck Historical Society is available at www.aths.org.
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