Farmer's Love Is IH Trucks

Farmer's Love Is IH Trucks AG WORLD Ag World 20-5-19 Did you ever have a pickup that you really loved? Ken Smithson did. In fact, he loved his old International Harvester pickup so much he decided to open a museum dedicated to it. The Smithson International Truck Museum has one model of every International pickup built between 1934 and the end of production in 1974. It houses 19 different perfectly restored models representing every different body style produced. The Rimby, Saskatchewan, farmer collected the pickups and fixed them up during the 1980's. He had to find 75 pickups to get enough parts to rebuild the 19 vehicles in the collection. "It's the only museum like it anywhere. People from all over the world come to see it," says Smithson, who has driven the pick-ups in parades, rodeos, and even in movies. "All of them are 1/2-ton pickups. All are in perfect operating condition. The first one built was the model C in 1934. All of them were good trucks, built sturdy and strong. The different models had a lot of inter-changeable parts. For example, the same kingpins were used on all the models made from 1940 up to 1969. The windshields on the 1949 L were still used on models made into the 1970's. "The first one I bought was a new 1956 S model. I later bought quite a few 1956 and 1957 models - I had eight of them at one time. I still drive a 1956 S-110 and a 1969 model that I use to go fishing. "I restored all the pickups in a 2-bay garage on my farm with help from my boys. We painted all of them in their original col-ors. I spent $50,000 to set up the museum. Last winter I had three visitors from Inter-national Harvester who told me that the company plans to build its own museum." The museum is open year around with hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ken Smithson, Box 63, Rimby, Alberta, Canada T0C 2J0 (ph 403 843-6022).

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