This 1969 Ford pickup was modified to run on wood chips 14 years ago by Albert Smith and Elden Fetterly, both of Wykoff, Minn., after they heard about wood gasifying technology to run vehicles during World War II.

The heart of the system is a 350-lb. stainless steel burner that sits in the pickup box. Smoke is funneled from the burner to an adapter that replaces the egine air filter. Once converted, the pickup could cruise at speeds of up to 60 mph. It would burn a 10-gal. pail of wood chips on a 30-mile trip. Smith said he drove the pickup 1,500 miles before retiring it to his farm yard after a year or two.

Last year, the truck was extracted from trees that had grown up around it and donated to the Fillmore County Historical Center at Fountain, Minn.