1955 International Harvester 100
Series Pickup
Truck is featured
in the Jan 2010 issue of
Chassis will have Mustang II Front
Suspension
Triangulated 4 Bar W/Coilover shocks
on rear
Drivetrain will be Ford-428ci with
c-6 transmission
Cab Will Be Chopped Approx. 3"
Misc Mods listed as we get to them
A short history of this truck as written
by the owner Al Knaap
History of the 55 International Pickup.
It is actually a 54 titled as a 55. Purchased new by my former
father-in-law Eugene Poggemeyer (Pug)of rural Basehor, KS in Leavenworth
County. Who sold it to my dad, Albert Knapp Jr. (Junior) in 1963.
Originally it was drab green. When dad bought it had been recently
re-painted by Pug's cousin Don Lohman. It had a cream color top
with the
balance in a teal color. The truck is a R-100 International Harvester
affectionately referred to as a "binder" (as in corn
binder) by many
collectors. It is a 1/2 ton short bed. It had a 220ci inline six
cylinder with three speed manual on the column. It of course was
six
volt positive ground system.
I started driving the truck around
the farm at the age of 12. I would
drive most evenings, following dad home in the milk tank truck
from the
dairy where he delivered farm milk.
When I turned 14, in my Freshman year,
(1965) I was able to get a farm
permit that allowed me to legally drive to school so it became
my every
day diver. In 1966, Pug's daughter, Mary Jane started high school
and by
mid year we were dating. I drove the old truck every where from
1965
till summer of 1968. I even double dated in the old truck. It
was always
waxed and had fake chrome reverse hub caps. I added a 6 volt 8
track
tape player.
In 1968 I bought my first car a 1966
Ford fairlane 2 door hardtop. In
the summer of 1969 dad was driving the old truck and was hit head-on
on
a winding gravel road. The truck was hit on the drivers side.
The front
axle was bent back into the frame with the front wheel pushed
back into
and under the drivers side floor board. The front fender was smeared
back up along side the drivers side window. The running board
was jammed
back into the rear fender pushing it into the rear tire. "Totaled".
I
talked dad into buying it for salvage and during fall and winter
of
69-70 I rebuilt it. The Plesa's were family aquaintences and they
had a
57 with bad clutch which they gave me if I would haul it off.
It had
been a city truck and was therefore pretty rough in the rust category.
I
did use the front axle and the doors. (Side windows were larger
than the
55) I scrounged around and found fenders in a salvage yard. I
finally
found an acceptable grill/front end off of an R-180 semi tractor.
Dimensionally it fit the body, but the cut outs for the frame
extensions
were much narrower on the r-100.
I finished the truck by putting new
rings and bearings in the 220 in
line 6 and modified a 57 Ford Hurst Three Speed floor shifter
to fit and
put in 66 Comet bucket seats along with the rest of the interior
complete with a red felt head liner complete with black jinga
balls and
a white vinyl, red flock "Contact" paper on the dash.
We were "stylin".
It even had dual exhaust courtesy of a split exhaust manifold
I made. I
had it painted a canary yellow. It had 8"x16" chrome
reverse wheels with
the widest tires I could find on the back with a set of American
Alloys
and 7.50x14 on the front. In a city block, nothing could out run
it.
When you shifted to third the race was over.
Mary Jane and I married in 1971 and
it became my daily driver again. In
the fall of 73 I started college in Pittsburg, KS. School colors
were
Yellow and Red. I joined a fraternity that happened to have 3
male yell
leaders. They and cheer leaders rode into the stadium on another
frat
houses old fire truck. One Saturday home game the old fire truck
wouldn't start. I was called upon to haul the cheerleaders into
the
stadium and I did that for the next three years adding red side
boards
and painting the tail gate red and adding a siren for effect.
I bought a new truck in 1973 and the
old truck was retired as a daily
driver. In 1975 the old truck went back to the farm. My brother
drove it
to high school until 1979. It has been parked since 1980. In 94
I moved
back home and brought the truck to my shop with the intent of
rebuilding. It sat there for 10 years. On a "snow day"
in 2004 my son
and 3 of his buddies were looking for something to do. I sent
them out
to start on the truck. I went out at 4:30PM and there was a bare
frame
setting on saw horses. After a week or so it was then piled up
in a
corner and the bed collected all sorts of stuff otherwise without
a
home.
I was referred to Auto Artistry by
a friend and after a year of
procrastination the "Project" begins. Pug is gone but
the entire
extended family (I am remarried) awaits the "binder's"
return to glory.
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