Thirty miles away from me will be an auction next weekend with a 1955 Studebaker truck. I couldn't read the model number on the tag, it may be a 1-1/2 ton model or 2 ton.
What seemed most unusual to me is that it belonged to an International Harvester dealership back in the day. I assumed that every IH dealership (whether it be truck, farm equipment, Cub Cadet dealer, etc.) would be using IH trucks. From the info I gathered on the internet, Pruissen Truck and Implement (and later Pruissen Equipment Company) was an IH dealer in Hinckley, MN from 1963 until 1984. This would have been around the time that the IH farm equipment division was purchased by J.I. Case (now owned by Fiat).
By the way, I found the obituary for the guy that owned the dealership. Here is an excerpt:
"Anthony “Tony” Pruissen, age 91, of Hinckley, passed away on May 27, 2015 at GracePointe Crossing in Cambridge, MN.
Tony was born to Garret and Sadie (Post) Pruissen on February 18, 1924 in Lake Park, Iowa where he spent his younger years. When he was sixteen, he moved with his family to Cloverdale, MN and attended Hinckley High School, graduating in 1942. After graduation he went to work in South St. Paul until 1950, when he went to work in Greenland to build an airstrip. Tony came back to Hinckley, and worked for Perry Edin at the Ford garage until deciding to start his own business, Tony’s Repair. In 1963, he took ownership of the International Harvester Dealership, Pruissen Equipment, and retired in 1985."
Anyway, the engine is stuck, the frame had been sectioned and stretched about 5-feet (possibly for an implement flatbed) and was last licensed in 1975 (according to the license plate). It has a PTO and an engine mounted vacuum pump (for the 2-speed transaxle, I assume). It also has a Studebaker-Philco radio!
My thought is to bid up to scrap-metal price (I don't know what that is exactly, maybe $400 total?). What do you think it is worth?
What seemed most unusual to me is that it belonged to an International Harvester dealership back in the day. I assumed that every IH dealership (whether it be truck, farm equipment, Cub Cadet dealer, etc.) would be using IH trucks. From the info I gathered on the internet, Pruissen Truck and Implement (and later Pruissen Equipment Company) was an IH dealer in Hinckley, MN from 1963 until 1984. This would have been around the time that the IH farm equipment division was purchased by J.I. Case (now owned by Fiat).
By the way, I found the obituary for the guy that owned the dealership. Here is an excerpt:
"Anthony “Tony” Pruissen, age 91, of Hinckley, passed away on May 27, 2015 at GracePointe Crossing in Cambridge, MN.
Tony was born to Garret and Sadie (Post) Pruissen on February 18, 1924 in Lake Park, Iowa where he spent his younger years. When he was sixteen, he moved with his family to Cloverdale, MN and attended Hinckley High School, graduating in 1942. After graduation he went to work in South St. Paul until 1950, when he went to work in Greenland to build an airstrip. Tony came back to Hinckley, and worked for Perry Edin at the Ford garage until deciding to start his own business, Tony’s Repair. In 1963, he took ownership of the International Harvester Dealership, Pruissen Equipment, and retired in 1985."
Anyway, the engine is stuck, the frame had been sectioned and stretched about 5-feet (possibly for an implement flatbed) and was last licensed in 1975 (according to the license plate). It has a PTO and an engine mounted vacuum pump (for the 2-speed transaxle, I assume). It also has a Studebaker-Philco radio!
My thought is to bid up to scrap-metal price (I don't know what that is exactly, maybe $400 total?). What do you think it is worth?
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