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a first-series Cummins,
and the grille. One of his
restoration team members
traveled to the Hays Antique
Truck Museum in California
to examine similar grilles.
The original grille was
made of balsa wood, a light-
weight, multiuse material. A
jeweler made a rubber mold
of the grille, allowing the
team to restore it. All told, the
grille cost about $25,000.
The refurbished grille
caught Peterbilt's eye. The
truck maker's engineering lab
manager, John Myers, con-
tacted Dean about buying the
grille, and the two ended up
making a deal on the truck.
By that time, Dean's team
had put hundreds of hours
of work into the 260, and
it was about 90 percent
restored. Peterbilt purchased
the truck in late 2013 and
since has put more than 200
additional hours of work
into it, Myers says.
"We were very excited
when we found it," Myers
says. "Nobody's going to take
better care of it than us."
Though the Peterbilt
team had to make most of
the restoration parts and
materials from scratch, they
had a guide to help. "Luck-
ily, we have a 1940 Pete,"
Myers says. "It was restored
25 years ago. The guys that
restored it were the 'old-
timers' then."
One of the challenges
Peterbilt encountered during
its part of the restoration was
replacing the truck's miss-
ing emergency brake. After
searching, they eventually
found one on a 1951 Peter-
bilt in Courtland, Calif.
The only known Peterbilt
older than the newly restored 260 truck
is owned by the Fremont (Calif.) Fire
Department, but it was not manufac-
tured as a complete truck, according to
Peterbilt.
Since the 260's restoration, the
truck has been showcased at the Mid-
America Trucking Show, where guests
took pictures with the vehicle that were
uploaded to Peterbilt's Facebook page.
Myers is certain the truck will make
more trucking show visits in the future.
"It's where it's supposed to be,"
Dean says.
Pete_Restoration_0714.indd 59 6/26/14 9:23 PM
