Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/172917
Bloody Knuckles KB-5 work trucks, parked sideby-side and keeping each other company in a peaceful, but rusty retirement. CHANGING LANES Out in the farming states you see a lot of old flatbeds and pickups abandoned in fields and parked behind decrepit old barns. The trucks served their useful life and were often parked – in running condition – and forgotten about when more efficient work equipment debuted. Farmers aren't particularly sentimental about their old trucks and the cost in time and fuel of hauling them miles and miles to a resale lot or wrecking yard simply isn't worth it when you have countless acres of open land on which to park them. Enthusiasts, however, are sentimental about old vehicles and when they find vehicles such as these they are usually ecstatic – particularly if they can get them cheap, which is often the case. The two trucks here, were parked at the edge of the field, near a pine covered berm and had obviously been there for many a long winter, abandoned when they either broke down or were simply no longer useful. By the date on the license plate, I could tell that the truck in the background was once painted red and last licensed in the state of Washington during 1963. The green truck, which bore a Texaco roundel on the door managed to keep busy up until 1965 before it, too, gave up the ghost. During their useful operating life 26 bloody knuckles 0813 cl.indd 2 Semaphore-type signaling devices were invented in the mid-1930s and quite common until the late 1950s. They look quaint by today's standards, but did the job for truckers back in the day. (Copyright P.DuPre/AutoWord 2013) both these 1 1/2-ton trucks appear to have been worked heavily. Numerous dents, holes and tears in the metal attest to that fact. The green Texaco truck at one time carried a 200 hundred gallon bedmounted auxiliary tank for supplying farm vehicles, but vehicle forensics show that the tank was removed some years before the truck was retired from service. In the years since they were abandoned, various parts on the vehicles have gone missing. The windshield from one truck was removed. The other has been broken. Bits are missing off the mostly complete engines and a few of the gauges have been stolen. Other than August 2013 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM 7/8/13 9:43 AM