The "Tater Truck"

Here is the Story of the Family Heirloom
That appeared in Issue #117 of Steve Butler's Cruise-In News"
Displayed here by permission.

Duane “Doc” Watson has been Cruising with us since December of ‘04. He is an instructor at UTI’s “Hot Rod U” in Orlando. He Cruises two different trucks with us. The neatest one, in my opinion, is his Old “Tater Truck”, that nitro burning full blown purple pickup.

He shares this history about it.

“This truck was purchased new by my Grandfather, Floyd Watson, R.R. 2, Auburn, Indiana on June 6th 1930 for $695.00 it was used for 24 years on the farm until 1954 it was then stored in a barn until March 1992.”

His Father Oscar Watson, now 84 years old, and his Father’s older brother, Harry Watson, now 89 yrs old, supplied the following information.

“Our Father, Floyd, installed a 5-½ foot wooden bed in the 30s with 3” wide slats and 4 ft sideboards with 3” wide slats.” As seen in the picture when the truck came out of the barn.

This was called a potato bed, because it would allow the dirt to fall off the potatoes or vegetables through the cracks as the truck was being driven.

“Harry told me that Grandpa picked the more expensive Chevrolet Truck over the cheaper Ford Model A. because it had a 216 CID inline six motor and better carrying capacity due to its 6 bolt wheels. Harry said the cost difference was about $175.00 a lot of money during the great depression.”

“We would use the truck a lot to pick up stone at the local quarry,” Harry said, “We would line the bed with burlap sack so that small stone’s wouldn’t fall through. Dad was known for overloading the truck and breaking axles, he would load 2 tons of stone at a time.” Harry added. This would explain why “Doc” found four spare axels in the bed when he inherited it.

“During the late 30s we, (Oscar and Harry), would load the truck with wood for weight and use it to pull a 1-bottom plow and/or a 4 ft disc. This would make better time than a team of horses could.” Oscar told “Doc”.

“We would use the truck for delivery of meat and vegetables to the Farmers Market on Bar Street in Fort Wayne Indiana, 35 miles away, and would use it to go to Chicago Illinois to the farm market once every month, some 180 miles one way, at a top speed of 45mph but only average 30-35 mph, this would cause the trip to take 7 to 10 hours to make depending on the weather. There were no paved roads like today, it would take 4 spare tires and up to 5 gallons of water and a couple gallons of alcohol for the radiator when it was near or below freezing.”

“My favorite stories are of my dad, Oscar, driving this truck to High school from 1939 to 1941, how he would load local kids in the bed to take them from a very rural area 12 miles to Spencerville High school. These are only of a few stories related to me from my Dad and Uncle.” “Doc” said.

“I inherited this family heirloom in 1992, after my cousin Kenny Watson, Harry’s son, decided that he didn’t want it. I saved it from going to the junkyard, the next day. After towing it out of the barn, we found that 3 of the original tires were stored under the truck. They still had air in them. The original wooden steering wheel that looked as though it had rotted away was not! My Grandfather tied the pieces that had became unglued, together with baler twine and put them under the front seat.

I then tried to turn the motor but it seemed to be locked up from setting, to my amazement my Grandfather had “Pickled the engine” filling all six cylinders with oil all the way to the spark plug hole and the crank case was also filled to the top of the dipstick with oil. I also found that the drain cock for the fuel tank and radiator were both under the seat. After draining all the oil and turning the engine by hand with spark plugs out. I reinstalled the spark plugs, put in 5 quarts of oil, put in fuel and it started with ease after 40years. Amazing. The truck stayed in that condition until January 2000. I then started on the Hot Rod project that took me 2 years to complete.” “Doc” added.

“I hand built the frame, leaving all the original drive train intact. The frame construction is 3/8” thick 5” C channel. With 3 support cross members.

Front spindles and lower control arms were borrowed from an S10 pickup and the upper control arms are from a Chevrolet Astro Van that I customized to give me the correct alignment.”

Features of this truck include:
Rear differential is S10 7.5/8
Richmond gears 4:11
Moser Axles
Power rack and pinion from a 1982 Chrysler K car.
Engine is a crate LS6. 454 rated at 450 crank hp.
G.M. 671 Blower
Twin 850 Holley carburetors
Vertex Magneto Ignition
Hooker Headers
And to top it off a 500 hp shot of nitrous oxide.

The transmission is a 1992 4L60/ 700R4 custom built by “Doc”.
Torque converter was custom made for “Doc” by TCI “ 11” diameter 500 rpm under stall” (lockup is at 650rpm)

“I replaced all the rotted wood in the cab with the original Poplar wood. I painted the truck and upholstered the interior and had a rear seat out of a 1995 Suzuki side kick reupholstered to match what I had done. Then I hand built the wooden bed and added a custom made fuel tank out of a 16gal beer keg. Then toped it all off with a Ron Francis wiring kit, Classic gauge package, and Moon eye headlights.” “Doc” proudly proclaims.

You can see this vehicle most Thursday Nites at the Sonic and now more often at the “Saturday Nite Cruise®” at Old Town.