Shop van on vacation

[rwdfresno]

I came across this shop van on my way to go camping. Whenever I go on a road trip my wife always points out every $750,000 house along the way, my daughters point out every horse, cow and animal, and I stop to take pictures of MVs in fields lol.

[42cckw]

Youv'e got a sharp eye there Ryan ,keep that head turning you never know whats up ahead

[armydriver]

" Ever Diligent" . That is the key to finding goodies in the country side. That is a neat find.

[rwdfresno]

It is funny because here I am trying to get rid of all of these things on our property to get it cleaned up and get a lot of this stuff in the hands of someone who will od something with it but yet everytime I find somthing in a field I feel like I have to drag it home ot save it. Last weekend I found a White halftrack and a field full of M135s and M211s. I am in the process of trying to aquire the halftrack right now, but I don't think I will try to get the M135s and M211s, I already have 3 of these that I can't get rid of lol. ....I am a sick, sick man lol.

By they way if anyone here in CA wants to go try and get their hands on that CCKW bed let me know I will gladly tell you were it is, I really don't want to have to drag it home lol.

[bobc]

My wife and I had to go to Vegas to take my mom to the airport on tuesday,on the way out of town heading north on I-15 there are a bunch of junk yard,I saw an open cab CCKW,no bed of coarse,so we took the next exit to try and see if we could get close and check it out,Vegas roads are horrible,nothing ever connects so I got lost on a dead end street and found an old junk yard with lots of great old stuff,the best thing was a maintenence body like the one you found,it still has the ordanance tag on the front that says"Truck Machine Shop A",most of the original shelves are gone but some bins are still in it,it has all the glass and doors and the original floor is solid,best of all it is abosoulutly rust free,he also has an M-series trailer van body that was a comunications unit,it has all the tables and a couple of radio mounts in it,it has two axels one at the rear and a front steerable axel with the lunnete ring still intact,it is also rust free and still has all the lights and power connections,he only want $1500 for the set,I have picture but I can't down load them because my comuter has been out dated by all the hosting sites,if some one would like to post them for me email me at rcchell@xpressweb.com and I'll send them to you. I also got into two different rancher bone yards,one has the antenna arrays for the radio truck the other has a early 1/2 ton dodge bed,both are close to being scraped by developers so I have to m,ove fast to save what I can,lucky for me I have 4 acres and an understanding wife and mother-in-law. Bobc

[armydriver]

You guys are so lucky. There is nothing left in the fields and woods of South Texas now. 60 years of high humidity from the Gulf of Mexico , rain and high temps have rotted most ot the stuff away. That which has survived has been carted off to other places for restoration.

[bobc]

The one farmers pile had a 32 ford front fender,it was lying on the ground upside down with an inch or so of dirt in it,so I carefully flipped it over,it still has paint on it!My wife and I dug a 25 Dodge touring car out of the side of a dry wash,it was 1/3 buried by sand,once we got it out it was covered with surface rust but there was no rot! This area is heaven for scroungers,not to mention a great place to raise kids and enjoy life while playing with my big green machines. Any one ever gets out to the Grand Canyon(north rim) or Lake Powel,or Zion Natl. Park,or Bryce Canyon,or Cedar Breaks,these are all within an hours drive from my place,please email me and come visit the Chell Museum of vintage transportation,no charge just,an hour or so of fun conversation and lots of neat old stuff to look at. Bobc

[rwdfresno]

This valley for years has been one of the most fruitfull places when it comes to restorable equipment. With the thousands of farms using these trucks over the years, as well as the relatively dry climate has kept thousands of these old trucks around. In the past 5 or 10 years I hav noticed that many of them have been gobbled up by collectors which is good although I am sure a fair share of them have gone to the smelter. I currently know of a few halftracks, command car, CCKWs, Chevy's jeeps, and Slat Grill MB that are hidden well off of the beaten path, and not visable from the road that are just rusting away becuase the owners still refuse to part with them. I always give them my contact information in case they ever want to part with it and drive by on occasion to see if any developments have occured that will make them available. I have seen too many situations where people dont want to get rid of the thing for years and years and then one day you drive by and it is all gone and you ask what happened and hey say "oh we got tired of looking at them so we junked them out." Not sure what the hell is the matter with those people but they rather send stuff ot the scrapper then give it away or sell it.