THE LOCKWOOD REPORT

DOES ANYONE NOT LIKE OLD TRUCKS?

When you get right down to it, I’m probably much the same as a lot of you folks. I just plain like trucks. The people of trucking are terrific and the industry at large is mighty interesting. But for me it’s really all about the trucks.

And that was clear when I was a three-year-old boy if I’m to believe my late mother’s tale of how I was given to kissing truck fenders at that age. I suppose there aren’t many boys who haven’t shared that enthusiasm, if with more restraint than I apparently displayed.

So, given that my love of trucks began way, way back in about 1949, it should come as no surprise that I’m especially fond of old ones. Which makes me pretty keen on the Great Lakes Truck Club and the fourth iteration of their ever-growing show coming up June 28th to the 30th in Clifford, Ont. And unashamedly I’m going to tell you about it, forgetting for the moment that this newsletter usually looks forward at technologies coming our way, not the ones we used up yesterday.

The Clifford Antique and Classic Truck Show is held at the Rotary Park in that little town a couple of hours northwest of Toronto. It’s easily the biggest gathering of classic trucks in Canada, and you can even camp on the grounds if you like. I promise, if you like the oldies and the spirit of those earlier times, it’s 100% worth your visit.

I’ve been a strong supporter of this show and the club since they both began just a few years ago, and I’ve had a blast each time I’ve gone to Clifford. It’s grown like a weed with each successive year, yet club president Chris Hall and the rest of the crew are being careful to keep the affair a simple one with a singular focus: a love of old trucks to be shared with like-minded folks. No judging, no prizes, no pressure. Just a ton of fun.

In its first year the gathering was really just an adjunct to an existing antique and custom car show, attracting some 80 trucks. In 2011 that number rose to 140 or so, and last year it must have pushed 200. The crowd doubled in 2012 compared to ‘011, I’m told. Who knows what this year’s event will bring, but club executive and tireless promoter Verdun Zurbrigg tells me there’s interest from far and wide.

We spotted the club a display space at our recent ExpoCam show in Montreal, and Verdun was there in the company of a pristine R-Model Mack that drew lots of attention. At the end of the proceedings he was ecstatic about the interest visitors had expressed in that truck, the club, and the upcoming Clifford extravaganza. He figures the show could be over-run by Quebecers this summer. And we may exaggerate only a little.

The 2013 edition will see the return of last year’s hit, the Bulldog Corral, a fenced-off area devoted to the Mack marque alone where you’ll see trucks going back as far as the 1920s. Another hit in the past is also returning, this one a pet project of Chris Hall’s, namely the Cabover Cruise-In. Two rows of classic COEs in all their upright glory. And if 2013 is anything like earlier years, there should be a few of what might be my own all-time favorite truck, the Dodge Big Horn. Only 260 or so were built, only 80 remain, but there could be a half-dozen of them at Clifford. The one pictured here is part of the spectacular Tackaberry collection in Athens, Ont.