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Ken then bought an old three-quarter-ton service truck from P and B Equipment in Wetaskiwin, southeast of Edmonton. The box was a wreck but the truck was sound. Ken told Lorne Hicks - his body man, also a good mechanic - that they had to turn the three-quarter ton into a half-ton. The back end was simple, requiring changing clamps and installing the rear end, and then hooking up the driveshaft. But the front end proved more difficult.

Lorne crawled under the truck, looked around, and pronounced that it could be changed over without even losing the wheel alignment. Years later, when the trucks were already housed in the Smithson International Truck Museum, a blockman from International dropped in at the museum. When Ken told him about the transformation of the 1974 - using a three-quarter-ton frame and body, and a half-ton front end, wheels, and undercarriage - the blockman said, "That's a five-eighth." International actually sold those trucks, with a half-inch deeper frame ideal for pulling trailers.

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Restored 1974 100 International "five-eighths" - a half-ton with a three-quarter-ton frame and body.
1974
Smithson International Truck Museum


Credits:
Rimbey Historical Society
Photo by Michael's Studio, Wendy Huff