In 1980 Ken Smithson
bought back two rundown
International 1956 gravel
trucks that he had owned
years earlier. As a truck
driver, he had once relied on
them for his livelihood. But
this time, he set his sights
on restoring the hardy
vehicles to mint condition
| and he did so with a
meticulous eye for detail. He
followed up that project in
1982 with the purchase of
another old friend, a 1951 L
Series International half-
ton. He was hooked. He spent
the next eight years in a
labour of love, searching out
and refurbishing as many
| International half-tons as he
could. As he worked, he
enjoyed the camaraderie of a
close-knit group of men who
toiled alongside him,
bringing their significant
trade skills to the job at
hand.
In the end, he completed
19, all now housed in a
| collection at the Smithson
International Truck Museum in
Rimbey, Alberta, Canada.
Smithson, who had been a
farmer, a truck driver and a
heavy equipment operator, was
in many ways an ordinary man.
Yet his enthusiasm and
dedication were anything but
ordinary and he excelled at
|