It was probably 1968, or maybe ’69, when Dell decided if he only had a truck, hunting would be better. He could build a larger pen in the back that would give the beagles a little more room than my Jeep did when we were transporting them on hunting trips. If we both drove to a hunting site, and either got stuck in the mud as we occasionally did, we could always tow the other one out.
He couldn’t find a truck that was in his price range, so he finally bought an old Studebaker station wagon. For a while that sort of served the purpose, but it just wasn’t a truck, and that’s what a hunting man ought to have. We were discussing this one day, and I chidingly mentioned to him that we could always turn his wagon into a truck by merely cutting the top off. For some odd reason he thought that a very good idea so the planning began.
Obviously we had to cut the top off immediately behind the front seat. We then cut down each side just back of the doors. We continued by cutting just above the chrome line on each side back to the tail lights. It was our intention to take the top window from the rear and move it up to the back of the front seat, but we never got that far. We removed the tailgate and rear seats, and what remained sufficed as a truck. We never did get a back end installed in the cab. It remained open as long as he owned it.
Sometimes when hunting was slow I’d suggest we drive to a different spot. If possible I’d arrange it so he was following me. Then I’d drive through every mud hole I could find, with my Jeep in four-wheel-drive, in an attempt to get him stuck. Often it would work and Dell would have to wade into the mud with the end of a chain to hook to the front of his Studebaker so I could pull him out. Then, right after I had helped him, he would have the nerve to suggest I’d done that on purpose. Such gratitude!
The photo is not the actual vehicle, but is representative of it.
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