Date: Thu Jan 27 2000
Time: 16:40:53
Title: The Red One
Story: The Red One was a 1969 travelall, and this is her story. I bought the machine in 1976. I only paid $ 300.00 for it (I bought it from a friends dad). It was beige in color. I bought it because I needed a vehicle to fetch antique cars from Gilboa, NY and from St. Augustine, FL. My company frowned on me using the company maintenance van. So I bought the '69. It was an early '69, just like the '68. My buddy and I went to the afore mentioned places to pick up a 38 Plymouth and a 49 VW Hebmueller (one of only 550 ever built). Due to unforseen circumstances the machine fell off a hoist at work and landed on it's right drip edge shifting everything to the left, breaking the windshield but not the back window, also broke the right quarter window. It looked like a dead whale with it's black roof and atf all over the floor (I never realized just how wide they really were). The body shop straightened it out as best they could, using a building support post and a strong come along. We decided to paint it red and then call it The Red One, until we found out how much red paint cost. So it was repainted beige, but the name stuck and it was forever called The Red One. I drove it an additional 100,000 miles and in 1983 the local scout dealer gave me $ 500.00 for it on trade in. I saw it for a few years on and off until it finally disappeared. The Red One was a true work horse, never complaining and always pulling more than it's weight. One time I pulled a 1937 Gar Wood speed boat from Detroit to Spring Harbor, MI. From a distance the travelall looked tiny with this great big mahogany boat trailing behind. I remember I got 20 miles per gallon of gas, I guess after I got it rolling, momentum just kept us going.
The Red One was my first IHC. Since then I've had a 76 Scout II, a 54 R-120, a 62 C-120 and another 69 travelall (late). I'm now in the process of restoring a 70 4X4 travelall, a 55 R-132 stake truck and a 74 Scout II pickup. My main transportation is a 53 R-110 panel truck.
Ron Sheehan
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Contributer: Ron Sheehan
