1957 Ford F100, Earl's Junk Hauler

Chuck Most · January 9

Earl Ives did pretty well for himself, though you'd probably never know by looking at him. From his shabby clothing to his tattered truck, he gave off the appearance of near vagrancy. But as is often the case, things weren't quite as they appeared.

Earl wore shabby clothing and drove a beater truck because he spent much of his "work week" doing tasks that few people wanted to do. He was a handyman, a trash collector, a landscaper. Often times, when a resident of Sickles didn't want to perform a dirty job themselves, they'd hire Earl.

One day he was tasked with clearing out some dead tree limbs from a path on the forest of the Maynard family. To sweeten the pot, old Steve Maynard said he could keep the trailer on the property, which had begun life as a 1960 Ford F100.

Loading his own '57 F100 and the trailer, Earl wrapped up the task in three trips. The fallen limbs were dried and used as firewood in Earl's shop that winter. The old Effie always did seem to sit a little lower in back from that day forward!

Earl bought the '57 from the original owner in 1966. A collision in 1972 necessitated some new front sheet metal, and Earl bought some '59 and '60 doodads to repair and visually update the truck. These parts came from the yard of his good friend Rex Bearndt, who would go on to open Rex Scrap & Salvage a few years later. Maybe one of these days he'll finally paint everything all one color. He just retired in December of 2024, four months shy of his 80th birthday, so he has time. Or maybe he'll turn the tables and hire somebody else to do it!

This is the AMT '60 kit, built as a curbside with mismatched paint to explain the front end discrepancy. The trailer was built first, and the truck was basically thrown together for a tow vehicle. The hitch is a rare earth magnet.