Grandfather-grandson project keeps family truck rolling

A big grin spreads across 88-year-old Dick Spears’ face when he talks about his old truck. It’s not surprising, as the trusty 1951 International Harvester half-ton pickup has been part of his family for most of his life.

“It’s been all over this part of the country,” he says. “I drove it for years and years and it always started. It has the roomiest cab on the road.”

“He loves his old truck more than anything,” teased his wife, Betty.

Spears spotted the International one day when he stopped to look at a Ford pickup on his way to work at the Wichita Boeing plant in 1956.

“The Ford was worn out. I was leaning on this International, looking at the Ford. The guy says, ‘Why don’t you buy this one?’ ”

After a test drive, Spears paid $500 and drove off happily in the International.

“The guy was a carpenter who built cabinets and he had bought it new with the big bed on it. He was going out of business, so he wanted to get rid of it.”

At some point the pickup had been painted a greenish-blue color, but it was in good drivable condition.

“I drove it to work every day for years and then I let my dad take it to Oklahoma, where he used it on the farm,” Spears said.

Eventually, the truck was turned over to one of Dick Spears’ sons who used it as his daily transportation to college classes, first at Southwestern College in Durant, Okla., and later at Wichita State. So three generations of the family depended on the old truck.

It eventually went into storage in Andover while Dick Spears’ career with Boeing took him to Seattle and back to Wichita. It appeared that’s where it was destined to rest for good, until grandson Adam Spears came along.

“You didn’t really have any desire to fix up the truck until I said, ‘Oh, Pappaw, it would be really cool to fix it up and get it running,’ ” Adam recalled.

The two decided to do just that.

“It wasn’t in bad shape by any means … but the bed and the end gate needed work,” Adam recalled.

They enlisted a family friend, Kevin Rush, to do the body work on the truck and respray it in its original Desert Tan color.

“I was really impressed when he brought the truck back to me,” Dick Spears said.

Adam had talked about lowering the truck and putting modern wheels on it, but his grandpa decided to keep it as close to stock as possible. They did upgrade the old 6-volt starting system to a 12-volt electrical setup, and replaced the radiator with a new unit to solve an overheating problem.

The International’s original 200 cubic inch inline 6-cylinder was pulled out, cleaned up and given a fresh paint job in a silver-blue color. The factory installed 4-speed transmission was retained, as were the drum brakes and steel 16-inch wheels.

A set of heavy duty Power King 6.50-16LT tube-type tires was installed, including the bed-mounted running spare. The original hubcaps were polished up and the triple-diamond IHC insignia in their centers was hand-painted in bright orange, matching the hood emblem.

The bench seat received fresh vinyl upholstery and the truck was ready to go once again. Grandfather and grandson entered it in the 1999 Starbird custom car show in Wichita, where it scored a top 10 pickup trophy, which is still proudly displayed with it.

“It still looks really sharp and we still get a lot of compliments on it,” says Adam Spears, who now lives in Dallas and will someday inherit the pickup.

“This has really been a four-generation truck. Restoring it allowed us to spend time together. It was a real bonding experience for us.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Grandfather-grandson project keeps family truck rolling."