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Birthday Party for a Truck

Iowa 80 Trucking Museum

A birthday party will be held Friday - for a truck. The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum in Walcott will celebrate the 100th birthday of its Independent brand truck that was made in Davenport in 1918.

Museum curator, Dave Meier, says the Independent Motor Truck Company only existed from 1917 through 1921, and made two models - a 1 ton and a 2 ton.

"There's really nothing over the top about why you would buy this truck over another one in 1918. Other than maybe it was made in your hometown, or you just like the name, or for whatever reason you bought it."

Meier says the company bought all the parts, and assembled trucks in the west end of Davenport. This one was restored by a collector in Mason City, and sold to the Iowa 80 museum several years ago.

The museum started hosting parties for its trucks when it celebrated the 100th birthday of the 1910 Avery that was made in Peoria.

"We've had a cake and we've had people sing Happy Birthday to the truck sometimes. But mainly it's just, by golly, you know not everything's 100 years old and still around and still runs."

The birthday party for the Independent begins at 2:30 pm Friday at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, during this year's Walcott Truckers Jamboree. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.