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We have a new Oldest Truck in the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.

The 1903 Eldridge is now on display at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum. This truck is now our oldest truck in the museum and was produced in Des Moines, Iowa. It was made by George Eldridge and his employees. It was used to transport materials between various machine shops Mr. Eldridge owned and operated.

Join us on July 12 at 2:30 for a birthday party for our 1919 International and 1919 Pierce Arrow.

A birthday party will be held on July 13 at 2:30pm for our 1918 Independent at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum. Please join us!

Every August, golfers join together at Glynn’s Creek Golf Course for a day of fun and networking, but most importantly to support the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum’s mission of Celebrating Trucking History. Come and join the fun!

Learn more here: https://iowa80truckingmuseum.com/golf-tournament/

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum will be closed on Thursday, November 23, 2017 to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our family and friends. We will open again on Friday, November 24, 2017, at 9am with normal business hours.

Iowa 80 Trucking Museum will host a 100th Birthday party for its 1917 Velie truck on Friday, July 14th at 2:30 pm.  The event will coincide with this year’s Walcott Truckers Jamboree, July 13-15.  The public is welcome to attend the celebration.

“Willard Velie was the founder of The Velie Motor Company, Moline, Illinois and grandson to John Deere.  Most people remember Velie as a buggy and car manufacturer, but the company also built trucks and airplanes”, says Dave Meier, museum curator. “This particular truck is one of only five known to still exist. It was originally used in New Mexico to haul mining equipment and supplies from Silver City to Mogollon. When we found it, the truck was in pieces. We restored it and are fortunate to be able to bring it display it so close to its place of origin.”

Originally founded as the Velie Carriage Company in 1902, and later renamed The Velie Motor Company, the company produced vehicles in Moline, Illinois from 1908 – 1928.

Quad Cities – The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) and area museums hold their third Quad Cities Museum Week on June 17-25, 2017. This year the museums put the spotlight on the Quad Cities by highlighting historical figures from the area, items, inventions, and important moments in Quad Cities history.

Nearly 20 museums from across the Quad Cities region join to bring this fun-filled week to the residents of and visitors to the Quad Cities. Visit www.qcmuseumweek.com for information on what each museum is offering and a printable, online event program.

“From tunnel tours and Buffalo Bill to the ‘Black Box’ used on air flights, and automobiles manufactured in the Quad Cities, this year’s Museum Week puts the Quad Cities in the spotlight,” said Charlotte Morrison, QCCVB vice-president of marketing & communications. “It’s a great opportunity to enjoy fun, exciting and interesting adventures that tell a story about the Quad Cities.”

Museum Geocache
Also part of the week-long event is the Museum Geocache. Geocaching is a treasure hunt and any given treasure, known as a geocache, has specific coordinates of longitude and latitude to which seekers must travel to locate the treasure. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a GPS receiver or GPS-enabled smartphone and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches,” anywhere in the world.

By finding some or all of the Quad Cities Museum caches, you will learn about the many great museums in the community. There will be a total of 12 museums are participating in the Geocache. All the geocaches are outside the museums. To get started on your treasure hunt during Quad Cities Museum Week, go to www.geocaching.com and see if you can collect a wooden nickel from all of the participating museums geocaches. Participating Geocache museums include the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead, Buffalo Bill Museum, Butterworth Center, Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village, Deere-Wiman House, Family Museum, Figge Art Museum, German American Heritage Center, Iowa 80 Trucking Museum, Putnam Museum, and Rock Island County Historical Society.

This year’s Museum Week participants include:
Augustana College
Arsenal Museum
Buffalo Bill Museum
Bufffalo Bill Cody Homestead
Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House
Colonel Davenport House
Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village
Davenport Schools Museum
Family Museum
Figge Art Museum
German American Heritage Center
Hauberg Indian Museum/Black Hawk State Historic Site
Iowa 80 Trucking Museum
Karpeles Manuscript Museum
Palmer Family and Chiropractic History Museum
Putnam Museum & Science Center
Rock Island County Historical Society

Quad Cities Museum Week is presented by the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, KWQC-TV6, Dispatch/Argus newspapers, and WVIK. The event is designed to showcase the wealth of museums in the Quad Cities region and to create greater awareness about each museum’s offerings. For more information on the geocache and Quad Cities Museum Week, go to www.qcmuseumweek.com. The website includes geocache information, museum events and listings, and a downloadable, printable brochure.

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum is currently in the process of restoring a 1955 Mack LTL. There were only 2,009 of these Mack LTL’s built from 1947 to 1956.  This Mack was built in 1955 for Downey Trucking in Downey, California.  A 34” aluminum sleeper was added by the Los Angeles Mack branch, and later removed for the truck’s conversion to oil field use.   When Iowa 80 acquired this truck, it was used on tough wrecker calls that required three wrecker trucks.  This truck has a 235 hp Cummins NT-6-B Engine and a 5-speed Mack TR720 and Brown-Lipe 8035 G Auxiliary 3-speed transmission, with a top speed of 60 MPH.

This Mack came to us looking like this:

The restoration is coming along. Here are some pictures of our progress so far:

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum now has a Paymaster Truck on loan from the American Truck Historical Society for a limited time. There were only 14 Paymaster Trucks produced from 1970 to 1980. This specific truck is one of 10 that were produced for Ryder, between 1974 and 1975. The Paymaster was designed to be more versatile, improve the ride for the driver, and reduce labor costs through a simpler engine design with easy to replace components. The unique look of this truck was designed to be more aerodynamic and succeeded in reducing fuel costs by 40%, over other work trucks of the same time period. The Paymasters only had two axles but could do the same work and haul the same payload as a standard 3 axle truck. The low numbers of Paymaster Trucks produced makes this truck extremely rare, and the Museum is so glad to have the opportunity to display it.

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum will welcome area boy scouts to learn about trucking history on Saturday, June 16th, 2012 at 12:00p.m. The Boy Scouts will have a chance to earn the Transportation Merit Badge while attending this event. Any Boy Scout or Troop is welcome to participate, or just attend to show support for the others. This event is free of charge to all who attend.

If you have any additional questions please contact Meghan Dalton at 563.468.5330 or by email at meghan.dalton@iowa80group.com

Truck Transportation Merit Badge Requirements