Trucks on Display
Below is a sampling of many of the trucks on display in our Trucking Hall of Fame® Exhibit Hall. Check out our app for more information, photos, and an audio recording for each truck. Click here to download.
1925 Douglas with Well Drilling Rig
Engine Type:
Buda 4-Cylinder Gasoline
Transmission Type:
Fuller & Sons GU-14, 4-Speed
Truck Information:
This unrestored 1925 truck was built in Omaha, Nebraska by Douglas Truck Manufacturing Company, which began operations in 1917. They were only in business until 1935 and produced a relatively low volume of assembled trucks, making them extremely rare. In fact, this is one of only six Douglas trucks known to still exist. The water well drilling rig on the back is a Cyclone cable tool drilling machine made by Dempster Industries in Beatrice, Nebraska. Normally the drilling rig was an independent machine with its own single-cylinder engine. This rig has been adapted to operate on the back of the truck, and the truck has been modified to power the drilling rig. This is a marvel of engineering. The rear axle has been replaced with a heavier-duty truck axle. An International rear axle has been mounted into the frame and it has belt drives instead of wheels to power the drilling machine. The man who built this would drive to the well site, disconnect the drive shaft from the rear truck axle, and connect it to the International axle to power the drilling rig. Additionally, he added a box to haul tools and drill bits and put a rain guard over the giant wood pulley in back to keep it from getting wet and slipping. There is also an ingenious system for controlling the truck engine speed from the back of the drill rig. It could take six weeks to drill a well using equipment like this. For that entire time the truck was parked in the same location and the well driller stayed nearby. It's likely that there are windmill-powered water wells around Norfolk, Nebraska still pumping that were drilled by this rig. Iowa 80 Trucking Museum purchased this truck from Wendell and Mary J. Mikics in September of 2010.
Buda 4-Cylinder Gasoline
Transmission Type:
Fuller & Sons GU-14, 4-Speed
Truck Information:
This unrestored 1925 truck was built in Omaha, Nebraska by Douglas Truck Manufacturing Company, which began operations in 1917. They were only in business until 1935 and produced a relatively low volume of assembled trucks, making them extremely rare. In fact, this is one of only six Douglas trucks known to still exist. The water well drilling rig on the back is a Cyclone cable tool drilling machine made by Dempster Industries in Beatrice, Nebraska. Normally the drilling rig was an independent machine with its own single-cylinder engine. This rig has been adapted to operate on the back of the truck, and the truck has been modified to power the drilling rig. This is a marvel of engineering. The rear axle has been replaced with a heavier-duty truck axle. An International rear axle has been mounted into the frame and it has belt drives instead of wheels to power the drilling machine. The man who built this would drive to the well site, disconnect the drive shaft from the rear truck axle, and connect it to the International axle to power the drilling rig. Additionally, he added a box to haul tools and drill bits and put a rain guard over the giant wood pulley in back to keep it from getting wet and slipping. There is also an ingenious system for controlling the truck engine speed from the back of the drill rig. It could take six weeks to drill a well using equipment like this. For that entire time the truck was parked in the same location and the well driller stayed nearby. It's likely that there are windmill-powered water wells around Norfolk, Nebraska still pumping that were drilled by this rig. Iowa 80 Trucking Museum purchased this truck from Wendell and Mary J. Mikics in September of 2010.
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