It was running when I parked it, No. 144: The Loadmaster.
This old hoss carried melons from the farms of south Georgia to the freight yards of Atlanta. It trundled bundles of bright leaf to warehouses in Greenville and Rocky Mount. It carried pumpkins from central Michigan to trucking terminals in Kalamazoo. It took hardhatted men into the heart of the Iron Range.
The Chevrolet Loadmaster was ubiquitous. The heavy-duty big brother of the Thriftmaster, the machine debuted in 1947. Chevy produced this 1.5-ton truck with only limited changes until early 1955.
Based on a few design clues, this Loadmaster was built between 1947-1950. There’s no telling how many years it ran, or what it carried, or where it went. It’s safe to say that it worked, and worked hard, until it came to a rest in a thicket of hardwoods 30 miles east of Lake Michigan.
Mattawan, Mich., 750 miles north of Atlanta.
(Photos by Roving Junkyard Correspondent Marva Brackett Godin)
It Was Running When I Parked It 