changing shape in order to make more room for those things. As the comfy cabin space of passenger cars began to shrink to make additional room for cargo, a new type of vehicle was born. Enter: the rugged and well-loved pickup truck. Chopping off the back-half of the passenger cabin wasn’t initially done to create a certain style or appearance, but rather to open a vehicle up—quite literally—to other things. Nevertheless, the result was one that looked decidedly different from anything that came before it. In the early days of the pickup truck, it was loved for its W utility and the purpose it served, aiding men and women with daily hauling from farm to city and beyond. Beloved vehicles of farmers and families who consistently transported goods, their value wasn’t dependent on appearance or condition, but rather on their functionality and ability to do the tough work, which is what earned them their rugged reputation. Ultimately, most were driven and worked until they couldn’t be depended upon any longer. Today, car graveyards are filled with those fallen from grace as engines seized, frames snapped and cancerous rust seeped into their once-perfect, carpet-lined floorboards. The rare champions that managed to squeeze quietly by with little to no harm incurred are extremely important today, as their stories are almost always real-world fantasies—some good, many very sad, but all intriguing to those interested in how such vehicles managed to scrape by without hardly a scrape at all. The Craig Family, including Lloyd, his son, Corey, and his son-in-law, Ted, are eager, self-proclaimed preservationists, who strive to find these forgotten pickup trucks in low-mileage, all-original condition in order to preserve their stories and bond together over their shared passion for the thrill of the hunt. Lloyd began collecting Road Art more than 25 years ago to decorate his large farming operation. He was captivated by the endless search for unique pieces and the joy of finding desirable vintage memorabilia from long ago when many were handmade in metal production plants to display over service pumps and shop windows. In the midst of his search, about a decade ago, Lloyd met and befriended Dave Steinberg, a fellow collector of signs and Road Art who also had a passion for collecting cars. Corey and Ted eventually caught Lloyd’s collecting fever as well, while their interests centered on the automotive realm of the hobby. As Lloyd, Corey and Ted dove into the collector car side of the coin, Steinberg proved to be a key source of knowledge and information. He led them to countless quality finds throughout the years and was instrumental in helping them build the collection they own today. herever people go, their things tend to follow, and it wasn’t long before the earliest of motorized vehicles began MECUM.COM // 51
