Plymouth Magazine,
October 2007

History on Wheels

Gary Schiebe’s 1925 Model TT Ford truck has cruised through decades in Plymouth

By Kelly Westhoff

Gary Schiebe has a theory: No one is grumpy when a Model T is around. “If you’re walking down the street and you see a Model T, you automatically smile,” he says, and he’s had plenty of opportunities to test this idea. Schiebe owns three Model Ts, one which has been in his family’s possession since 1925.

Schiebe’s 1925 Model TT Ford truck does not look its age. Its front grill is polished. Its headlamps and windshield are not cracked. In lieu of a hood ornament, a row of crisp, miniature American flags stands at attention. The truck’s lacquer black paint glints in the sun, daring any passerby to call it a farm machine, yet that is exactly what it once was.

Schiebe’s grandfather, who tilled 60 acres of Plymouth land, bought the Ford precisely because he needed a truck on the farm. The truck came with just the C Cab on the chassis, so Schiebe’s grandfather built a wooden flat bed to sit on the back of the truck. “The sides dropped flat and my grandfather sold vegetables out of bushel baskets at Highway 55 and County Road 6,” Schiebe says. “He grew cabbage and stored it down in the root cellar where it could last a long time. My father used to tell me that in the winter they’d get up early, line the truck box with thick blankets, fill it with cabbage and drive into the city to sell at a farmer’s market. They got a premium price for the cabbage because it was a fresh vegetable in the winter.”

Schiebe still has the original receipt of sale. His grandfather bought the truck from a Long Lake dealer for $457.47. Included in that tab was a $65 C Cab option, a sort of modern-day extended cab that gave the cabin more head room. So much head room, in fact, that the truck is too tall to fit in a standard garage. Schiebe had to build a custom garage on his own Plymouth lot to accommodate his grandfather’s truck.

Schiebe takes great pride in the fact that his grandfather’s truck has always lived in Plymouth. After his grandfather died, the truck passed to Schiebe’s father, who stored it in his own Plymouth garage. Schiebe’s father owned a local hardware store and added the “Schiebe’s Hardware” sign to the truck bed in the 1970s as a means of advertisement. Schiebe inherited the truck from his father.

“The truck became a hobby of mine after the kids were grown,” Schiebe explains, admitting it took some time before he “…understood it and got it to run good. It runs like a champ now. I’d drive it anywhere,” he says. Schiebe’s father replaced the tires, the vinyl top and the upholstery, which had been eaten by mice and worn by years. Schiebe has done some of his own minor refurbishment and maintenance to keep it running in tip-top condition. “Otherwise,” he says, “everything else is original right down to the floor mat.”

The remainder of this article can be found in the October 2007 issue of Plymouth Magazine.