"John Dean" Pickup Gets Attention Wherever It Goes

"John Dean" Pickup Gets Attention Wherever It Goes PICKUPS Miscellaneous 24-1-11 "I built it to look like an old time delivery truck. It draws a lot of smiles and amused looks wherever I go," says Dean Fechter, Belvue, Kan., who built what he calls a "John Dean" pickup. Fechter had earlier built a "John Dean" tractor featured in FARM SHOW (Vol. 17, No. 1). Like the tractor, the pickup is equipped with an LUC gas engine off an old Deere combine. The engine is coupled to a transmission salvaged from a 1984 Toyota car. The pickup is painted Deere green with an oak dashboard, an oak and walnut open-air "cabin", and wooden side rails on back. The hood on the "cabin" was made from metal off an old washer and dryer. The exhaust pipe is made from a length of stainless steel tubing and helps give the pickup a "big truck" look. He fashioned the tractor's frame from scrap steel. He used the Toyota's axles, narrowing them up 10 in. The aluminum running boards are off an old pickup. He made his own foam rubber seat and upholstered it with bright yellow fabric. The horn was given to him by a friend and probably came out of a Model A or Model T Ford. "It goes up to 40 mph. When I started building it I planned to use it to haul stuff around. But the more I worked on it, the fancier it got. After it was done my wife said there was no way I was going to use it to haul stuff in it because I'd probably scratch it up. So all we do is joy ride in it and drive it in parades," says Fechter. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dean Fechter, 21855 Oregon Trail Rd., Belvue, Kan. 66407 (ph 785 456-7622).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.