My original plan had been to hire a car hauler to go from New Hampshire to Connecticut to pick BEAUTY up, I tried all of my usual haulers and none of them would go that far. This lead to a variation on the ad we have all seen "ran when parked" only to find a truck with a 4 inch tree growing up through it. This variation goes "it ran when I went to look at it the first time" then when you go back to pick it up with a truck with ramps, but no winch, you discover that no matter what you do it will not start.

I learned this the hard way loading my C60 on to the back of a 30 foot stake truck with only a pair of come alongs and a pair of 12 foot "I" beams for ramps. It had run great the week before and the plan was to drive it down to the highway, off the road embankment across the beams onto the truck, simple right. Instead it was drive the Ryder truck up the hill across the lawn to the CMP. Then man handle it up two "I" beams on to the truck. The come alongs were never same after that. (The picture is of unloading but you get the idea.)

After I got it on the truck and stopped to think, realized just how dumb and lucky I had been. If that thing had ever gotten away from me it would have been a mess.

The next time I go to retrieve a truck at distance like this I'll either hire the whole job done. Failing that approach If not that at least a rollback car hauler at both ends to handle the loading and unloading onto the Rider truck much safer.

Oh yes, I did abide by the requirement for truck recovery it must be below freezing, snowing if possible. The summer requirement is heat, mud and bugs. For true recovery adventure the subject truck should be at least a several hour drive away.

Though BEAUTY was in basically very good condition when I purchased it in 1990 it required a full down to the frame restoration. The 10 years of outdoor storage after it was released from NATO had taken a toll. The cosmoline that the truck had been heavily covered in when stored in 1946 had by 1990 dried out and in doing so had pealed the paint for the truck in many locations.

The mileage shown of 06314.4 seemed to match the actual wear on parts. The low mileage may well be explained by the use as a radio truck, which would not collect the mileage of a cargo truck.

Beauty and the Beast sitting side by side for the first time. Now the restoration begins. Forward to BEAUTY RESTORATION or ENGINE PAGE

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