Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
1922 Model T truck offers view of Malden fire damage
Paul Beck's 1922 Model T was back on display in Rosalia on June 5.
ROSALIA - It was known from parades around Whitman County.
A 1922 Ford Model T one-ton dump truck would roll to a stop in front of the announcer, causing confusion, until the bed rose and dropped a load of candy onto the street.
It was "Warren's Relic," bought at an estate sale by Paul Beck. It was once owned by the late Warren Roellich, of Rosalia.
It was kept in Malden.
On Labor Day last year, Beck and his wife lost three houses in the wildfire and for the 1922 Ford, its tires burned away, its wooden spokes destroyed, but its rusted exterior stayed mostly the same.
"I call it a super low-rider now," said Beck. "It was down to its hubs, the rims."
Nearby, the shells of newer cars were left with silver puddles in the dirt below of melted aluminum from 1,200 degrees-heat.
Warren's Relic was finished.
Until June 5, when it rode on the back of a U-Haul trailer to the Rose Garage Rosalia Car Show, taking place on the traditional "Battle Days" weekend. The event drew 120 cars, parked up and down Main Street.
Among them, Beck displayed his pickup once again but with no tires, no spokes, though the dump-riser still worked.
"The locals over the years are slightly familiar with it," Beck said. "They will have a sense of what a wildfire really does to things."
Beck, 79, bought the vehicle for $2,500 plus some other items at that estate sale more than 20 years ago. Roellich had restored various model T's.
Soon after the purchase, Beck put gas and water in the pickup, checked the oil, and turned the key.
It started, and after towing it to Malden, he drove two blocks to the Post Office, showed it off, picked up some mail, got back in, and it would not start.
Before the fire, taking it to car shows, people would remark at the rusty old truck.
"This is an interesting project, when are you going to start?" they would say.
"I think it's done," Beck answered.
He now does have a starting point.
"It's pretty high on my list to get it back in shape again, at least to what it was," said Beck.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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