A mesmerizing old Ford truck & the highway it calls home

To me, it was a no-name highway, a stretch of lonely road that I took each December to buy pecans from a market not far off I-75 south when I visited my family in Georgia.

It doesn’t have the history and romance of Route 66, which spawned a 1960s TV show, or the reach of US Route 1, which takes drivers all the way from Florida to Maine, or the beautiful views of the ocean along the Pacific Coast Highway in California.

To people in parts of central Georgia, though, Highway 96 is just as important as any of those legendary roadways. Stan Bush knows how significant it is because he lives in the area and has been researching the highway. Bush contacted me after coming across a blog post I wrote a few years ago about a Ford truck I’d seen off the highway. It was partially hidden under a shelter attached to an old weather-beaten gray barn. That truck willed me to stop.

“Nothing much has changed about that location,” Bush wrote. Which is true, since I drive the route every Christmas to buy pecans.

I had never noticed that the truck was on State Highway 96, which on this stretch west of I-75 is not as populated as parts of the eastern half near Warner Robins, GA. The highway is nearly 95 miles long; it starts near Columbus in the west and terminates near Jeffersonville in the east.

A few years ago, the state transportation department made some upgrades to it – even building a fenced underpass for bears in some rural areas of the highway.

“My wife and I are doing a project of painting some scenes from Hiway 96,” Bush wrote, referring to his wife Cheryl. “She’s got one finished, one in the works, and one scheduled. The plan is to do six. This is her version of the truck. I think it’s pretty good :-). The truck is a 1946 Ford. The grille has been replaced, which is why it’s hard to figure out what it is.

I’ve talked to several people about their stories surrounding their association with that truck. The best guess estimate of how long it’s been sitting there is 50+ years.”

I was obviously intrigued and wanted to know more. Here’s what he told me:

Question:

When did your first see the truck?

Answer:

In the early 70’s. Fort Valley had a lot of peach trees. We would ride out there to pick them. That truck was sitting under that barn. Both were in better condition. I moved away from 1973 to 1983. A few years after I returned, I started working in Fort Valley. That truck was still there. I would see it every day on my way to and from work.

Question:

Why were you drawn to it? What is its appeal?

Answer:

A friend of Cheryl’s suggested she paint the truck. She didn’t know what truck her friend was talking about. So I took her. She loved it. She took some pictures, as did I. We posted them on Facebook, and the response was big.  We started doing more research. Everybody in this area has a story about that truck.

Question:

Why research Highway 96, it seems like a lonely stretch (near the truck, which is about all I’ve seen).

Answer:

Because locally it’s a well-known highway. It was the best way to get to not only Fort Valley, but everything west. If you head east, you’ll find historic locations like Jeffersonville. There are lots of really iconic locations along the way. Cheryl is going to paint six of them. It’s a great road.

Question:

How long have you been researching it & how did you get started?

Answer:

Only about three months, really. Since Cheryl started painting the truck. We started by going to the most eastern end, near Irwinton. We took pictures of all the interesting places we could see. The plan is to allow others to share their pictures on Hiway 96 as well. There are a lot of them. We’ve talked to some very interesting people along the way.

Question:

Have you found out who owns the property?

Answer:

Yes. We haven’t made contact because we’ve heard they are reclusive. We’re searching for the person to make that introduction.

Question:

How did you arrive at it being 50 years old?

Answer:

Actually, it’s older than that. It’s a 1946 Ford. So it’s in its 70s.  We have heard from several people that it’s been sitting there for over 50 years. Since I saw it in the 70’s, that’s pretty close to fifty. So I believe the stories. We ran into a 91-year-old man in Jeffersonville that told us a lot about the truck. He used to work in Fort Valley as well. He confirmed, at least partially, the time frame.

Question:

Tell me a little about yourself.  Did you grow up in the area?

Answer:

I’m married for 38 years. We have four children, two grandchildren and one grandchild on the way. I grew up in Warner Robins, but moved away from 1973 to 1983. In that time, I lived in 27 cities and became the assistant general manager for a chain of shoe stores. The company was Nunn Bush. They are in Milwaukee. I decided that was too cold for me and moved back down south.

I’ve been the GM of several car dealerships, a radio station and other businesses. Cheryl and I started, owned and operated our own small chain of gift shops. We sold them some time ago, and I went into technology.