If you were passing by the Gelock warehouses on a particular day this June, you may have seen the beautiful T-6 truck emerging from her cave for the first time in 25+ years.
The truck is a 1967 Hendrickson, specially ordered and purchased brand new by Gerald Van Dam who owned and operated Gelock Heavy Movers.
At the time, he ordered it complete with the best oversized axles, suspension, engine, and transmissions to be able to haul extremely heavy loads. The truck was so large it required an oversized load permit just to drive it empty—but it could handle up to 161,000 pounds.
Gerald personally picked up the truck—with Gelock name on the side—from the Chicago factory and drove it home to Grand Rapids.
We believe the truck was last used sometime in the 90s, as 1995 is its last valid license plate sticker.
At that time, it became a spare back-up truck due to the purchase of a larger, more modern version. And it was unceremoniously parked in a dark corner of the Gelock warehouse, where it patiently waited to save the day if needed. Sadly, all it did was gather dust.
That was until this summer, when we needed additional floor space in the building—the trusty truck was in the way.
The younger generation of staff tasked with moving the truck had never seen the permanent fixture move in 20+ years. They asked themselves “How can we drag or push her out of here?”
They decided to give her some love—fresh fuel and new batteries—and were able to fire the truck up and drive it out of the building!
After seeing her emerge from the darkness and drive past the front office, the current generation of the Van Dam family wants to restore it to look like the day Gerald proudly drove it home from Chicago.
The plan is to promote the faithful flagship to official parade truck duty!