"The story began back in November of 1962 when the Green Bay and Western Rail Road in Green Bay Wisconsin bought two new FC170’s to use as service vehicles. These trucks remained in service until 1970. My grand father, who had been working for the rail road for many years, bought the pair of FC170’s for around $200.00 He kept one for plowing snow and sold the other to my father.
At the time I was born in November of 1972, my family’s means of transportation consisted of a 1971 Chevrolet Corvette and a 1962 Jeep FC170. My father who named the truck Big Red, drove it almost daily to and from work etc, it was also used for family camping trips. As a child I loved to sit in the driver’s seat and pretend I was driving. My parents would sit me in the truck and I would play in it for hours. Even after falling out and landing on my head several times due to a faulty door latch, I still couldn’t wait to get back in.
In April of 1975 my father ordered a new Chevrolet 1 ton camper special pick up and sadly Big Red would soon be gone. In Early June 1975 the new Chevy came in and less than a week later a co-worker of my fathers’ whom was chomping at the bit to buy Big Red stopped over, offered my dad $75 for the truck and my dad replied that’s too much how does $50 sound. The guy who happened to be nick named RED drove off with my play area. I was only 3 at the time but can remember being very upset. As the years went by the memories of Big Red began to fade. From time to time I would run across a couple of pictures of it while looking through a photo album. A few years back while looking through an off road magazine I saw an article about the Jeep Forward Control. Prior to reading this article I had no idea what model Jeep Big Red was. A few more years had past until I stumbled across your site The FC Connection, after looking at the galleries full of FC’s I decided I had to have one. After comparing my photos of Big Red to the trucks on the gallery, I came to the conclusion that Big Red was an FC170. After posting a few wanted ads on the Forward Forum and coming up empty handed, I decided to go out on a limb and try to find the original Big Red. I began by looking up the gentleman who bought Big Red from my father. As you can imagine he was very surprised that I was in search of the truck. To my disappointment he had just sold Big Red 1 year prior after owning it for 28yrs. He said it was getting very rusty and one day a man stopped and wanted to buy it and restore it. He knew I was determined to find the truck, so he gave me a phone number and address and said talk to Dennis. So off I went to find Dennis in Pembine Wisconsin. I showed up on his door step with a picture of the truck with me standing by it at age 3. He was blown away that I was tracking down this old truck. To my disappointment, again! He said that a young 16 year old kid kept after him to buy it so he could restore it and he finally gave in. The truck was gone. Dennis could see that finding the truck meant a great deal to me and said “I could probably try to get it for you”. He said I’ll get a hold of the kid and call you and let you know what I find out. I left there believing I would probably never find Big Red. About two weeks later I received a call from Dennis saying that the kid won’t sell it, he still has plans of restoring it. Totally let down, I decided to just watch the forward forum for an FC170. About a month later I had a message on the answering machine from the Dennis in Pembine, stating that he had the truck at his home on his car trailer. He said the kid called him that morning and said he ran into some trouble and needed money ASAP. He said he would sell the truck if Dennis came right away. So Dennis went up there paid the kid cash for the truck, brought it home and called me right away. I couldn’t believe it, it was meant to be. I quickly gathered some things hooked up the car trailer to my truck and off I went to Pembine Wisconsin, just 90 miles from home. The drive seemed to take for ever, the excitement of being reunited with Big Red was over whelming. Finally I w as there, and as I drove up the drive way I saw Big Red for the first time in almost 30 years. I promptly paid Dennis for the truck and his time and repeatedly thanked him for what he had done, he handed me the title and said “I have a thing for old cars and trucks and after seeing how bad you wanted this truck back I was on a mission to help you get it”. I hopped in to the driver’s seat, the same seat I used to pretend I was driving in and turned they key, and for the first time ever, I drove Big Red for real. Up on the trailer it went and we headed home to Luxemburg, WI.Overall The Truck was the same as it was when my father had it aside from being faded, and having a lot more rust and dents. It still had the original Green Bay & Western paint scheme and it’s original interior. After returning home the reality of how much of a project this was going to be set in. After learning that body parts are not readily available, I knew I had to find a donor truck. After a few months I found a 1959 FC170 in Southern Kansas that was all original and still running, barely, but still running. I had it shipped to my home in Wisconsin. I swapped the beds, but swapping the cabs wasn’t an option I had to keep my original cab, the one I rode in as a kid. So I cut apart a nearly rust free cab and welded the pieces onto Big Red. These consisted of from the front cab corner to the back corner on both sides. The upper windshield frame was also reconstructed, compliments of my brother in law whom is a very talented metal fabricator.
The restoration is still in progress. With each passing day I realize more and more how fortunate I am to have our original truck back, not only because it holds many great childhood memories, but also because it is an original piece of equipment owned by the Green Bay & Western Railroad, where my grandfather worked for over 40 years. This is the link to a write up about the truck on the GBW website. http://www.greenbayroute.com/2005jeepfc170.htm When the truck is finished it will be repainted with its original GBW paint scheme.
Attached you will find a picture of me next to Big Red in 1975, the last camping trip before being sold out for a Chevy. A picture of how it was when I bought it back, and a picture of the donor truck before it was cut apart, along with a couple of Big Red with the donor sheet metal welded in. I know would have gone to jail in FC land for cutting up a nice solid FC, but I had to do it, the sentimental value of my original cab got the best of me."