Truckin', a Barn Find for Deadhead Gearheads

You’re not likely to be able to buy John Lennon’s Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine or Janis Joplin’s Porsche 356C cabriolet. Janis’ family isn’t selling and neither is the museum in British Columbia that owns Lennon’s Rolls. I doubt that the Kesey family would part with Further/Furthur, whether it’s restored or continues to return to the elements. Don’t despair, though, of losing your dream of owning a psychedelic artifact of rock ‘n roll history.

In 1965, a group of San Francisco musicians formed a band called the Warlocks and started playing at events sprouting out of the explosion of the psychedelic scene. They became the house band for Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters’ legendary/famous/infamous Acid Tests, chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and changed their name to the Grateful Dead. One of their fans was an exceptionally bright scion of a distinguished family by the name of Owsley Stanley III. Stanley, known to Deadheads by either just his first name or “Bear”, his nickname, was smart enough to have done just about anything he set his mind to, and in the mid 1960s, he set his mind to making the purest LSD on the planet. In time that would earn him a couple years in a Federal prison but in the mean time it generated quite a bit of cash. Putting a psychedelic spin on an old tradition concerning money and art, Owsley essentially became the Grateful Dead’s patron, pouring money into sound equipment and working as the band’s manager, soundman and recordist early on.

To haul that gear around to gigs, to Acid Tests and down to Los Angeles where the band recorded their first album, in 1966 Owsley bought a 1949 International Harvester 2R15 truck. In the spirit of the day, Owsley had an as yet unidentified artist friend of his overlay the Studie’s red paint with shapes of blue, orange, yellow and white, in the style of early Acid Test and ballroom posters. When Owsley went “up the river” in the early 1970s the truck was stored with an artist friend. When he got out of the joint, the Dead were a much larger enterprise, playing much larger venues. Owsley got to work building the Wall Of Sound, which required more than just a one ton pickup to get from gig to gig. Stanley left the Studebaker in his friend’s barn and went on with his life.

Owsley Stanley was killed in an automobile accident in Australia last year at the age of 76. The truck, nicknamed “The Dred” by Owsley, because it wasn’t much fun to drive, was assumed to no longer exist until it was unearthed as part of an estate by art dealer Steve Cabella, who represents 1950s and 1960s era artists. Cabella says that it’s still in original as used by Owsley and the Dead during the Summer of Love condition and has a hand written note from Owsley authenticating the truck. He’s offering it for sale at Hemmings, but he’s treating it like a historic artifact so I don’t think he’s going to let just any hippy with a pickup camper buy this art car truck. The listing says, “we will be accepting the best offer we receive from a serious museum or collector.” The Hemmings listing is here, and The Dred now has its own web site set up by Cabella at GratefulDeadTruck.com.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks – RJS