About the "Wayzalot"
Hardy Speaks |
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In 1981, a local Waukegan Towing Company noticed my 1930 unrestored "dead" AA Ford one ton Flat bed truck in our yard and he thought it would make a nice parade vehicle for his business. Thus, he made me a deal- my truck for your truck - how could I refuse? Appropriately, he towed his truck my house and I was amazed to find that it was in as bad of shape as my AA Ford. Who wouldn't love an ol' truck?
Our new un-restored truck was a 1946 International K
B-6, earlier abused as a nursery utility truck. The frame had been chopped off
about two inches behind the rear springs, but it had two really gorgeous rear
fenders fabricated of 1/8" diamond plate. Both front springs were badly broken;
it had no brakes, broken glass, etc, etc, etc. I had no idea how to start or
what to do-so the International sat outside and moved only when my family moved.
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Since 1970, when we first saw a "Rolling Home", my wife, Terry and I had thought it would be fun someday to build our own rolling home on an old truck. Could this International be the truck? (I have always owned an antique truck of some kind, my very first in 1962 was a model A ford.) I pondered the idea of building a rolling home. Before I made any rash decisions, (it turned out to be many years of pondering), I needed just the right truck for the task. There was always the concern of what to do if our old truck broke down in some remote area and we ended up with a rolling home on a disabled antique truck where parts were not available. But then... an antique car buddy, Tom Risley, made an obvious suggestion-re-build the truck to have a fifth wheel hitch and build a "detachable rolling home". |
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With that idea, the reliability of the truck wasn't a stumbling block and it was
now time for action. The truck quickly became a money pit, but as all old car
lovers understand, I jumped in with both feet, and I loved it. |
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I started scraping and unscrewing on that International truck in September '94 and in August of 1997, Master Hitch was installed the fifth wheel hitch. As all car buffs know, our truck will always be a work in progress, it will never be "all done", it will not be a prize winning show truck, but it will be one we can use, enjoy and not worry about getting the tires dirty P.S. Take my advice, if you ever restore an old truck
never add up you receipts unless you enjoy abuse, and NEVER tell you
wife.
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Terry's Turn |
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Hardy spent three years restoring his International, and then...we had to build a garage...so we would have space to build our 1970's "rolling home", in 1997. First, we traveled to Elkhart Indiana and toured a RV factory to see how they construct their units, where the tanks are located, how the walls and roof were supported, you know all that kind of important stuff. Next we ordered a heavy-duty 29' Rockwood steel fifth wheel frame with 7000# Tor-Flex axles from Wee Shape Frames in Elkhart, Indiana. Now we had the frame, axles and wheels, a frame that could support 15,000 pounds of home-made trailer. Next, we drew up our blueprints. It was now August 1997, and we were finally ready to start our own "rolling home". The thinking and planning was over; it was now time for hard labor. Little did we realize in 1970 that it would be 28 years later when we would be able to start. Of course, during those 28 years, we had to restore a couple of homes to live in, work jobs , raise two daughters, get them through school, plan a couple weddings and "get those girls off our car insurance!"...then we could build our "rolling home". |
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During construction, the first thing out of our friend’s mouth was, "what this thing going to weigh?”" Hardy would reply, "it's going to weigh a lot!!" thus the Wayzalot kind of named itself. The Wayzalot's sidewalls are 2"x3" wooden studs with 1" Styrofoam in the walls with exterior cedar shakes. The roof is tin with three skylights. For the cabin look, it has interior cedar paneling, with cross beams for support. It has a 24' x 8' interior because we used 5' for a back porch. It has knob and spool exposed wiring for the interior lights originating from a fuse panel from the 1900's.
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We wanted all the comforts of home, tub, shower,
kitchen sink, bathroom sink, air conditioner, refrigerator, full size sleeper
couch and queen size bed. Let's not forget the television, stereo and electric
blanket, battery backup and generator. Hardy just logically figured out how to
make it all work and still keep the unique look.. My sister, Pat rebuilt and reinforced the stained glass
windows to withstand the moving vibrations. The windows are another feature
which add to the overall "collage" look of the Wayzalot. The bathroom sink was from an old train car on the North Shore electric line that ran from Chicago to Milwaukee. It was installed in a dining room buffet that was cut long ways in half so it would fit in the hallway. Four of the light fixtures were old church fixtures; the rest were put together with bulbs, sockets, silk covered wire, pull chains and dimmers, all pre 1925, all "important stuff" we have collected over the years just in case we really did build our "Rolling Home".
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The brass bladed fan in the dining area is from the
1940's and works like new. October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way happy" with the weight, and I could put anything I wanted inside!! We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.
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October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden
voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound
frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way
happy" with the weight, We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.
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Terry's Continues |
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Now we were able to travel on the interstates, driving
at 55 mph. We went south to Tupelo, Mississippi. We just had to visit the
hardware store where Gladys bought her son his first guitar. (Elvis wanted a bb
gun but his mom thought a guitar was safer.) Another summer of traveling in our
surrounding states and we headed west for the winter of 2003. We did Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona and Southern California. |
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We joined the Tin Can Tourists, a group that promotes
the restoration and use of RV's twenty five years or older. Like the antique car
and truck clubs which we have belonged for years, this new group of collectors
have camping weekends and everyone gets to show off their campers, how they
restored or decorated it with an interesting story to go with it. It is a great
group of people and they were kind enough to let us join. The Wayzalot is not
twenty five years old but it has lots of the stuff inside that's old enough so
they make us feel like we belong. |
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In our five years of traveling in the Wayzalot, we have seen only four hand-built rolling homes. In the future, we would like to travel up Hwy 101 in California and continue up to Washington. We believe we will run into a few more units in those states, but homemade campers are few and far between. Another fun thing that has happened with the Wayzalot is that it has been included in two different books, one on rolling homes, called "Some Turtle have Nice Shells" by Roger Beck. The second is is titled "Ready to Roll" by Dough Keister, a nationally known photographer from California. Along with being in the books, we made it on the Travel Channel, in a special titled RV CRAZY. It was first shown in January 2004 and has been shown at least twice a month since. Thus, we have been seen by an awfully lot of people and our fifteen minutes of fame just keeps happening over and over and over. So now, people stop us, just so they can tell us they have seen us on TV. Since people are always looking while we are driving, I have decided that I can not pick my nose anymore, while I am riding in the truck.
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