Backroads of Appalachia

Each week, The Manchester Enterprise will feature stories from local car enthusiasts and the vehicles that mean the most to them. Behind every classic ride, hot rod, or custom build, there’s often a powerful personal story—and we want to help share them.

If you have a car or truck that holds special meaning, we’d love to hear about it. Text Mark Berry at 606-813-1541 or message him on Facebook to share your story and photos.

This week we kick off the series with Allen Williams.

957 Studebaker Transtar pickup. 

This truck is a tribute to my dad. He got me started into car shows with a 58 Studebaker Transtar that was on an 82 F150 4wd chassis. He always said it was my truck and even asked if I wanted to keep it when I was almost ready to drive. I turned it down for a new Mustang GT. I parted out an 83 27 foot Class C motorhome. I had the complete chassis and drivetrain left over and we had both talked about building different things with it. He wanted a rat rod school bus motorhome and I wanted a cabover car hauler. We neither one going the right vehicle for that. Unfortunately they found a tumor on his brain. When I was staying with him one day while my mom was paying their bills and taking care of a few things I had brought my laptop. I was looking around on Craigslist and for some reason searched for Studebaker pickups. I asked my dad what if we built a Studebaker dually and he said that would be a cool truck. 2 weeks later me lost the fight with the cancer.”

“I searched for about 6 months and found the truck I wanted for the donor in Little Rock Arkansas. I contacted the seller and he sent me pics and the deal was made. I paid a deposit and a few weeks later me and my brother went and picked it up. A few months went by and we finally had everything ready to do the swap. June 30th 2014 we rolled the motorhome into the garage and by July 5th the Studebaker body was mounted to the shortened Ford chassis that houses a 460 backed by a C6 automatic with a Gear Vendor’s under/over drive. A few weeks later the truck was driven out of the garage and onto a trailer and made it’s debut at the Sept Somernites cruise exactly 355 days from the day my dad had passed. Over the following years I have loved this truck as much as I did the 58. Now my grandson has fallen in love with it the same I did with the 58. The truck will go to him when I leave this world behind. My daughter drives it more now after the completion of my Nissan.” Allen Williams