Trucks and tortoises: July Somernites isn't just about driving fast

Jul. 25—Style, performance, utility — and sometimes a custom horn. Americans can't live without their pickup trucks, and Saturday's showing of Somernites Cruise was all about just that.

The fifth annual Truckin' Nationals showcase spotlighted the best of trucks new and old.

Or, in the case of Glenn Olmstead's truck, really, really old.

The Science Hill resident brought to Somernites his Model TT with a dump truck-style bed. The 1927 truck was built during the last year Henry Ford put out the Model TT — or the Model T, for that matter.

Olmstead said he also currently has a 1966 Ford, and has owned other vehicles over the years, but said, "This is the oldest thing I've ever had."

He added that he was excited to see it turn 100 years old in a few years. "It's a piece of history."

The vehicle is pretty much all-original, he said. Ford only sold it with the cab and the chassis, and owners would have to go to an outside company to fit the bed.

In this case, the bed comes from a company named Galion-Godwin, which is still in business and still makes dump truck beds, albeit with more modern materials and with hydraulics rather than handles.

Olmstead said he's had the truck for a little more than a year, and he got it from a cousin who, when he gave it to Olmstead, handed over a cab/engine combo and the rest of it in separate bits.

"All the pieces were there, I just had to put them back together," Olmstead said.

The Model TT still runs, too. While Olmstead said he won't drive it in crowded areas such as Somernites because the breaks are not very good, he showed a video of himself driving it around on his farm.

He said it has a top speed of 25 mph, but that the ride is a bit bumpy because the Model TT doesn't have shocks.

What it does have is a push button starter, found on the floorboard in front of the driver's seat. Olmstead said it also has a crank starter, but he refuses to use that due to all the "horror stories" he's heard of people who have broken arms or suffered other injuries trying to use similar cranks.

"If it won't start with the button, I'm just not driving it," he said.

Somernite's July showing was a hot one, with temperatures reaching the low 90s. But while some folks were out seeking shade or finding ways to stay as cool as possible, one Cruise visitor was loving the heat — as well as all the attention she was getting from the crowd.

Shelly, a Sulcata Tortoise, spend part of the day being carted around the Cruise by her owner, Otis Moore with the Wildlife Matters Rehabilitation Haven.

The rehabilitation center is out of Nancy and takes in injured or orphaned animals of all kinds, from raccoons to reptiles.

Moore said that he has had Shelly for about four years. She was rescued after she was run over by a car in Louisville.

This type of tortoise is native to the Sahara desert, and therefore was perfectly at home in the warm sunshine.

Moore said she's currently 16 years old, but that Sulcatas can live to be 150. "She'll outlive all of us," he said.

The 52-pound reptile drew quite a crowd, young and old alike, who would ask Moore if they could go up and pet her shell.

"She loves people," he said, and she loves to be petted and loved on, as demonstrated by Shelly happily walking up to strangers when allowed to roam around in the grass at the Fountain Square.