Dr. Bill Comcowich of Aspen, Colorado was known in antique truck circles as the “dentist with diesel fuel running through his veins.” Bill worked his way through college and dental school by driving trucks, and although dentistry was his profession, trucks remained his passion until his death in 2005. Shown here is Bill’s 1954 White Freightliner, which started out as two separate trucks, both of them gliders. Adding a pup tank trailer created a distinctive PIE rig that has turned heads all over the country. In addition, Bill acquired several other antique trucks similar to ones he’d driven in college, including a W-71 Mack with a 275 Cummins and 5+3 speed Brownie that he drove cross-country to shows. Later, he found an old 1939 GMC cabover, but the frame was worn out, so Bill had the 1939 cab installed on the chassis of a 1973 GMC tanker. The combination carried the style of the 1930s, but with the reliability of a present-day truck. Throughout his professional dental career, Bill traveled the world, lecturing on how teeth fit and work together. But, he also played hard and managed to find time for fun – especially when it involved trucks. On trips “down under” (Australia), he became known as “that crazy Yank dentist” that helped muster cattle on dirt bikes, and even drove an Australian road train. But, that wasn’t enough, so he headed north in the early 1990s and drove big rigs on Canada’s ice roads inside the Arctic Circle. He once said it was his goal to drive a truck on every continent, and while he may not have succeeded in doing that, he certainly drove more trucks in more places than most truck drivers do in a lifetime. At truck shows, instead of roping off his trucks or warning spectators to keep their distance, Bill posted signs that said “Please Touch” instead! Credit for the picture seen here of Bill’s famous old PIE combination goes to the late Stan Holtzman.
