DECEMBER 2006 OLD TIME TRUCKS
JOHN LAMKE’S 1916 LUVERNE
By Photographer & Old Truck Nut John Sponholtz

When John Lamke of Union, MO found this 1916 Luverne truck, it still bore evidence of having been a fire truck – but it was in pretty sad shape. The truck’s previous owner bought the truck in the 1960s, drove it in a few parades, and then parked it outside, where the weather rotted away the wood and briars grew up around it. Later, when he sold his land, he had the old truck hauled off. Enter John Lamke, who carted away the Luverne and sold it to the Union Missouri Fire District, who wanted to restore it, but never did anything with it. In the late 1990s, John bought it back and restored it himself. Since he had the Manley wrecker assembly on hand, he decided to turn it into a tow truck. The Continental 6-cylinder engine has a dual ignition, with two spark plugs for each cylinder. Right now it is only using six of the spark plugs to run on the battery side of the ignition, and John likes to stand back at shows and listen to people tell each other why it has 12 spark plugs, but only six have wires on them. The other six plugs are for a magneto ignition system and will eventually have wires running to the magneto. The Luverne is equipped with a 3-speed Detroit Gearbox transmission, and the orange and green color scheme is the same one that John used for years in his truck repair and wrecker service business. Working on the truck as his spare time allowed, John took over five years to complete the restoration, which he finished in the Spring of 2004. Only three Luvernes are known to exist. For more weird and wonderful old trucks, visit www.oldtimetrucks.org today.