This 1986 Autocar DS, owned by Lowell S. Goss of Houston, Minnesota, is one very impressive truck. In 1996, Lowell bought the Autocar from Tielens Truck Repair in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was in good shape for fixing up, and Lowell expects that he’ll be continuing to upgrade it for quite a while. A continuous work in progress, Lowell tinkers on the truck as his time and money allow – one of the first things he did was overhaul the engine. Lowell originally bought the Autocar to haul hay from the Dakotas to his dairy operation in Minnesota, but he discontinued the dairy a few years ago. However, he still has a 1977 Great Dane van (seen here) that he hooks up to the Autocar for hauling grain from his farm from time to time. The Autocar is powered by a 400 Big Cam III Cummins engine with a 13-speed transmission. The DS model was a lighter weight truck than previous models, intended for the construction and refuse industries. It had a shorter bumper-to-back-of-cab (BBC) length and weight-reduction options that allowed the buyer to lower the truck’s overall gross weight. Lowell said, “My Autocar is mostly a hobby and show truck, but restoring her has been a labor of love.” And, as nice as this old Autocar already is today, we can’t wait to see how good it looks when he is “finished” with it!
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John & Shirley Sponholtz
John & Shirley Sponholtz have been involved with old trucks for over 20 years. Shirley was editor at Wheels of Time for 12 years before going out on her own and starting Old Time Trucks magazine in 2004. John is an avid photographer who enjoys taking pictures of odd and/or rare trucks (he provides most of the pictures for this article and their magazine). John & Shirley, who are from Richmond, Indiana, have been regular contributors to 10-4 Magazine since 2006.
3 Comments
That looks like an AT64F to me, not a DS.
Last of the great “real” Autocars.
Beautiful Truck
That think is sweet I used to have a brown pete like that one on the farm
Yes I no it’s an autocar I had a pete 359 that looked like it