10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

CROWN JEWEL
BY TEENAGE CORRESPONDENT TROY MILLER

What comes to mind when someone hears Crown Coach? To many a school bus would come to mind. However, would a rolling post office ever come to mind? That’s just what would come to mind if you were to mention a Crown Coach in Bonanza, Colorado. Ed Carpenter’s 1959 Crown Coach Mobile Post Office is just the kind of vehicle that could be found running the routes between small towns that weren’t large enough to have a full-blown postal center.

This vehicle first caught my eye last year in Greeley, Colorado at an antique truck show. Most of the other trucks were “normal” antiques like needle-nose Petes and Kenworths, bubblenoses, and even an AC Bulldog. They were slick old rigs that were fun to look at, but few had any real stand-out features. But Ed’s Crown Coach, parked away from the others, sure stood out. What a neat truck and a neat man!

Ed’s been driving for most of his life, starting with core-drilling in mines. Ed ran this job, along with others, until the mines dried up and went dead. He worked for several years as a mobile mechanic until he called it quits and went to work for Ed Kite. Ed’s desire to restore trucks was sparked by Ed Kite during the fifteen years the two spent working together.

The Crown Coach’s journey has been just as interesting as Ed’s, starting its life, obviously, as a mobile post office. It’s known that this truck ran one of two lines that ran to Mobile, Alabama, however, it’s not known which of the two routes this truck was on. From there, the truck was owned by a farming family in Rocky Ford, Colorado, running in and out of Mexico until it was parked behind their farmhouse. It sat behind the farmhouse for seventeen years until Ed Carpenter ran across it and eventually inquired about buying it. Even though the truck sat in Colorado, the actual owner was in California. Ed contacted the owner and offered $1,000 for the old truck, which now had a rusting exterior and damaged interior. That $1,000 bought Ed his neat coach.

Now Ed had the task of restoring the beast. Amazingly, this truck needed very little to get running. It had a mechanically-sound “Pancake” 220 Cummins backed up by a five-speed transmission. Unfortunately one of the missing pieces was the key. Ed went into town and bought an ignition switch, and after a little work, the truck was running! Not only was the truck running, but it was running on seventeen-year-old diesel fuel! Ed had to do a little work to the exterior, including replacing several body panels, and worked on repairing the floors and converting the inside to a motorhome. With a king-sized bed, on-the-road toilet, and several other amenities, this truck has become a favorite for Ed and his wife to take out on the road when they travel. And man does that truck move!

Ed’s old horse has hit 83 mph, and still had a little left in it. Interestingly this was found out with a non-working tachometer and speedo. Ed had said he was out driving it once and figuring out where she tops out at when he had several newer trucks pass him up. Ed called one down on the CB and asked him how fast he was going when he had passed him. The trucker replied 88 mph and told him he would pull on back and help him figure it out. They paired up and let them both tear up the road, until the other truck finally inched him out. Not bad for a naturally-aspirated Cummins with no turbocharger.

Ed has several other odd little vehicles laying around his yard, including a rare 1961 needle-nose Kenworth and a 1969 Fiat 500L. The ’61 KW is powered by a 290 Big-Cam Cummins and a 4x10 transmission. Ed told me that with those forty forward gears he can stop and start a 100,000-pound load on Monarch Pass. The Fiat, on the other-hand, is toted around by the mobile post office when Ed and his wife go on road trips, providing them with a way to get around town in something smaller than a thirty-five foot behemoth coach.

Ed has never really stopped driving. Even though he’s no longer with a company, he and his wife enjoy traveling across America in their oddball motorhome, having seen Pensacola, Southern California, Texas, New Mexico and a host of other places. Ed would like to thank Ed Kite for his extensive help in restoring the Crown Coach and his wife for her incredible tolerance in him while he plays with his toys.

We at 10-4 would like to thank Ed for taking time out of his day to show us his truck and do an interview. I myself would like to thank him for the great conversations we’ve had together about old trucks. On a final note, if anyone out there has any additional information on Ed’s truck or the mobile post office rigs in general, Ed would love to find out what you know! Please contact me (troytrucker@comcast.net) and I will forward him any information you might have to share.