MARCH 2003 WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO...

BIG JOHN'S CLASSIC CHERRYPICKER Story and Photo by Truck Historian/Author Stan Holtzman (Click on image for larger photo) “Big John” Pantages ran this blue and white International “Cherrypicker” for Milton’s Express of Los Angeles. Notice the single-tired axle just behind the fuel tank and the Eastern-type spoke wheels that prevailed in the 1950s and ‘60s. This rig appears to be about a 1954 model, and at one time, P.I.E. (Pacific Intermountain Express) had an entire fleet of these trucks... perhaps this unit was part of that fleet. I never saw anything new, in the way of trucks, pulling for Milton’s Express. Most of their equipment (which included tractor/trailers and bobtails) was purchased as used. Milton’s Express operated in Southern California, hauling refrigerated commodities, and their fleet included most makes and colors (their rolling stock had no standard color so all of the trucks were different). I can’t tell you why or just when Milton’s went out of business, but it has been sometime in the last 15 years.