It all started with

a Truck....

It all started with the purchase of a ranch truck in Salida, Colorado in 1950.

Walter Madison, a family man and Rancher, originally from Oklahoma, came to Colorado to ranch before the Dust Bowl.

In the years that followed, Walter ran the ranch of Dr. Shippey, a prominent doctor in the San Luis Valley.

He raised two boys, who both served in the Navy during the Second World War, and a girl who married a U.S. Marine who served in Korea.

In 1950, needing a way to transport cattle from the ranch to the railyard, and himself to the farm from their new home in Salida - Walter purchased a brand new '49 Dodge 'B' Series pick-up.

The truck was purchased at the 'Chaffee County Motor Co.' Located at 1448 'F' Street, where the service policy listed its body type as an "Express."

The '49 had such special features as the "Pilot Cab," so-called because of its design being based on airplane cockpits. It also had seat-comfort adjustment (a first in the pick-up industry), and an armrest for the driver.

For the next fifteen years, Walter used the truck to move cattle, furniture, family and hay from one place to another.

However, by 1970, the truck was left sitting alone, somewhat forsaken in a lonely field on Palmer street- rusting and forgotten.

Scott, Walter's Grandson, always loved the old truck and Walter told Scott that truck would someday be his.

Finally, about 1997, Scott saved the truck from being completely abandoned, he repainted the truck and brought it home.

Amazingly, the truck interior was undamaged, as was the engine, truck bed and transmission.

Only a new coat of paint and a new wooden truck bed liner were added to the truck.

Otherwise, the truck was all original.

Over the next 20 years, the truck won many awards for authenticity and originalitY, and picked up the nickname 'Walter.'

But, the truck mostly sat around unused and silent.

Then, in 2018, Scott's wife Cindy had the delicious idea to run an ice cream truck in the Salida area.

But where was she going to find a truck?

And so, with just the purchase of a made-to-order custom 1940s style refrigerator for vehicles called a 'reefer,' and minimal work to the truck-