Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Fair homecoming for Glen Palmquist and his 1918 Republic Truck

Glen Palmquist and his 1918 Republic Motor Truck Co. Model X11
Carl Norquist
Glen Palmquist and his 1918 Republic Motor Truck Co. Model X11

This interview posted above is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.

We met Glen Palmquist standing among a row of vintage tractors and automobiles. He was proudly displaying his bright yellow 1918 Republic Model X11 Truck. He says he and his father refurbished the truck in the 1970s. Showing it at the State Fair in Huron feels like a homecoming.

Palmquist says visitors recognize the truck. One man believes it was the same vehicle that carried his mother to the hospital the day he was born. That same man remembers the Republic truck sitting outside "Mr. Taylor's fix-it shop" in Virgil, South Dakota, in 1942.

Palmquist says he still has many of the truck's original documents, including the owner's manual. He also notes that it can reach speeds of 18 miles per hour.

Carl Norquist is a producer and writer for In the Moment. An EMMY-winning producer, Carl previously worked for KTIV News 4 in Sioux City, IA. Carl is a Minnesota native and graduate of Augustana University with majors in Art and English.