Well, it looked beautiful and there was a whole lot of documentation on the 1959 International Harvester that showed it was in Africa and a bunch of stories that talked about how it was used. I was impressed enough with it that I took some photos to pass around to some Airstream buffs that I know.
That’s when I got a call from a relative of Wally Byam named Dale, who said the vehicle was not on the trip. It was a real 1959 IH, but it was “not in Africa,” according to Dale.
Wow, I saw the documentation myself and it looked very genuine. Dale assured me that this particular vehicle was a replica of the IH trucks used in Africa and that they never had one painted in those color schemes, and the logo on the door wasn’t even close to the original.
So why would anyone fake a tow rig? Well, if it was one of the few real IH trucks that went on the journey with Wally Byam then it would be worth a tidy sum to a collector of vintage RVs because there probably are only a couple left in existence. So it appears that someone, somewhere was trying to make a few bucks off of Wally’s reputation.
I plan to continue to follow this story and hopefully I will learn more. Either way, it pays to do your research before you go out and buy a vintage RV or trailer…if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! And documentation means nothing unless it can be verified.