Jane Fishman: Truck of Savannah farmer, veteran drawing crowds - Savannah Morning News
Still, I doubt Vince Pinault was ready for Robert Johnson the day the Promised Land collards guy drove in with his 1952 three-on-the-floor Ford truck. There was no problem with the truck’s V8 engine, as Johnson rarely takes it faster than 45 miles an hour. “I wanted to turn the front bumper into a cartoon character,” said Johnson, better known for the annual Collard Festival he and his brother Willie ran for 15 years on their 33-acre farm in Port Wentworth. He wanted a little “dental work” on the front bumper. A couple weeks later after Pinault cut, painted and screwed on the steel image, Johnson got it: four oversized slightly uneven teeth on the top, four on the bottom. If you think the image looks like a character out of the Pixar film “Cars,” you would be right. Johnson saw the character in a cartoon book. Pinault, who served in the Army for 27 years, opened his Alfred Street business, American Veterans Restorations, three years ago. He says he only likes to work on cars manufactured before 1980. “They’re veterans, like myself,” he said. Sixty-three years ago, Johnson, a flight engineer and mechanic in the Army, paid $70 for the Ford truck when he was returning to Savannah from Fort Campbell, Ky. Back then, the vehicle was bright red. Now the paint job boasts patina and the same lusty shapes cars and trucks used to have. Johnson knows a little something about vehicles himself. Source: savannahnow.com
