GLOBAL SOCIETY
ATHS is not just an historical truck society
from America. It is actually an historical
society for American trucks. I learnt this little
piece of information when I had the pleasure
of sitting down with the ATHS’s head of
communication and marketing, Rebecca Dye.
Three months into her role and the day
before her first show commences, Rebecca
was busier than a termite at a sawmill when
she was gracious enough to sit down and
give me a brief history of what is quickly
becoming a world-famous event.
Here’s a quick summary: ATHS was
incorporated in 1971 and was forged in
an effort to preserve the history of trucks,
the trucking industry and the people that
pioneered it.The society now has chapters in 23
countries, including one right here in
Australia.
The home base for the ATHS is in Kansas
City where you will find the mecca for truck
historians, the Zoe James Memorial Library.
The library is named after the daughter of
one of the ATHS founders who started the
accumulation of the history records. In that
library there are hundreds of thousands of
photos, manuals, records, documents and
basically anything transport related.
In an effort to spread the word of the ATHS
and gather more members, the non-profit
organisation started an annual conference
and truck show. The decision was made
to have it in different chapters each year,
normally trying hard to switch between the
east and west coast.
The only issue being that each year the
show gets bigger and bigger, to the point
now where the small team of ATHS
employees, plus the huge team of ATHS
volunteers, now has to be planning shows
three years in advance.
Apparently, the goal will be to find three
more permanent homes and float the show
every third or fourth year.
So there you have it, all caught up on the
history. Now let’s focus on 2019.What happens when your
hubby is a member of ATHSand you get dragged along to
plenty of truck shows? In thecase of ‘Flatbed Red’, you turn
it into a business opportunity.
Starting at MATS in 2017, Red
was sketching a truck just to
kill time and now is flat out
with commissions. She drew
Troy Charboneau’s 1987 359
Peterbilt, later presenting it to
Troy and Tanya Arceneaux-
Smith154