For Dodge collector, brand holds story of a lifetime

WEST PLAINS, Mo. — Larry McVey was excited to hear that Dodge Trucks was one of the featured brands at the just-wrapped 2024 Historic Farm Days in Penfield, Illinois.

For McVey, however, Dodge Trucks has been the featured brand of a lifetime.

And for the truck driver, Dodge collector and tractor puller, the Dodge brand represents the story of his lifetime.

“I use all my Dodges. I don’t really have anything new. I just prefer the old stuff,” he said.

Like many collectors, regardless of their preferred brand, McVey’s love for Dodge connects to his childhood.

“The earliest days I can ever remember were the Dodges that my dad had for the trucking company and for personal use. This goes back to when I was 5, 6 years old, with a 1963 Plymouth that Dad had and he had Chrysler cars before that, as well as Dodges,” he said.

And at that early age, McVey inherited the need for speed and learned the power of the big block Dodge motors.

“My earliest recollection was being in the back seat and Dad would pull out to pass and step on the gas, because he liked to go fast, and it sunk you back in the seat,” he said.

“I remember riding with my aunts and uncles, they didn’t drive Dodges and they’d get on it and it was like, ‘Well, are we going to make it or not?’ They just didn’t have the power that Chrysler and Dodge products had.

“That was my earliest memories of Chrysler and Dodge, that they would scare you in a good way, because they were loud and fast and they would lay you back in the seat from the g-force.”

McVey’s collection started with the Dodge power units that he owned when he owned McVey Trucking, the company started by his father, Lloyd McVey Sr.

“We had 150 Dodge semis. We had Dodge Big Horns. We had a 1974 Big Horn that Dad bought new. I bought it off of him about 10 years later,” the collector said.

As McVey built his Dodge collection through an assortment of Dodge trucks that he owned and kept over the years, he also built a collection of the bits and pieces needed to repair and restore them.

“I was driving a semi around Florida, and every junkyard I came across, I would stop and get parts, molding, clips, fenders, the windshield wipers that were made of aluminum. I started grabbing all that stuff in the early 2000s, knowing that one day, I’m going to need that stuff for the trucks I did have,” he said.

As McVey drove around the country, he found the parts — and whole vintage Dodge trucks of any model — harder to find.

“I realized I need to start not driving these things as much, the older trucks, because it’s getting harder and harder to find parts. The stuff I have is going for sky-high prices today because nobody can find it,” he said.

“They crushed all the parts along with the cars and trucks because nobody wanted Dodges. That’s why the old Dodges today are getting really high priced. They weren’t worth much back in the day and there aren’t as many of them now.”

It’s not a stretch to say that McVey can spot a Dodge wherever he goes, from a Florida junkyard to a Colorado mountain.

“I was in Colorado one time, at 11,000 feet, coming down Wolf Creek Pass. I was on my way to Las Vegas. The company that I worked for built Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play. I got to about 9,800 feet. I looked off to the side, saw a country road, country house and there were about 40 Dodge pickups there, out in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“I wondered how in the world? I was coming down a mountain and I saw all these Dodge pickups. I wondered what the story was on that. I never got back to find out.”

Finding large quantities of complete and vintage Dodge trucks in one place is more rare, McVey believes, than with other makes, like Chevy and Ford.

“You don’t see that very often, like you see other makes. It just seems like there were a lot more Fords and Chevrolets made or saved than the Dodges,” he said.

McVey’s collection now stands at eight Dodges and a Dodge golf cart. The collection includes a 2001 white Dodge dually, which is the last new vehicle he purchased, as well as a yellow and white Dodge truck that he uses in truck pulls with the National Tractor Pulling Legends Series, along with his 1955 modified Massey Harris pulling tractor, Super Banana.

Parts of the collection represent the story of everyday life. The 1979 Dodge Lil Red Express in McVey’s collection is one of those stories.

“I bought a 1979 Dodge Lil Red Express brand new in 1979, but I needed money to make the down payment on my house in 1990, so I sold it. I had to wait 34 years to buy my Lil Red Express back,” McVey said.

The Lil Red Express, like each of his Dodge trucks, represents success — and a story that, to McVey, is truly American.

“You had to do what you had to do at the time. As you became successful by hard work, you were able to get that stuff back finally. It’s a really good American story that a lot of countries don’t have,” he said.

“Other people don’t have the opportunities that we have in this country. I know it’s a tough time, but a lot of people don’t realize how lucky we are to live in this country.”