WHEN Garry Mirtschin and Stuart McDonald drove their 1926 Chevrolet truck out of Stuart's shed earlier this year, it hadn't seen the sun in 36 years.

Over all that time, it had received no attention bar the occasional shot of oil in the spark plug holes and an odd turn of the crank handle.

Garry, from Gazette, near Penshurst, is a member of the Hamilton Pastoral Museum, while Stuart, of Hamilton, is part of the Hamilton and District Veteran, Vintage and Classic Drivers Club.

Stuart said it hadn't been all that difficult to get the old truck going.

"The Chev had become Garry's work bench and it took us a day to clean stuff off it and out from under it," Stuart said.

"We had to bolt a few bits back on - the cabin had been taken off and the headlights were in a box somewhere.

"The spark plugs were loose and the leads not connected, but we played around with it, put in a battery and away it went.

"It probably only took us two or three hours to get it going."

The old Chev's story began when a Hamilton courier, Alfred Dennert, bought it new to cart bricks from the Hamilton railway station to Tarrington, where a new church was to be built.

In those days, the truck consisted of just an engine hood, dash and chassis, as customs duties were too high for a complete vehicle.

Dennert built a tray with the front 60cm serving as a seat for the driver.

A wooden frame was made for the windscreen.

In 1932, the truck was sold to Walter Handreck, of Moutajup, near Dunkeld, who operated a thrasher towed and driven by a Huber tractor.

The truck carried the straw elevator and the workers from farm to farm.

Eventually, however, Handreck's threshing operations ceased and the truck was sold to a P. H. Huf, of Croxton East, near Penshurst.

Huf fitted the Chev with a 3.6m single-axle trailer to cart flax sheaves to the Penshurst flax mill during World War II.

It was later bought as a tray truck by John Linke, a farmer on the Penshurst-Caramut road.

When Linke later sold his property, the truck stayed and became the property of the new owner, Oliver Uebergang.

Some time later, it was passed on to a Victor Uebergang, of Croxton East, who used it on his farm and for transport to various shearing jobs around the district.

He later offered the Chev for sale.

It was passed in at 50 pounds, but later sold in 1951 to Douglas Mirtschin for 60 pounds.

It was used for rabbiting in the Gazette area, but by then the tyres were getting bald and it wouldn't climb the stony rises, so Douglas sold it to his brother, Gerrard (Garry) Mirtschin, the following year for 70 pounds.

Garry then fitted the old truck with a single-bag super spreader for his own use, as well as for some contract spreading.

The motor was getting worn and the timing gears were very noisy, so it was fitted up with a second-hand motor and gearbox.

Since it's been back in use, the truck has been put on display at Sandown racecourse in Melbourne as well as making several appearances at the Hamilton museum.

"We even entered it in the ute competition at the last Penshurst show," Stuart said.

"We don't normally take it too far from Hamilton."

Stuart is keen on old Chevs.

"I've got about seven of them in the shed, plus a 1923 Essex panel van," he said.

"I don't do them up too much - I'm fonder of things in their original condition.

"They're a lot more interesting."