This is a true story about a little boy, his grandpa and a dream

My grandpa called me "Duck." He said I had big ears and big feet and probably would not become anybody famous. I know he did love me a lot, but he loved something more than grandma or me...It was his little red '41 Chevy truck.

Grandpa was a roofer and a coppersmith. He lived in a little house in a small town on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. The little town was called Dobbs Ferry. Grandma and Grandpa Bray settled in this little town and raised a family.

Grandpa put most of the roofs on many different size houses throughout the village. He was the "best roofer for miles around!" People of the village said grandpa was also a coppersmith.

Grandpa's little red truck was a 1941 Chevy. When the Chevy company manufactured this little truck, WWII was happening across the ocean. Trucks like my grandpa's were used to recruit, that's a big word that means to join the Army, or the Navy. When Grandpa bought this truck he paid $450.00 and the gas cost was not very much. Since Grandpa drove around Dobbs Ferry, his little red truck did not need a lot of gas.

Grandpa would let me help him work on his little red truck, but it had to be done to his liking. "Duck," he would say, "I'm not going to watch you, but don't do anything wrong or I'll tell your father." So I followed grandpa's specific directions for washing and drying his little red truck. Every Friday, Grandpa would take me to the bank in the truck. We took lots of rides together.

After many years of driving his little red truck filled with his roofing supplies from house to house, roofing job to roofing job, Grandpa's business was getting busier. He bought a second truck and his son Bob drove it to the jobs.

I, too, grew up in Dobbs Ferry. I graduated from college to be a teacher working with wood-a craftsman like my grandpa.

There was a war when I graduated, just like the time when my grandpa bought his little truck. I joined the Navy and became a member of the team on the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. I went to a foreign land called Vietnam.

After the war, I returned to teach high school in a nearby village near Dobbs Ferry. I also became a fireman and would travel the streets grandpa and I traveled many years before. I often thought of grandpa's little red truck. I wondered, What ever happened to it?

It had been many years since I had seen the little red truck. But I had since found memories about it. Now this is where this story takes a fascinating turn...

One day when I was at the dentist, Sandy, the dentist's receptionist and I, were talking about trucks. She told me that in her garage in Yonkers she had found a little red truck. It had some writing painted on its side doors and she invited me to come and see the truck.

The first chance I had, I drove to Yonkers, New York and to the garage. Slowly...I opened the large door and in front of me was a very special memory come to life! It was grandpa's little red '41 Chevy truck!!

My eyes widened and a soft tear ran down my cheek. All of my wondering and dreaming had come true! I walked very carefully to the side of Grandpa Bray's truck. Sure as can be-it really was the little red truck!

I stood there in amazement as Sandy did not say a word. I took my hand and touched the truck of my dreams. I slowly took the door handle to open the passenger door. I had ridden in the side so many years before. Although I'm a grown man now, for a split second I felt like little "Duck" all over again. After so many years, the little red truck had two flat tires and was covered in dust.

In front of me was the small truck's glove compartment. Grandpa always kept his important papers in there. He told me many times. I took my thumbs and pressed against the little door and it popped open. What wondrous things appeared to fall out onto the floor of the little red truck. There seemed to be lots of receipts for the truck; gas to make it run and one special piece of paper told me how much grandpa had paid for his truck in 1941. I picked up all the papers and put them back where grandpa had left them.

For the first time in my life, I slid across the long front seat and I was sitting where grandpa always sat; the driver's seat. Even though I was in the truck in the garage, I felt like I was on the open road, driving like grandpa did, driving down the streets of Dobbs Ferry, lined with big and small houses, sidewalks, flowers, gardens, trees, and families.

My dream had come true! I found grandpa’s little red truck and it was filled with memories. Before I left the truck that day, I softly said "Grandpa, I found your truck."

Every day, I visit and work on the little red truck at its new garage. The very first garage it was ever in when grandpa brought it home to his house in Dobbs Ferry! I am hoping that with lots of "elbow grease" as Grandpa Bray would ay, the little red truck will soon journey down familiar streets of my childhood.

Story submitted by Ronnie Bray, the 3rd generation owner of this 1941 prewar built-post war sold Chevy truck (grandson of Elliott Bray Sr. and son of Elliott R. Bray)

Ronnie's grandfather owned Elliott Bray Roofing and used a 1941 Chevolet truck and a 1949 GMC truck for his roofing business. The original lettering on the sides of the truck was done in 1947 by the DiLasico Bros. lettering company (Yonkers, New York). When he retired in 1974, Bray's grandfather sold his trucks to a local salvage yard for $250. Upon purchasing his grandpa's truck back, Ronnie began restoring it in the same garage it used to work out of as a roofing truck. Besides the brake cylinders and a broken left tailamp lens, the truck is complete, right down to its three original keys from the ignition, doors and glove box.

Note: In the early 1940s, with the shadow of a forthcoming war, the U.S. military launched the first motorized recruitment stations, which traveled up and down the streets of the U.S. Patriotic 2-sided billboards were placed into the pickup bed and used to aid recruiting for the U.S. armed forces.

GM Product Expert Note: This is a 1941 Model AK. This design was called the Art Deco design and was introduced in September, 1940 and produced until January 30,1942 when civilian production was halted for WWII. This same basic design was used again from November, 1944 through August, 1945 when Chevrolet produced a limited number of civilian trucks and again from August 20th, 1945 when full scale civilian production resumed, until May, 1947 when the all new Advance Design models appeared.

On July 19, 2009, the little red truck makes its debut at a classic car and truck show in Westchester County, New York. It is the first of many shows that Ron hopes to share the little truck with others. Bobby and he have driven the little red truck all around the village of Dobbs Ferry, New York and it is quite a sight.

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