Auction Date: January 19, 2020
The link to the Barrett-Jackson Auction:
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1949-STUDEBAKER-M5-TRUCK-GRATEFUL-DEAD-233868
The historic Grateful Dead equipment truck – “The Dred” – used in the 1960s, once owned by Owsley Stanley!
Interview with Barrett-Jackson’s Rick Minor. After Rick’s first Grateful Dead show (Feburary 1971 in Port Chester, New York), he has attended a Dead show or a concert with an original member every year – except 1988 and 1989. One Show At A Time!
The truck was often parked at the Dead’s studio in Novato, CA, and the party house at Olympia. It was often spotted going up Waldo Grade at 25 mph, backing up traffic going to the city of San Francisco. It was in use as the band’s early equipment truck until the Wall of Sound concept required larger moving trucks. It took the band’s gear down to Los Angeles, where they recorded their first album. It was slow and a gas guzzler, but was all they had to move their gear down to L.A. The truck was mentioned by name in Rolling Stone magazine in the feature article on Owsley in the November 25, 1982, issue. The Dred is powered by an 8-cylinder engine and a 4-speed manual transmission. This piece of rock and roll history comes with the note from Owsley Stanley to Steve Cabella, a pop culture historian, along with additional great provenance.