Larsen Museum acquires earliest pickup truck The earliest pickup truck? Come see for yourself at the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum, near 35th and Fair streets on East Campus. The museum has acquired a 1910 International Harvester Auto Wagon Model A, on long-term loan from Elton Lyles of Omaha. The International Harvester Co. began production of motor vehicles with the Auto Wagon in 1907. Known as the first true utility vehicle, it is equipped with a removable back seat that reveals a large pickup box. The vehicle is a self-propelled wagon and general purpose vehicle. Power is provided by a two-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled engine. The standard equipment on the vehicle includes flare boards, fenders, two gas headlights and two oil lamps. The Auto Wagon is known to be an early model because of the right-hand drive. It was not until 1915 that the left-hand drive was introduced. The Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum is housed in the original Nebraska Tractor Test Facility on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska. The collection includes more than 40 historic tractors, including a 1909 Ford Tractor and a 1915 Waterloo Boy, the first tractor model tested at the University of Nebraska Tractor Test Lab and the predecessor to the John Deere line of tractors. The Larsen Museum is open every day. Weekday hours are 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. The museum is open Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. More information may be obtained by contacting the museum at (402) 472-8389 or e-mail. The museum Web site is http://tractormuseum.unl.edu.
