Minnesota man seeking Grampa's truck in Southeast Missouri

Certain memories are not easily forgotten. Especially those involving burning vehicles and fast-acting grandparents. One Minnesota man is on a mission to locate the truck associated with that memory, and he is offering a reward to whoever can help him track it down.

A recent advertisement in the classified pages of the Southeast Missourian boasted a $500 cash reward in exchange for the rediscovery of a 1972 GMC pickup, loaded with sentimental value.

Mark Hagen, who took out the advertisement, said the truck belonged to his grandfather, and he and his brother want it back because of their fond memories of spending summers on his farm in northern Minnesota.

The copper colored GMC Sierra is believed to have been sold to a man named Jeff, near Whitewater.

Hagen, 60, said the truck was all-original when he saw it last, with a deluxe interior and a 350 V-8.

�This thing was loaded,� he said. �It had everything except A/C. And that 350 engine, boy, it had some balls. People take those today and make them into race engines.�

If the truck is recovered, though, Hagen and his brother plan to restore it to its original glory. Hagen said his grandfather, a grain and cattle farmer, was reluctant to get a truck in the first place.

�He had this 1950 Chevrolet coupe and he drove it just like a pickup. We told him, �Grampa you got to get a truck.� We kept on him; we never thought he�d get one that nice,� Hagen said.

Hagen�s younger brother, Matt, 50, learned to drive in the vehicle, and their grandfather, who lived into his 90s, often wanted his grandsons to drive him around in it.

Their grandfather even built some aftermarket additions of his own: a toolbox and box rails made out of plywood and two-by-four.

�He painted them white; it matched real nice,� Hagen said.

Hagen recalled one occasion when his brother had driven the truck across a field not long after the combine had been through harvesting barley in late fall.

�Grampa, he didn�t want that pickup out in the field. He thought the straw would get caught up in the undercarriage. Well sure enough, it caught on fire,� he said.

Hagen said he and his brother and both his grandparents were all packed into the cab, driving to town when they began to see sparks.

�He stopped the truck and Grandma took off running. She thought it was going to blow up. Grampa reached into his tool box, pulled out a tire iron or something, got up underneath it and beat that burning grass out of there,� he said.

The truck suffered no damage from the incident and remained in good condition for as long as it was in the family. Hagen�s late uncle John Hoper brought the truck with him from northern Minnesota to Sikeston, Missouri, where he managed Cummins Missouri Diesel. Hagen as a young man also lived there for a time, sweeping floors at his uncle�s shop.

Now in the construction business back in Minnesota, Hagen said he and his wife often drive through Southeast Missouri on their way back from Florida where they spend the winter. He said they take wide detours, through Whitewater and the surrounding area, stopping to speak with friendly locals in hopes of finding a lead on the whereabouts of the pickup.

Though nothing has turned up thus far, Hagen is hopeful. He plans to run the ad again and said he likely will boost the reward to $1,000.

Anyone with helpful information regarding the whereabouts of the 1972 GMC half-ton copper colored Sierra can reach Hagen at (218) 779-9384.