Say Hello to the Amelia Family!

My trucks are my babies. And just like babies, they all are unique with their own personalities.

Amelia, is our OG. She goes by Amy for short. Born in 1962, Amy is a beautiful agave green. She was my first purchase and was actually the reason I started the whole business. The ‘Flower Truck’ was very much a hypothetical dream, until I placed my first online bid. As soon as I hit ‘ENTER’ I knew the dream was coming to life. I wish I could tell you that I won my very first bid, but unfortunately I didn't. I was outbid by a ridiculous amount. But, like all fairytales, this was just a little bend in the road that brought me to Amy. Amy was residing in the mountains of California with her friend, Gary. Gary owned her for quite some time and fully restored her to what she is today. My favorite part of the whole process was that I had to assure Gary that she was going to a really good home. I could tell she had been showered with love and he was adamant for that to continue. It felt like a true adoption! I will also never forget that after a few email exchanges, we decided to talk on the phone. Since my whole family was excited about the early stages of the journey, I put the conversation on speaker for everyone to hear. I shared my vision for Amy with Gary and the next thing I knew we were coming to an agreement. Before we hung up he said, "Hey Mattie, you live in Nashville, right?" I told him that I did and he asked if I knew Chris Thile. I, of course, told him that I didn't know him personally, but that I loved his music. Gary proceeded to tell me that Chris grew up next door to him and that they were close family friends. He told us a few cool stories about what Chris was like as a child and how he was a musical prodigy from the beginning. To me, this all seemed like fate. I'm still waiting for Chris to come to the truck so I can tell him who I bought Amy from! Chris – are you reading this?

Rory is our second child. Rory was kind of a surprise – a great surprise! You see, the thing about these trucks is that they are extremely rare. In the 70's there was a Chicken Tax placed on trucks imported from Germany. To this very day there are no German trucks imported into the USA due to this tax. This makes the Transporter Trucks exclusive – the ones currently in the states are the only ones that there will ever be. Side note, I invite all of you to research more about the Chicken Tax, as it’s an interesting history lesson! Anyways, after buying one truck it became sort of like a hobby for my Dad and I. We’d spend some of our free time scouring online ads to find these trucks. One day my Dad sent me a Craigslist Ad for one that was only 2 hours away (in Tennessee). We agreed that we should at least check it out since it was so close. Next thing you know, we were driving to the middle of nowhere Tennessee - I am talking the middle of nowhere type of Tennessee where your map stops loading and even Siri can’t help you out. We pulled up to this house that was totally operated on solar energy and met the owner, Jeff. Jeff was caring for a Dove Blue Single Cab 1962 Transporter. Jeff had completely restored him mechanically, but left the body with its Patina look. Up until this point, we were used to Amy, who only went 50 mph on the open road. When Jeff took us for a test drive and got up to 70 mph, I was pretty confident that the test drive with ‘off-the-grid Jeff’ was surely going to be our last. It wasn’t, obviously, but wow! When I got home from that little adventure, I knew that I wanted to add Rory to the family. However, that meant I needed to make sure it made sense for the business. With all of the different neighborhoods and pockets of Nashville, I realized that there definitely was a need for a second truck. So off the grid we went to pick up Rory!

Melody is our peal white baby, born in 1965. She was even more of a surprise than Rory was. Like I said, looking for trucks became a hobby of ours, so when we found Melody in Texas (only a month after we adopted Rory), I had more of a "Why not?" attitude about it. I was pretty busy managing the other trucks, so I didn't have a lot of time to fly and check this one out. Thankfully my Dad gladly volunteered to embark on the journey. He called me from Texas and told me how great she looked and that she drove really well. After reviewing the business model, I decided (again) that it made sense to add another truck to Nashville. BING, BANG, BOOM – Melody was grafted into the family! I really do feel like Melody’s story is definitely still unfolding!

Now for the names; as you may have learned in my last post, I love Doctor Who. I could write a whole post on why I love it so much. I just might do that, too. To make a long story short, one of my favorite characters is Amelia Pond (Amy for short). For some reason I just fell in love with the name Amelia. When I was watching the show, I thought that it would be such a pretty name for my ‘one-day-maybe’, daughter. As I was brainstorming names for my French inspired business (remember, I love Paris), it dawned on me that Amelia was perfect. Amelie is a very French name, so Amelia just made so much sense. It’s kind of like falling in love – when you know, you know. Isn’t that what they say at least? Ahh, I loved being able to incorporate my nerdy obsession into my business in a really subtle way. As I started to expand and get more trucks, I named the blue truck, Rory, which is Amy's Husband in the show. Then I named the white truck, Melody, which is Amy and Rory's daughter in the show. It all just fit oh-so-perfectly. I LOVE when people recognize that we are ‘Pond’ inspired. More importantly, though, I really enjoy sharing that we operate more like a family than a business. Every aspect of Amelia’s is unique, much like members of a family. We don’t fit into a mold or have a structure that can easily be replicated – we have a story with a deeper meaning. Having poured so much of myself and my personality into bringing this vision to life, these trucks really do feel like an extension of my life; these trucks are my babies.

xx Mattie