The Owsley - 1966 Original Grateful Dead "The Dred" Truck.

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20th Century Design

By Michaan's Auctions

Nov 6, 2014 - Nov 7, 2014

Set Reminder 2014-11-06 16:00:00 2014-11-07 16:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : 20th Century Design https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/michaans/20th-century-design-271
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• Lot Description
  The Owsley - 1966 Original Grateful Dead "The Dred" Truck 1949 Studebaker 1 ton "R" series truck. Rock music is here to stay, with heavy hitters like The Grateful Dead going down in rock ëní roll history.† Perhaps the holy grail of any rock ëní roll collection or piece of Grateful Dead memorabilia lies in one culturally historic automobile, known as ìThe Dred.î† It is very rare in todayís collecting world that a music celebrity-owned, iconic and culturally important automobile shows up after 45 years.† ìThe Dredî represents a frozen moment in time that references the Summer of Love of 1966, the early Grateful Dead, Owsley, LSD, rock ëní roll music and ë60s automobile art cars.† Michaanís is pleased to present such a historic automobile at auction on November 6, 2014.The Grateful Deadís newly discovered first band truck from 1966 is an ¸ber important collector vehicle.† It is an automotive representation of a historical time, complete with the key players of the counterculture revolution.† Originally purchased by Owsley Stanley in 1966 to move The Grateful Deadís band equipment, Owsley (known as the father of LSD) was also The Deadís first manager and original soundman.† The infamous automobile was Owsley developed, along with the drug LSD and the notorious Wall-of-Sound audio equipment for The Dead.† The Studebaker truck became the first of The Grateful Deadís early ìCaravan of Sixî band vehicles, which included The Deadís original Sweet Magnolia tour bus.† Dead Heads may also remember the lyric from the song ìTruckinî: ì...what a long, strange trip itís been...î and fondly link it to ìThe Dred.î†This piece of automotive culture assumes a high degree of historic reference, relevance and romance, not found in most vintage collector vehicles of any price.† To put this vehicle in context, it is comparable in stature only to iconic ë60s counterculture vehicles such as Janis Joplinís 1965 Porsche, John Lennonís painted í60s Rolls Royce and of course, Ken Keseyís ë60s Merry Pranksters bus, also known as ìFurther.îAlong with published information, Owsley himself has stated that his red 1949 one-ton Studebaker truck was officially known in the Bay Area and in Dead circles as ìThe Dred" or the "Dredded Dormammu.î† Named by Owsley after a Marvel Comic book character, this truck was used by him and The Dead to move their audio gear to local gigs.† As Owsley has stated, it was also used to move The Dead's audio gear to L.A. in 1966 for their first L.A. recording dates, as well as for an appearance at the Acid Tests held in the suburb of Watts.† After Owsley's imprisonment in 1970 on charges of manufacturing LSD, the truck was given by Owsley to an artist friend in Berkeley.† His friend applied the current, original psychedelic style paint job partially over the Owsley commissioned red paint job.† The car was then entered into the first Cosmic Car Show in Berkeley, California in 1970.† The paint job retains the original early art car paint, which visually identifies it as part of the rolling revolution of the ë60s era. †Stored for decades, it has remained in the possession of Owsley's friend from 1970 until 2012.† It was then discovered hidden in a barn in it's preserved visual state.† Fully documented by the previous owners, including Owsley Stanley (aka ìBearî), this iconic truck and itís multiple original connections to mid-century cultural history present an extremely rare opportunity for important vehicle ownership. †
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