f you’re a SoCal Ford truck fanatic you know full well what the end of each June means: the annual F-100 Western Nationals at Featherly Park in Anaheim, California. But do you know much about its origins or the club chapter that started it?

This excerpt from the 1998 Pickups Limited Orange County Newsletter ought to help explain: “An ad appeared in a March 1968 PennySaver issue. It had a phone number and urged anyone interested in trucking to call. That ad was placed by a man named George Dietz and his wife, Judy, who worked at the PennySaver. Judy took a lot of calls, did some PR work, and gathered together a group of six or eight guys. Because of the similar body styles of the Ford F-100s from 1953 to 1956 they had decided their [then] Pickups Club would be limited to those years. They started meeting in the Dietzs’ garage in Garden Grove, California, on Tuesday nights and sat around discussing their trucks, getting to know each other, and deciding whether to form a club. They met two or three times like this and then decided to go for it. The goal of the club was to promote these classic trucks, and in doing so to have a social club providing family fun. Of the original six members, four had to be board members. The president was George, the vice president was Dave Juhl, the secretary was Bob Williams, and the treasurer was Gene Davis. There were only a few other members. Of these original guys who spent much time and effort in setting up the club, only one is left today … he’s still in the club and other than one excused absence, has not missed a meeting in 20 years! This man is Lee Hill.”

Hill has since retired (1998) and moved back to Arkansas, but the Western Nationals kept going strong—and in the same location at Canyon RV Park in Anaheim since 1992 (it first started in Lake Havasu back in 1983), now celebrating its 41st anniversary! We’re proud to be a sponsor of Pickups Limited’s F-100 Western Nationals and hope this successful Ford truck tradition continues on for generations to come!