Iowa 80 Trucking Museum will host a 100th Birthday party for its 1912 Saurer and 1912 Mack Jr. trucks on Friday, July 13 at 2:30 pm. The event will coincide with this year's Walcott Truckers Jamboree, July 12-13, an event to celebrate professional drivers.

"It's very fitting that we are celebrating both the Saurer and Mack Jr. trucks, since both nameplates were forerunners to the Mack trucks we see on the road today," says Dave Meier, museum curator.

Both the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company and the Saurer Motor Company were governed by the same holding company; International Motor Company. The company was originally founded as the Mack Brothers Company by John, Augustus and William Mack in 1900.

The Mack Jr. Model was the first one that Mack produced that had the steering on the left side. Prior to that, all trucks had the steering wheel on the right; the same side horses were driven from.

"The truck was in disrepair when we acquired it," Meier says. "The restoration took over two years and this truck is only one of three Mack Jr. trucks known to still exist."

Saurer trucks were first imported in 1908. United States assembly started in 1909 in Plainfield, N.J. According to Meier, this particular Saurer truck is the only American made Saurer known to exist.