Piscataway, NJ • The name of the company is Vehicles of Victory, LLC. Although small in size, Vehicles of Victory is the world’s number one source for WWII-era Chevrolet and GMC truck parts. And now they can spread the love for those proud WWII workhorses faster than ever.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the history of our greatest generation, and I have a special reverence for all things WWII, especially military vehicles,” says Bob Muller, who founded Vehicles of Victory 6 years ago. “So for me, this business has been a true labor of love. Only now that I’m using a tumbling media in the restoration process, it’s become a little less labor intensive.”
According to Muller, he was using a blasting cabinet to remove rust and corrosion from the vintage truck parts he was restoring. “I needed to find a better way,” says Muller, “so I went online and found a friend at Kramer Industries.”
Kramer Industries is the leading supplier of tumbling and blasting media and equipment. It was Steven Schneider, sales manager of Kramer Industries, who took Bob Muller’s call. “Steve recommended I try using their ceramic media in a vibrating tumbler,” says Muller. “It worked beautifully, and Steve’s follow up was nothing short of exemplary. It’s rare to find a supplier that shows true concern after the sale, but I found one.”
Muller says he still gets a thrill when he sees the reaction of WWII veterans as one of his vehicles comes down a parade route. “It blows them away,” says Muller, “and really opens them up. These are fellows who don’t talk about their experiences in the war very readily. But there’s something about these old trucks that puts a sparkle in their eyes and gets a conversation going.”
Muller’s company is dedicated to the preservation and recognition of one-and-a-half-ton Chevy and two-and-a-half-ton GMC military vehicles made between 1941 and 1945. “I am by no means the final authority on these trucks,” says Muller, “but I do try to share whatever technical and how-to information I’ve gathered over the years. It’s a modest body of knowledge that has come by way of asking a lot of questions, and by simply doing. That’s how I made the happy transition from blasting to tumbling with Kramer’s ceramic media.”