When Ertel Publishing founder and longtime Vintage Truck magazine editor Pat Ertel declared every final Sunday in June to be a special day honoring old-truck enthusiasts and their rides, the unofficial holiday quickly became a hit with readers all over North America and in other parts of the world.

In case you are just joining the fun, Drive Your Old Truck Day (DYOTD) is a time when we ask our readers to get their old pickups and SUVs out of the garage and let the public see them on the road, at parks, and in parking lots. We ask owners to take a few good photos to commemorate the day and send the best image to us for publication in the September/October issue. This year’s DYOTD takes place on June 25, 2023.

How do you participate in DYOTD? It’s easy.

Take several clear photos with your camera (or smartphone) set on its highest resolution. The locations can be anywhere you like, but try to choose an interesting setting so your truck stands out. Pick out the best photo and send it to us through one of the following methods:

• an easy upload page we built for you CLICK HERE

• as an email attachment to brad@ertelpublishing.com

• by regular mail to Vintage Truck Magazine, P.O. Box 838, Yellow Springs, OH 45387

This next part is important, so keep reading. Please let me know your name, city, and state, and the year, make, and model of your truck. Feel free to include 50 to 100 words about your truck and where you drove it on DYOTD. The deadline to get those pictures to us for inclusion in the magazine is Monday,
July 3. (If you mail it in an envelope and it gets here a couple of days late,
don’t worry. We’ll still consider it.)

If DYOTD sounds fun but you would like to take it up a notch, keep reading.

DYOTD Gas Station Contest

Last year, we asked readers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vintage Truck magazine by including the number 30 in the DYOTD photos. Response was so positive that we decided to make an annual photo contest out of the holiday—this time, with a prize!

The 2023 contest theme is Gas Stations. If you would like to participate, pose your truck(s) at a gas station, and take your best shot. It doesn’t matter if the station is old and decrepit or new and shiny—just so the photo is in focus and the truck is well presented. The staff will choose one Grand Prize winner, and there will no doubt be several honorable mentions. The winning image will be one the staff feels best exemplifies the spirit of DYOTD.

The DYOTD Gas Station Contest Grand Prize will be, appropriately enough, a copy of Phillips 66 1945–1954 Photo Archive (edited by M. Kirn) from the ErtelGiftShop.com online store. Through 117 vintage photographs, the book documents America’s post-World War II boom of the once-ubiquitous Phillips 66 gas stations.

I can’t wait to see your pictures!