Duncan Putman was born in 1952 and became interested in trucks at a very young age. Putman’s father managed various livestock (mostly cattle) farms until Duncan was ten years old, enabling him to experience trucks and to have the opportunity to ride around in the farms’ trucks as well as in visiting rigs making deliveries.

Starting in 1962, Duncan lived in various foreign countries until 1970, when he came back to the United States, received his bachelor’s degree in Radio-TV-Film production from Temple University and became an avid photographer with a focused interest in trucks.

Following college graduation, Duncan worked for Clair Brothers Audio, spending a couple of years on the road as a sound technician for major tours by artists such as Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Peter Frampton, and Chicago, along with many others. At the time, soundmen generally travelled in the tour trucks which had single drivers, although all of the techs, including Putman, drove occasionally.

A few years later, he retired from road work and started photographing trucks more and more, especially vintage ones from the post war era up into the 1970s. In the 80’s, Putman began photographing and writing for truck magazines such as “Trucks,” “Trucking International” (from the U.K. and now known as “Trucking”), and “Overdrive,” along with other publications.

Putman is a very accomplished musician, and since 1965 has been a bass player, having played and recorded with many bands and artists, some of whom are quite well known.

After relocating to Indianapolis in 1989, Duncan met Mark Harter who is even more of a “truck nut” than Putman. Mark’s knowledge of trucks and their history makes him an allround savant of all things truck and trucking related. His knowledge of Mack trucks is so extensive that old timers, employed all their working lives at Mack Trucks, or veteran truckers who drove them all their lives, have learned a thing or two from Harter when meeting him at a truck show.

Putman is a current member of the National Association of Show Trucks (NAST) and has been a member of the American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) since 1990 and currently resides near Keuka Lake in Western New York with his wife and two Black Labrador Retrievers.