A Turkish bus driver and a father of two, Ismail Mescioglu, is just one more example of something we all know. That determination and perseverance never really go to waste. Instead, they might actually reward you like they rewarded Ismail when he managed to build his very own street-legal truck from scratch. Ismail had always wanted to drive his own truck and when he knew he couldn’t afford one, he built himself one and named it ‘IMES.’
Not only is Ismail the first man in Turkey to have managed to assemble a full-sized truck without assistance from anybody but he also pulled all that off with no experience in the area, no proper plan of action and very meager financial resources. He was discouraged and taunted every step on the way during the truck’s construction but his persistence got him what he wanted.
He gathered metal scraps, sheets and spare parts from scrap dealers and constructed the chassis from them. For the motor he bought an old Murat 131. A few months of hardwork and only about $2800 got him his truck.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s courage was an inspiration to Ismail owing to which he wants the national leader’s initials “RTE” to be forged onto the license plate of the truck. Official permission is yet to be granted.
Ismail’s relatives and friends who were against the idea in the first place and ridiculed him for trying to build a fully-functional truck are bewildered and amazed at his achievement. Their lack of confidence is Ismail is exactly what lets the Turkish motorist gloat every time he takes the truck out for a spin.