FERGUS, Ont. — When the pedal-to-the-metal crowd meets the pedal-steel-guitar crowd in this central Ontario town for the annual Fergus Truck show this week, they’ll get a chance to see a platoon of some of the prettiest iron on the continent.

The Show ‘n’ Shine event is always a big draw. But this year, one truck in particular is guaranteed to bring tears to even the most jaded of eyes.

It’s a 2010 Volvo VN 670 with a 485-hp D 13 Volvo engine, I-shift automatic transmission, fully tricked out sleeper berth, aluminum wheels, full fairings and everything else an owner-operator might want in a truck. (Just thinking about it makes you kinda emotional, don’t it?)
 

But here’s the thing: Every year, Volvo employees in the New River Valley Plant in Virginia trick out one rig for use in the Memorial and D-Day parades Stateside, and this year, they borrowed this 670 from Sheehan’s Truck Centre in Burlington, Ont., for the honor. The truck’s a virtual history lesson.

Most recently, the truck that will be on display in Fergus was escorted through Washington D.C., by a few hundred motorcyclists, as part of the Memorial Day Weekend.

And the good folks in Virginia didn’t overlook the Canadians who fought so valiantly in WW-II.

Explains Volvo spokesman Jim McNamara: “If you look closely at the image on the fuel tank fairings, you’ll see Canadian flags in front of gravestones and a bagpiper playing, in remembrance of the role Canadian soldiers played on D-Day.”

The Fergus show opens Thursday and runs until Sunday.