Every customer who visits Greeley Hat Works knows Martin. He’s an icon—the 1958 Ford pickup with the perfect patina, the honest lines, and the original GHW logo proudly stamped on his door. He’s in our photoshoots, hauling our team in community events, and serving as a reminder that we’re a business built on grit and hard work.
But Martin is more than just a cool vintage truck. He is named for a man whose personal sacrifice became the backbone of our legacy.
A Community Icon on Wheels
Martin is a true symbol of what GHW stands for. Just look at him: he's a tough, old machine still clocking miles. He’s a fixture, a rolling piece of our history that connects us directly to the ranches and Main Streets we serve. He wears that original Greeley Hat Works logo on his door, a timeless symbol that ties us back to our founding in 1909. Like our tools and machines, Martin is a piece of retro-tech that’s still fully functional and essential to what we do. He is the physical manifestation of our commitment to tradition—the kind of machine that runs on persistence, not just gasoline.
But to truly understand why we named this beloved workhorse Martin, we have to go back to 1926.
The Man Behind the Name
In 1926, the Greeley Hat Shop and Shine Parlor was purchased by a man named Ben Martin. As we dug into the archives, working with local historians, we uncovered a deeper layer of his story. Ben Martin was actually born Ben Martinez.
When he took over the hat shop, he was determined to make it successful. However, in the cultural climate of 1926, he faced an unfortunate truth: society made it incredibly difficult for a Mexican American to successfully run a respected business like a custom hat shop. To ensure that the shop would survive, succeed, and become the pillar of quality it is today, Ben Martinez made a difficult and profound personal choice and changed his name to Ben Martin.
He took that difficult step not out of preference, but out of necessity—to protect the business, preserve the craft, and ensure that customers would walk through the door for decades to come.
The Legacy of Integrity
That determination, that willingness to put the success of the business and the longevity of the craft before his own name, is the true meaning behind the truck. It’s a story of tough choices and uncompromising integrity.
When we look at our old ’58 Ford, we don't just see a beautiful classic truck; we see the sheer resilience of the man it’s named after. The truck’s enduring strength and grit are a constant, physical reminder of the foundation Ben Martin built for us.
At Greeley Hat Works, we believe in honoring history, especially the parts that reveal the hard-won character of the people who shaped it. Martin the truck is a tribute to Ben Martin. A true GHW Icon whose sacrifice ensured that we could keep making hats the right way, today and for the next century.
