Diligence - Founder, with a strong work ethic

 

Bruce Ellingson, President
Bruce was the middle child of five born into a family that had a very hard working and honest father. Eugene Ellingson, the oldest of 8 siblings, worked on cars as early as he could pick up a wrench, drove gravel trucks around his home town of Crookston and joined the army and repaired military vehicles. Eugene married his childhood sweet heart - Clarice - at the age of 23. He worked at various forklift mechanic shops and then in 1968 partnered with Les Nielson to form Herc-U-Lift which grew to 130 employees by the time he partially retired. Bruce started working there when he was 6 and did everything from sweeping and painting to mechanic work till he was 18. During this time he realized that he enjoyed creating things more than fixing them. At Herc-U-Lift there was a big monster of a lathe for turning various metal parts for forklift repair. This lathe must have been from the early 20s, it still had the wide leather belt that ran from a pulley. This is where Bruce got the first taste of making something out of metal. His first major project was making a 10” high baseball player out of metal for his brother’s birthday. After all the parts were machined they were silver soldered together. His love for metal working had begun! Bruce also has a love for fast cars. As a teenager Bruce and his father built a bright orange big block powered 1955 Chevy with 450 HP which he still owns. In 1993 his dad opened the Ellingson Car Museum for car buffs like himself. Bruce got to make all the description stands for the vehicles. When asked The most important thing he got from his father, his reply is “Honesty…..it is the best policy.