History WW II car to truck conversion

Here's one i bought a few years ago. it was used at a service station in northern WI.

 

I have this one...29 Sedan made into a cab. I have not found any doors that actually fit.

 

i came across one that had been used as a service vehicle in wheat country to service everything they used on the farm. most of the time it doubled as a portable powerplant to run irrigation pumps! i did purchase the 36' plymouth they had been using but had some kind of problem and they just left it and put everything on another vehicle. it had a malfunction being used to power potable sawmill.

 

Yep, I got the one from Poverty Flats. It features some frame to side brackets that were either taken from an 1880's wagon that was derelict in 1942 or they made them on the farm. Very unique. I'm teetering whether to keep it, return it to roadster status, or sell. It's the one in the classifieds. One of the main problems is the room issue. That wood bed is jamming the seat a full 6 inches closer to the steering wheel. Fine if you're a 4' 8" 90 pound woman (good luck steering this beast if you are) but untenable if I keep it. A week ago the fires were burning for a gorgeous original 3 window 35 Buick, but that may pass and the Model A may just stay in Tonopah. If I keep it I may 'lower' the bed about 6 inches so you can see more of the rear roadster sweep before the bed starts. If I do that the challenge will be to make it look like it was all done on the same day in 1942. Brackets etc would all stay the same. It's a good fit in Nevada if I can make myself fit into it.

 

There used to be (maybe still is) a guy in Butte MT, up near the old dump, with a "junkyard" that had lined with fences with car/truck conversions. Everything from a Beacon to Packards cut into trucks.

 

Check this baby out-at the race track.


http://www.3widespicturevault.com/OpenWheel_pic&vitals/08.02.03_009_UNK_HAT_0050_1.htm

 

Rio Grande Southern Galloping Goose
The Galloping Goose (actually the plural should be 'Geese'), or Motors as they were officially called by the railroad, were for sure among the most original railroad vehicles ever built. They largely contributed to the fame of the Rio Grande Southern and were its most prominent symbol from the thirties until its closure in 1951. These engines, built during the thirties, resulted from the absolute necessity for the Rio Grande Southern, then on the verge of bankruptcy, to cut its operating costs. They were meant to replace conventional steam trains becoming too expensive to operate, and were a kind of hybrid between a car or a bus riding on railroad tracks and a truck. They constituted single-car mixed trains, cheap to operate and able to carry a small amount of freight, mail and express, and the few remaining passengers travelling between Durango and Ridgway.

The Galloping Geese were built by the Rio Grande Southern shops in Ridgway, with very little means and a lot of ingenuity, from whatever material was available, spare car parts and other used parts. There are several hypothesis regarding the origin of the weird unofficial nickname (Galloping Goose) of the Motors. One of them claims that the name came from the waddling of the Geese on the uneven Rio Grande Southern track, another attributed the nickname to the goose-like honk of the horn of the Motors, very different from the usual whistle of steam engines. All the Geese have survived until now, except one (of which a replica has been built). Among the survivors, all but one are operational and are used occasionally on the loop track of the Colorado Railroad Museum, on the Cumbres & Toltec or on the Durango & Silverton.




Goose #1
Actually two different Motors of the Rio Grande Southern bore the number 1. The first Motor #1, built in 1913, was an inspection speeder derived from a Model T Ford and may be considered as the ancestor of the Geese. Second Goose #1 was built in 1931 following an idea of the Rio Grande Southern superintendent and its chief mechanic officer in Ridgway. It may be be considered as the first true Goose and the prototype of the whole serie. She was based on a Buick Master Six sedan, converted to rail operation and fitted with an open platform on the rear to carry mail (hence the U.S. Mail lettering on the side doors) and express. She was equiped with a front truck and a single rear powered axle. She is the smallest and the lightest of the Geese built by the Rio Grande Southern.

The design of the Motor was an immediate succes and Goose #1 soon replaced the passenger steam train between Dolores and Durango Colorado. She was scrapped in 1933. A replica was built in 2000 and is today displayed at the Ridgway Railroad Museum in Ridgway. The replica is built from the same type of car as the original #1 and is operational.

 

Here's my '27 Essex p/u that started life as a 2-door sedan. It was found in the bush already shortened like this.

 

Have one in the family, too. It is rough, but functional, and still on the road. I learned to drive in it, about 30 years ago.

 

'42 Buick conversion "Mimi" (Done at factory)

 

there is this one for sale on craigslist....

 

Here is one from Montana I picked up last fall......It sat in a run down barn for over 50 years and it we got it running great after all those years!! This particular conversion was done with a Model T bed and the workmanship is outstanding.

I love driving it around and getting the strange looks.

BTW: This one had 19" wires cut down to 16" since you could only get 16" ( not shown in pictures) tires during the war. These are definately part of our Americana.

 

I myself have a 1931 ford sport coupe that was converted to a truck.

 

pictures Joe, pictures. ;~'))

 

The stories of all the old cars being converted to trucks so the owners could get extra gas during the war is an urban myth that will, probably, never die. Gas coupons were issued to individuals, not vehicles. A regular family man got the least amount of gas, three gallons a week. Essential workers, Traveling salesmen, doctors, cops etc. got more. Truck DRIVERS, not trucks, got unlimited gas. You could not just go to the ration board and tell them that you have a truck, so you are now a "truck driver". The cars that were converted were done for two reasons. The owner wanted or needed a truck and trucks were probably at a premium during the war so buying a Model A for 10 or 15 bucks and chopping the back off made sense

 

...here's an A I had a few years back...

 

This is a Sport Coupe I had for a while

 

During WW2 in England, a lot of heavy American cars like Packards and Buicks were converted into station wagons and ambulances. These conversions were done by regular coachbuilders and were done to late model used cars for government and military service. Sometimes you can spot them in old WW2 newsreels, documentaries and photos. I don't know if any survive.

It is true that new trucks and cars were not available during the war except with a license from the local ration board, and a lot of old cars were turned into light trucks, and trucks into tractors. But this was not new. The Grapes Of Wrath describes how "Okies" cut their cars down and made trucks, to carry their families and household goods to a new start in California.

 

Here's one in a local yard. This thing is a real mash up.











Maybe the Buick (I think) was an open car and the winters were cold so they welded on the Hudson (I think) and then put a flat bed on it. Montana people have been broke, stubborn, and crafty since forever. There's a guy whose been trying to sell a "cab" made long ago out of a cut down 30's Chevy 4dr off and on C.L. for a couple of years. I'll watch for it to pop up and share his pics when he re-lists it.

 

That's got potential. Needs some work, but I like it. I'd mount a "pirate chest" separate trunk in place of the load bed.

 

as a kid in the 50s, local blacksmith had a T coupe with a pickup bed that was his mobile horseshoe truck. Saw it all around town as he was the only guy to shoe horses for our part of the county which was rural.

 

...here's a few sketches I've done...

 

...at Jalopyfest last year...

 

My 1927 Excess 2dr sedan was cut down to a pick up truck because the owner could not afford to buy a truck. he needed the truck to haul coal from down south to the farm in N.W. Indiana. He also used it to haul feed, seed, and any thing you can imagine. Don in N.W. Indiana

 

That mash-up looks like a Packard chassis, hood & grill shell. I can't tell about the body, but it doesn't look like it came from the big 3.

 

I have since had it chopped 2inches removed and saved the bed conversion and going to make it back in to a car again. Enjoy the pics! I am looking for a decklid if you or anyone knows where I can can find an original lid please call or text 210-428-3607

 

In post #49, the cab looks like a '33 Chevy five window coupe. The raised body line around the "A" pillar and the shape of the rear window indicate this, or maybe a '33 Pontiac 5 window; very much the same body. K6

 

The car in post49 is the perfect new project for 31Vicky, esp after seeing what he did w/the pu/coupe deal... .
Marcus...