History Great depression homemade trucks

This is my 1916 Hudson Super Six that was cut down into a truck in the 30’s the family bought it new in ‘16. They bought a new dodge sedan in ‘32 and cut down the touring car to use the truck on the farm. Still running and driving.


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I have the title of a Delaunay Belleville titled as a truck, for those of you who don't know this French brand, they are known as the cars of the tsars and were playing in the same field as Rolls-Royce.
Probably got cut down during WWII for gas.

 

Except that was a factory built Oldsmobile truck. One just like it went at auction a few weeks ago in my neck of the woods

 

I figured it was a touring car they hillbilly engineered.....see what i did there

 

Ha ha, Jethro!

 

Interestingly enough, the car/truck used in the movie "Grapes of Wrath" was a Hudson. That car still exists.

 

Interesting front wheel rims on the front of that Hudson.

 

They look like they are on inside out.

 

The wood spoke rims gave out on the old guy years ago so he put those tractor/implement rims on it. I am tracking down wood or wire spoked rims or would even do period solid metal rims if I could find some that would work.


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noboD
, Thanks. I could see the front of the Dodge when I got into the building but was not able to really see the TT part until I was towing it out of the mess

 

Please post a picture of the linkage for the doors. DBs didn't have outside door handles at this time so Rex had to improvise.

 

Sorry for the delay. I was not reading the site the last couple of days. Here are a couple of pictures of the linkage.

 

Thanks, I hope the others following this can appreciate the engineering they went through so you could open the door.

 

Thanks for bringing this one back up.
-Dave

 

30 years ago i was doing a job deep in W.V. I would get off interstate 79 well past Fairmont and pass an old place that had a 41 Ford Pick up in the yard. one day the guy was out, i stopped, talked and he took me to a back building that had at least 6 big 30s Lincolns & Caddys that had been converted to tow trucks. he had a bunch of other cars too. I believe he had a trucking business. anybody know where that was?

 

Hmm, I zoomed in for a good look at Ellie May. I'm not sure that's Donna Douglas, or an of the Clampetts for that matter. Doubles?

Great thread too..

 

That is an image from the movie that was made a few years ago, not the original TV show.

 

From the big screen movie. Not the black & white series. Mike types faster

 

That picture is from the 1993 movie called the Beverly Hillbillies.

My `28 A roadster was a depression truck when I found it over a decade ago. The trunk area was cut wider, and a box was fabricated of 2X6 boards to fit into the enlarged opening. It even had a custom cab back made out of galvanized tin. Home made windshield posts incorporated cut up T roadster or touring windshield posts for glass to slide down into. I assume the roof was wood, but could not tell for sure, because it was long gone. I bought it and two burnt gas pumps for $400. It tried very hard to fall apart when we picked it up with the tractor.










It's worth more to me as a roadster so I converted it back.

 

Yes, there is quite a bit of truth to that. My dad told me he hardly ever saw any newer vehicles in Alabama during the depression. I guess that is why I could never find much in the way of vintage tin when I was growing up driving the back roads.

 

In the 60s, we would spend some summer days at a small local farm that our cousins ran in Hamden Ct. Our Old PaPa Nick had an late 40s, light green, Chevy that had been cut up into a farm truck. Actually it was a wooded flat bed that was built and put onto the chassis of possibly a 4 door sedan. The top was cut off the car. All I remember was a front seat, windshield and no doors. I would be riding along in the passenger side of the front seat, holding on for dear life as he would be flying up and down the rows of the vegetables. Looking over my shoulder I would see the flat bed piled with bushels of tomatoes. He would cruise down to the lower end of the fields going downhill to the end of the row, turn to fly along the back row and then turn again to come up the rows to the top of the farm. It was a blast! I can still hear the 216 screaming at a high rpm as he was going through the 3 speeds. I also remember him letting me take home the dog dish Chevy hubcaps that I found in one of the barns. No doubt, they came from the green bomb that was transformed into his farm truck. Yes, he was a depression farmer who was still doing it into the 60s.

 

A coupe made into pickup...many years ago...

 

1928 Chrysler Roadster.

 

On the newer side: Wish I'd taken a photo, but I just saw it in passing - a light blue '55 Chevy sedan made into a flatbed truck. The body was cut off behind the front doors and the back closed off with wood. Saw it in West Paducah, KY in the early '70s.

 

Appears that they are anyway.

 

My Dad had a 28 model A that had an insert that slid into the trunk space. Sold it to a friend around St. Louis a couple of years ago.

 

Here's a pic from my family archives of a I think a 1922 Buick my Mom's uncle owned, have no idea of the date.

 

My Dad worked for Sears & Roebuck for 30+ years and I remember him showing me a pick-up box that they sold that would slide into the trunk area of a old Coupe.
I've searched high and low trying to find a picture, but to no avail.

This is as close to what I remember from nearly 60 years ago.

 

This picture with the bed in the trunk, and the trunk lid in it.