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History Great depression homemade trucks

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 56cadillackid, Jul 9, 2019.

  1. 56cadillackid
    Joined: Dec 23, 2016
    Posts: 103

    56cadillackid
    Member
    from new york

    If any of you read the Grapes of Wrath you learned about how families trying to reach California would buy whatever beat up old car they could afford and often convert them into trucks. While scrolling ebay I came across what appears to be a great depression era pickup conversation though it would have been a rather new car at the time. Just thinking about the history behind this truck and how it and converted cars like it may have carried people and their belongings across the United States fascinated me so I figured that a thread on the HAMB would be appropriate given the historical nature of these vehicles. So if you have any pictures of them, own one, or just have a story about them feel free to add it.
    The one from ebay is a 1935 Nash Ambassador Super it definitely reminds me of the hudson pickups and actually looks pretty good.
    Screenshot_20190709-205612_eBay.jpeg Screenshot_20190709-205621_eBay.jpeg Screenshot_20190709-205633_eBay.jpeg

    Sent from my SM-G960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  2. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Id add some ribs on the tail gate to match the hood, nomad style.
     
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  3. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,709

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    A lot of cars got turned into trucks during WWII due to gas rationing. You could get more gas coupons if you had a truck. Plus new trucks were extremely hard to get, there were a few built, but local governments got most of them. Carmakers even got into the act with pickup beds that fit in the back trunk area of some cars.
     
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  4. That is a myth that will live forever. Ration coupons were issued to individuals based upon their jobs and their necessity to the war effort. Doctors got more gas than housewives, for instance
     

  5. lumpy 63
    Joined: Aug 2, 2010
    Posts: 2,603

    lumpy 63
    Member

    I used to hang out at a local garage in the early 70s owned by Harry Dort, he opened his shop in San Diego in 1918. He told me that after the depression hit he couldn't buy old coupes fast enough to rip off the trunk lids and rumble seats to make pick ups .Sold like hot cakes.
     
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  6. ...here' a Dodge(corrected) I like,..and a few sketches
    jalopyfest 9-6-14 019.jpg jalopyfest 9-6-14 022.jpg jalopyfest 9-6-14 021.jpg jalopyfest 9-6-14 020.jpg woodart 2018 362.jpg woodart 2018 363.jpg woodart 2018 364.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
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  7. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,338

    topher5150
    Member

    kind of like this one The-Beverly-Hillbillies-41.jpg
     
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  8. LOU WELLS
    Joined: Jan 24, 2010
    Posts: 2,754

    LOU WELLS
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from IDAHO

    They Just Had To Get The Job Done...And Did.. 1 a hay.jpg
     
  9. 28sc
    Joined: Jul 10, 2019
    Posts: 8

    28sc

    Hello,
    I just joined specifically to post on this thread. I generally just read and learn. This truck is a 1918 Dodge Touring car cut just behind the front seat. This was pretty common in the era to create a small truck. The top is a cut down California Top. California Tops were used to create a closed car from a touring. I could not see how this one was made when I was digging it out of the hoard in a condemned building this spring. Once I got it out I was able to see that the chassis was also cut and a Model TT back half was grafted on. Everything bolts up and rolls well. I intend to restore the vehicle as it sits.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,405

    alchemy
    Member

    Thirty years ago my Dad bought at a local farm auction a 30 Ford pickup with a 29 roadster rear bustle welded to it. The exact opposite of turning your passenger car into a truck. Who knows why? We always refered to the abomination as "The Pickster". Dad disassembled the thing, cutting the bustle off and sold the nice cab at a swap meet. Many of the 29 fender parts went onto my little bro's black coupe.

    Nowadays my bro drives his hot rod 29 A pickup that is made from an old shortened sedan conversion. He found it a couple decades ago, thinking he'd use the good doors and cowl for repairing a coupe or sedan, but the thing just had a vibe and he rebuilt it into a pickup again with the old green hot rod paintjob. He'll post some pics here I'm sure.
     
  11. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    That most likely is a Rex Top. If it was, the wooden door tops were removable with two bolts for summer use, and they had a compartment above the windshield to store the side curtains in case of summer rains. I had a 1920 Reo 6 made into a pickup with a cut off Rex top.( 2 pics below) Those tops were very expensive when new.
    t8ox00.jpg 2dj8ok1.jpg


    California tops were also made for roadsters, but are extremely rare. I put one on a 1918 Studebaker that was once a touring that was made into a fancy shop truck in the 30s. I can't find a pic of it right now.

    below is a 1925 Star touring made into a pickup in the depression. I sold it to a friend who lost it in a huge barn fire last year. I did put the correct rear wooden wheels on it after this pic was taken.
    2e6anx0.jpg

    .
     
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  12. Bruce Lancaster
    Joined: Oct 9, 2001
    Posts: 21,681

    Bruce Lancaster
    Member Emeritus

    "...That is a myth that will live forever. Ration coupons were issue..."
    Yes right, but there were pickup conversions motivated by rationing! Farmers were a group with ration rules based on their necessities. In the '60's I spent a LOT of school vacation time with my wonderful Grandfather, hunting in rural Mississippi and Alabama for '32 Ford parts for the picked over hulk of a '32 I owned. Damned poor pickings...I suspect that no one in Mississippi had enough money to buy a car in '32.
    My Grandfather was a retired county agricultural agent who knew everyone and was very social, hunted for leads all year, and we spent the summer tracking them down.
    One reported hulk was behind a barn covered with weeds; naturally, it wasn't a '32 but was most of the body of a '31 Fordor, the fancy one with armrest and stuff inside.
    We got the story from a man whose family had owned it as the family car AND family truck.
    they drove it everywhere, sometimes full of the family, sometimes with back seat pulled out and luggage rack down loaded with all the stuff bought and sold to run a farm, including and occasional calf or two.
    cone WWII and rationing, they traveled to wherever the government was in East Nowhere, Mississippi to get signed up for farm truck rations. The Powers that Were were sympathetic, but pointed out that their truck said "Sedan" on its paperwork and so there.
    After much whining and arm waving, the truth had to be adjusted to match bureaucratic truth...
    They got a cab and box from a junkyard, swapped tin until the feds were happy, changed their registraion with state and county, and voila! Their truck became a truck! They now got enough gas to keep the farm going, but had to ride to Church on Sunday with Aunt Petunia in the truck bed. I got to pick over the sedan bits a quarter century later.

    Those were good summers...I learned a LOT about the pre-1960 past, still largely alive in Mississippi, found people and amazing cars (none of them '32's, which didn't matter since I had no money), and had a great time for years.
     
  13. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    I found some more pics on a pic hosting site that is horrible to access...I wish I could upload some more Rex pics for your resto.
    Here is the 1918 Stude first.. I found the Rex roadster top in a friends barn, and it fit this Studebaker cutdown touring good enough, even though we never knew what brand of roadster it was originally made to fit.
    rexstude2.jpg efkq6x.jpg

    below are more pics of the 1920 Reo with Rex Top. Pics show the overhead storage of the summer side curtains. These curtains were never used as they still had the tags on them.
    2ajvxhd.jpg
    10e3tdf.jpg 14sz98z.jpg

    The Rex brass ID tag was above the windshield on the Reo. You can see the fancy broadcloth that was used on the headliner.
    1etfn7.jpg

    I've owned way too many cars in my life, it seems. I recently lost my passions of owning anything at all, so I doubt I will ever end up with any more.
     
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  14. I have a couple of them. The 1st one is one my dad made from a '27 Chrysler in in '55, it wasn't during the depression but he was trying to keep the farm running so money was and still is tight. The second picture is the phaeton I'm making out of it. Third picture is a '26 Dodge flatdeck made from a car way back. When I got it it had a gravity dump box on it but I made it into a flatdeck for around the farm. IMG_20190402_072706557.jpg IMG_20190629_064745324.jpg IMG_20190519_122344353.jpg
     
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  15. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    Isn't it amazing what and how they got things done back in the day?

    I always look back at that era with amazement with the things accomplished with little to no money. Some of us can't afford a certain tool etc and with a garage full of tools, grinders, welders, torches etc we can't build it but I guess it's was really true back then " necessity is the mother of invention".
     
  16. Shutter Speed
    Joined: Feb 2, 2017
    Posts: 941

    Shutter Speed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    When my better 1/2 and I are looking for a replacement vehicle, the question always arises,

    "How many hay bales will it hold?" !
     
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  17. Gearhead Graphics
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 3,890

    Gearhead Graphics
    Member
    from Denver Co

    I think I own that car now. Explains why my fenders sag!
     
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  18. Dave Mc
    Joined: Mar 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,575

    Dave Mc
    Member

    I have what's left of a 31 Ford coupe that was cut and made into a pickup. the chassis was good , so it ended up under another model A body.
    IMG_0705.JPG IMG_0706.JPG IMG_0709.JPG
     
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  19. town sedan
    Joined: Aug 18, 2011
    Posts: 1,290

    town sedan
    Member

    The full on conversions are cool as hell, but I'm also curious about the vintage aftermarket conversions.
    I know Sears Roebuck as well as others sold kits to turn a trunk into a small pickup box. My dad during the 1930's had a T coupe with a homemade box that set into the space that use to be covered by the decklid.

    Does anyone have pictures, or any other information on these period "truck" conversions?
    -Dave
     
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  20. NWRustyJunk
    Joined: Jan 2, 2017
    Posts: 481

    NWRustyJunk
    Member

    My little '26 Dodge Brothers.
    IMG_20190710_150033158_HDR.jpg FB_IMG_1548725363137.jpg
     
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  21. 28sc
    Joined: Jul 10, 2019
    Posts: 8

    28sc

    F&J, Thanks for taking a look at my post. The Rex top you have looks a lot like mine even down to the broadcloth scraps hanging in the cab. I am enjoying this thread a lot.
     
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  22. 28sc
    Joined: Jul 10, 2019
    Posts: 8

    28sc

    My 24 Model T pickup was a Runabout prior to being converted into a pickup. The back deck or turtleneck is removable. The bed I have is all wood and curved to fit the back of the cab closely. I have some documents on the car suggesting it was a pickup as early as 1930 based on registration.
     

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  23. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Read it and weep. 1931 Cadillac V12 touring car cut down into a farm truck, photographed in the early fifties. Note the twin side mounts, welded on to the back wheels to make it a dually.

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Smith Form-A-Truck. Turn your Model T into a one ton, chain drive truck. Apparently there are a few of these still around.

    [​IMG]
     
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  25. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 17,388

    Squablow
    Member

    Never saw a conversion top for a roadster or touring into a coupe or sedan before today, very interesting.

    I've also heard the gas rationing stamp myth, and heard these things called "depression trucks" but I really think they're both a misnomer. Old cars were cheap, trucks were not, so old cars got chopped up into trucks for farm use. Really didn't need any further explanation.
     
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  26. noboD
    Joined: Jan 29, 2004
    Posts: 8,456

    noboD
    Member

    28sc and F&J, from what I know DB used several winter tops. Anchor, Weatherproof, Acorn, Rex and Johnson are some. I know of two roadsters with Rex tops and maybe a dozen touring cars. 28sc, your truck is cool. These trucks kind of remind me of utes from down under.
     
  27. Dave Mc
    Joined: Mar 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,575

    Dave Mc
    Member

    I was told , During World War 2 , pickups were given extra gas rations, that was often the reason for modifying coupes with a box in the back etc.
     
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  28. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    No pictures but I put groceries in a Model A coupe that had the conversion bed in it in 1964/66 when I was a box boy at Safeway. An old couple had it and that was their only vehicle that I figured at that time they had had since it was new or near new. The woman used to have me go to the back room to look through the sacks of flour for a certain pattern that she was using to sew something with. They lived on a farm far enough out of town that they normally showed up about once a month.
    The wrecking yard we used to hit a lot on Saturdays out east of Waco TX had an early 30's Packard that had had the body cut off behind the front seat and had a wrecker boom on it. Yard owner said it had been "the" wrecker for that yard in years past. From the looks of it it had gone from road duty to yard dog before it gave up the ghost and got parked in what appeared to be a place of honor.
     

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