The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Found an Oddball.....

Guys, I'm new here, having just found your forums. A friend of mine found a very odd truck, and I'm hoping some of you can help me figure out WHAT this thing is. Here goes. This looks to be a 52 or 53 GMC, either 3/4 ton, or single wheel 1 ton. It is four wheel drive, and the running gear looks to be very original looking. I'm assuming it to be a NAPCO, or Coleman conversion?? Here is where the wierd starts. This thing has a full crew cab, with a rear seat, but only two doors. It has bucket front seats, that tilt forward for rear access. These seats look to be period correct, for a GM truck. It has a one piece cardboard headliner that also looks period correct, and full rubber floormats that look correct. The rear side windows are split, and slide for and aft, like an early International Scout. While you scratch your head about this, it just gets more strange. This thing has TWO truck type four speed transmissions, with a short (maybe 8 inch) drive shaft between them. The rearmost lever bends forward and comes through the floor just to the right and rear of the forward one, both having stock looking boots and knobs. It has two levers for the transfer case, like an old Jeep. Now back to the body...it has a pretty much standard looking 6 foot bed, with a spare tire relief in the left fender. The distance from the rear of the cab, to the fender on the bed, is maybe 6 to 8 inches less than standard, so there is a slight relief in the rear of the cab to clear the spare tire. OR it may be stock dimension, but designed for a taller tire?? Again, this looks factory as hell. I'm not done yet.... The cab and bed appear to sit perhaps 8 inches higher on the chassis, than it would on a normal pickup, but the front fenders do not. There are seperate extension pieces that bolt onto the bottom edge of the hood, and extend downward to meet the fenders. These also bolt to the fenders, making the front end one piece, in effect. The whole unit tilts forward, like a semi tractor. There is a handle on the front end of the hood, to pull to tilt it. There are two long springs connected from the hood to the firewall, by cables, again, like a semi hood. The radiator sits in a free standing core support, attached to the front frame crossmember. None of these pieces are kludged, or hand fabbed. Everything looks factory stamped, flanged, and bolted together. The only thing non factory stock appearing on the whole truck, is the engine. It is a newer Chevy six, either a 230 or 250. Oh, I almost forgot, the truck has power steering... The old type that uses the ram on the tie rod. I know nothing about GM stuff, but I know Ford used this type steering as far back as 1952, in the Lincolns. Folks, I am dumdfounded as to WHAT this thing is....I can believe that some of the running gear is non-stock, but the sheet metal on this thing is no doubt some kind of factory conversion. The steel stampings and interior pieces are clear proof that this wasn't a one off custom. Any help identifying this oddball machine would be much appreciated. I doubt it has any real value, but it is so interesting that my friend is beside himself wanting to restore it to stock. Thanks!

Any chance you could get som pictures?

could be a dealer installed type of thing or some company converted it, that one stagecoach i believe its called did crew cab conversions and maybe they just went over board with this one would be real neat to see some pictures
Nate

A picture says a thousand words...

Welcome to Stovebolt Alan Greene,

Pics please. Can't describe a beast like that without feeding us some pics.

Sounds military to me from the sound of it alan. but Im getting that off of the oversised spare compartment description so who knows? Welcome to the party. I was new 4 days ago and I feel like I have known these guys forever.Can't wait to see pics of the mystery. http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=14600923&uid=7729391

Does it look something like this?
[img]http://72.228.53.69/Web%20images/1954-Crew-Cab.jpg[/img]

If so, you found the Holy Grail. Look around for an "Armbruster" or similar plate- that was a company that did crew cab conversions back in the day.

Join www.oldgmctrucks.com, those guys will really love to see it.

Hey Alan welcome to the Stovebolt!

Where did your friend find this thing? I'm wondering if there might be some clues to its origin in where it was found. I'm thinking it might have been built for mining or logging purposes, and knowing which would be interesting if not helpful.

An outfit named Armbruster used to do custom coachwork that could have included something like this truck. What I have seen of their work was always extended cab or limo kinds of things, but the four-wheel-drive could have been done by someone else.

Where in Idaho are you? I once lived there and have a brother who lives in Boise today.

Years ago I found a '51 GMC in Idaho that had a Dodge flathead six and military style four-wheel-drive. Makes me think I need to go truck hunting in Idaho again...

I am in Boise, Idaho. I have only seen cell phone pics of this thing, taken by my friend. He is negociating the purchase of said vehicle from the owner, and has a bad case of paranoia! He thinks if ANYONE finds out where it is, they'll grab it. It looks a bit like the above pic, but it's not a cab over engine model. The hood is full length, but about 6 inches taller. And it has no rear doors, and the rear side windows are two piece and slide fore and aft. The drip rails above the rear windows turn down 90 degrees and end, both front and rear of the window. As soon as he seals the deal, I'll get some pics and get them posted for you guys.
There IS a lot of old iron here in this area, especialy trucks. You can drive around the Boise Valley area, and see dozens and dozens of the 48-early 55 GM trucks. The late 55-59s are getting grabbed up, but there are still many around, derelict. There is one neighborhood about a mile east of me, where a friend and I counted 9 60-66 GM pickups in about a 25 square block radius! There are a ****load of 57-60 Fords around here too. This valley was all farms up untill about 15 years ago, and these guys would drive their pickups untill they started having problems, then park them on the ditch banks, and buy a new one. The trucks survived in large numbers because of this. Older cars aren't as common, though. We have several antique auto salvage yards around the region, too. It's a gear heads paradise, for sure.

Well once he gets it we wanna see pictures...



-W

I've seen vehicles similar to what you're describing used as railroad maintenance vehicles. Those trucks have special offset wheels to allow the tires to run on the rails for traction, and retractable dolly wheels front and rear to follow the rails. Look for some evidence of the dolly wheels' mounting brackets when he takes possession of the vehicle. Those accessories, and the special offset wheels were usually removed when the trucks were sold by the railroads.
Jerry

Sounds pretty darn cool! Cant wait to see pics!

Jeff

I'm familiar with a place called Hopkins Antiques, or something like that, west of Caldwell. Are there other old iron oriented yards I need to visit? I may be out that way sometime this spring or summer.

If you don't have a place to host pictures email them to me and I'll make them visible on the web. I'd be happy to take the cell phone pics too for that matter. Email me direct and I'll reply with my cell phone number if you want.

Yes, Hopkins is still there...Plus B&T Auto Salvage (right on the north edge of Caldwell)and Vintage Auto, in Mountain Home (38 miles south)and the real bonanza...L&L Auto Salvage in Wendell,(110 miles south). This place has 55 acres of every imaginable thing. And there are several "caches" of stuff, all over the area, if you know where to look. This odd GMC is in one of those, and I'm told there are several 55-59 GM cabs there, in exellent condition, along with some old busses, International Scouts, and a bunch of old motorcycles, mostly dirt bikes.

Pictures, pictures, pictures. A cell phone pic is better than nothing at helping to identify it.

Welcome to the 'bolt... sounds like an interesting find...

Between Youboo and Lake Cowichan on the old road, back in 1970 ,there used to be an old abbandoned building on a huge woodsy property.This was on Vancouver Island ,BC, Canada.We once stopped and nosed around on the property and saw a few variations of these oddballs .The were most likely used for logging etc, as that's what they did in the area.These were all very used and messed up,not to mention rusted beyond redemption.Next time I went there they were all bulldozed into the ground in the back area.I never saw anything like them on the road again, a real shame, eh?

Here's my take on it.. if it's that cool, then he should buy it now, then there's nothing to be paranoid about.

From what you described, it definitely isn't a factory built truck, and more than likely something that was done as a after market conversion for a particular purpose.. like railroad, coal mining, that sort of thing.

I've seen some pretty weird crap done to trucks to make them suit a particular purpose.. and that's probably what your buddy is looking at.

Custom mods and conversions done 40+ years ago DO look pretty 'factory'.

BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT

Welcome to the Bolt Alan. The truck sounds COOL.

Like the others I would like to see it.


Cliff59

any more developements?