I have worked at the same place for the last 30 years. Across the street is a now closed down furniture plant. Saturday the owner of the property opened a building about 200 foot from my desk and out comes a 1917 or 1918 ( I forget what they said for sure) White truck. Hard rubber tires and dual wheels on the rear. The new owner claims it was the last year for solid rubber tires and the motor was 17HP with a advertised speed of like 24 miles an hour. Although its not really my choice of a project it was kinda cool to see. He says they are going to restore it. You just never know whats tucked away close by.
Funny about it being a furniture store. Theres a furniture store in Many Louisiana with trucks from that era stored under the building
WOW...those are extremely rare, and in this condition is unreal!!! Great to hear it's gonna get a new life.
I wish I woulld of had my camera with me so I could of got some shots of the motor when they showed it to me. Its huge to only be 17hp. Another guy at work took the pics I have. These guys that own it now also own a furniture company so the wood work will be no problem for them in the resto.
A little up date on this one. The motor is back in it and it is running. The owner says when he gets it done he will bring it by the store a leave it for a day. These guys are good. I know its not a hot rod but damn any time you put this much time money and effort into a vehicle that will run maybe 20 mph I think its cool. I stated earlier that it was a 1918 but it turned out to be a 1920.
There was a place doing the remolding on your old bands. If you think Firestone or Excelsior vintage wide whites are pricey, you would S**T if you had to get some of the solids redone. Must be many thousands of $ to do all four or six on a dualie these days. There is a 1/2" to 1" thick , wide steel band that the rubber was bonded to, then that was pressed onto your steel spoke or wood spoke wheels, with a huge press.
They told me when they where getting started on this thing the price to do all 6 tires on the 4 different rims was just under $15,000.00. The duals have them both on 1 wheel. All I have are pics of the tear down on the motor. The shop that did the motor for them shared them with me. The block was 2 piece cast & aluminum. It had to be rebabbitted (sp?) and everything. It was a chunk of money for the rebuild. I love the job they did on the steering wheel.
ha ha i dig the old hauler its awesome , keep posting photos if you can , a run video with sound would be cool to
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