FOUND - Olson aluminumstep van

I found an Olson aluminum bodied delivery van, probably early '50s / late '40s. It has a 292 Chev six. Can anybody give me info on these? The wheelbase is about as short as a Jeep. I know the company still exists and they make aluminum mail delivery trucks but their website has very little about their history. I'd like to rod this van. Any ideas?
Thank you.

 

If the 292 is original, it's from the mid to late 60's at the earliest.

 

After WWII Gruman needed products to make in their huge aircraft plants. The aluminum bodied step vans is what they came up with. In the later 50's or early 60's they merged with Olsen. I've had 2 of the '46-'48 versions thinking I would use them for swap meet haulers. There are two that show up at Carlisle that are used for just that.
I believe there is a Gruman-Olsen web site with history. Do a Google search.

 

with 292 60's for sure. where are the pic's?

 

Here's two recent photos. I'm still negotiating w/ current owner.

 

With that grille the truck is probably a 47-53. The grilles of many step-vans usually were a variant of the year ch***is they were mounted on.

 

I have a 75 union city step van with a 292.

 

That one is probably the shortest they made in that period. There were longer ones in 2'-3' incraments up to the really long potato chip bodies.
Be careful with those curved gl*** windshield corners, their impossible to find.

 

That "Chevy" grille was used for many years,,,

 

take a picture of the instrument cluster, it's the easist way to figure out the year if you don't have ***le/registration/VIN

 

Wow, 2 years later and you're still trying to buy it? That's persistent.

 

Being persistent usually pays off.

Very cool little van.

 

when it came to "custom coach building" they did a number of things to cut corners. i recall looking at a mid 60's school bus that has a 52' chevy AD truck dash. that grille variation was used for many years.

 

Jeeze, my buddy has a couple you can buy right now, like a '70 Chev that runs and goes and looks a lot like that, and a '57 Boyertown van that needs more work but is all there.