G'day HAMBers, I recently stumbled across an old truck? chassis in the bush here in Perth and I was wondering if anybody could tell me what make it is? Its a chassis only with both axles and a drive train (engine is toast) and whats left of the firewall. I don't know much about the really old stuff but I'm pretty sure its not a Ford because it doesn't have a transverse front spring and the front axle ends go around the spindle (like a model T ford) not the other way around like the later fords. Its got a flathead 4 banger in it and mechanical brakes all round. I took a heap of photos below. The diff housing, the spindles and the ports on the side of the engine block look pretty unique, so I'm hoping someone will be able to tell me what it is! Any idea what it is? Fletty
OK so I've narrowed it down to not being a ford and not being chev because it is not an over head valve engine. Would it be dodge perhaps?
Looks like it had no front brakes at all. Can,t see where a backing plate would mount. Must be somewhere between 1910s or up to 1920. Could be a Euro or British make and that engine block was just dumped in there.
OK so I took another look and got some more photos. I still couldn't find any markings on the chassis rails anywhere but, I heaved the engine block over and found that it had a name cast on the other side of the engine block. I can't really make out the name but it is something like "CHROMIDIUM" or "ROMIDIO" or something like that. I took one photo of it then chucked some water over it and took another. There is also a photo of some numbers cast onto the top of the bellhousing part of the block which seems to have SC inside a diamond and some engine numbers. "M07030" above and "LP 223" There was also the part number Z390 cast into the engine fan boss. It does definitely have a cast aluminium sump aswell. Any ideas?
Diamond T?? There were many many now defunct truck makers. The chassis may be good for a rod. It may be too big though, it's kind of hard to judge the scale from the pics of just the chassis.
Early Reo truck had a round gas tank above the cowl, and also had a straight bar across for headlights and supporting the fenders like that. Maybe look at some circa 1920 Reo truck pics? Look at smaller Reo's, they might be called speedwagon, not sure.
Jelp - I think you maybe onto something with the Morris Commercial The first Morris commercials apparently didn't have rear brakes, and the light bars look exactly like the one on the chassis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_1_ton_van_(1928)_reg_MM_9465.jpg http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16255/lot/641/ what do you think?
Thankyou everybody for your replies, I have concluded that the truck is a Morris Commercial T type, which was made from 1924-1931. Apparently that model did not have front brakes, and it has the same front suspension and light mounting bar. If you have a look on this page and scroll down a bit there are a few photos of the same truck with the same engine with dual rear wheels: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1447329@N22/pool/ Also the Chromidium on the engine block was a type of casting metal used by an english cylinder manufacturer as well which helped narrow it down. Thanks, Fletty
The Jalopy Journal
