I've got a buddy with a '57 NAPCO. It's tall and goofy looking, but somehow manages to also look athletic. It drives, rides, and handles like a modern day U-Haul or something, but somehow also feels confident. I guess what they say is true... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
NAPCOs are fun. I forget what NAPCO stands for... North American Power co.?? something like that. I think Napco pretty much made ALL the 4x4 stuff for Gm, Ford and Dodge back then.
Like a lot of cool trucks and cars, a stock NAPCO is more fun to look at than drive. I had a '59 LWB NAPCO Chevy pretty much like the one in the reel and it beat me to death! Even on the streets. Traded it for a '55 F-100 and never looked back. A great film though - those old announcers could really pitch the deal!
Granted, they had their purpose and they were much more utilitarian than the 2 wheel drive, but they sure do look out of place (about like a lowered Jeep Wrangler). Sorry, just not my thing.
When my Dad was service manager for a Ford dealership, they took in a '59 Ford NAPCO. He said it had a Y-block, I think. He also said he almost bought it instead of the '79 F250 he ended up with. Too bad. We've still got the F250. -Dave
Those babies will pack yer bowels, as my old daddy says. Who was the intended audience? Great video, thanks Ryan.
So..."it beat me to death!" he says. You're just a bunch of pussies! Trucks like that built this country, boys - and we were damn glad to have 'em. (-: Okay.... maybe it was actually my dad's generation I'm talking about. Still, gnarly rigs like that served a real purpose in their time. People were MUCH tougher then too, and didn't think twice about getting jostled and banged around all day, if it meant getting the job done. Probably none of those units came with radios (the vacuum tubes and hand-soldered circuitry couldn't take the pounding), and even heaters were likely a rare option. My old man told me he once pulled a low-boy trailer loaded down with a 75-ton battleship turret into (and back out of) Times Square, NYC for a war bond drive during WWII. The load was so heavy they stopped all the other traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge while he crossed. Mind you, this is in a truck with straight-cut tranny gears (no syncromesh), so every shift required double-clutching (BTW - how many of you young whippersnappers even know what "double-clutching" is?). Probably mechanical brakes too. Every HAMBer should spend a week driving something like a NAPCO, just to get a sense of what it was really like to live back in the days when media bullshit and wannabe posers didn't mean jack. You did what needed to be done and took your lumps. If you had a truck that could take the same punishment, you were happy as hell. Great stuff, Ryan!
I LOVE vintage factory 4x4's! Heres my 1960 1/2 ton, my daily driver and all orriginal excpet for the 16" wheels and 7.50's I put on it. It will go about anywere at a crawl. This is a factory Ford 4X4, not a Napco although Napco did make them as well as Marrmon-Harrington. Mine has a 292 Y block, stock Ford 4 speed, Spicer transfer case and a Dana 44 front.
We still have some of the old heavy stuff around at the UofA where I work. One gets retired every so often, but driving them around sure is fun! Its more like controlling a machine, rather than motoring around casually, thats for sure!
I thought someone else posted this yesterday, but now thread seems to have been deleted. strange time warp?
Great video, the helmets the drivers wore must've been to keep from beating their brains out on the cab, lol! I remeber getting to ride in stuff like this growing up in Wahington state. You really know you're riding in a truck, unlike the stuff today they really feel solid.
Can't say that I really dig 'em, but they look like they could be fun off road. You know, just for the adventure, like climbing Everest without oxygen
There was a yellow one at Roundup in '07. Beautiful truck, the guys a hamber but I cant remember from where, College Station?
I think Napco's are pretty cool. I've never ridden in or driven one. I imagine it would be a rough ride...that's fine with me... They're pretty rare too...Rare is cool...
I've often thought about converting my '57 over to a 4x4.... I have the perfect parts truck now.... Do you think lowrider shops would grind whitewalls into a set of 33" Super Swampers.... Hahaha!!!
I had a 1952 Marmon-Harrington Ford p.u. Sold it couple years ago...It had been restored...should have kept but had to make room in shop.
I'm not sure I understand the nancy view on the ride in one of these... The only difference in suspension between a Napco of any ton rating and its 2wd counterpart 55-59 Chevys and GMCs are a pair of rear lift blocks. I do have to admit some bias since I learned to drive in a 58 Napco suburban but its not that much worse than a modern 3/4 ton truck if you actually rebuild the suspension and certainly no worse than any other leaf spring truck from the same era. Now if your riding in one of the Napco 9 foot cab/chassis 1 ton trucks with the sixteen per side rear leaf packs without any weight on it, l would agree with you.
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