History What happened to the Roy Desbrow '32

...Great to hear that @GoJoMoJo...that's the spirit...

I'm no spring chicken either and you're right. Luxury machines they're not...it wasn't their purpose...

Get in turn the key, smile and step on it...In my spacious A Cabin it's ass in first or your gonna pull something....

Well I know I'm not alone at being part of the fan club witnessing this from our front row seats...pretty exciting really...

Keep on smiling...

 

So did it use a flathead mag then?

 

Quoted from post below from the other Thread on GoJo's Hotrod Pickup

"The pickup came with a radiator but its current set up Don was running a mag off the front cover. The olds has a block off plate and chopped off distributor shaft in the distributor hole, no starter or battery and only water in the block.

I have no idea what kind of set up he was using for the mag since it’s missing. The cam has a pump drive with a slot machined into the drive like he was running a shortened hemi type shaft. See pic"

 

Figured out what he was running today while talking to the guys at Mooneyes. It could have been one of these 2 variants. I’ve never seen either one of these in the wild other than the flathead version but on a flathead.

They did have a waterpump/mechanical injection pump cover plate though so I have that coming. Last one they said.

 

SS327,

see above. Moon used to make all 3 variants. My assumption is he was using either of the 2 magneto types since the truck has no battery tray or functional electrical.

I shouldn’t have sold the Spalding flamethrower years ago. That would have been cool.
I know a guy who has one but he wants $850 for it.

 

@SS327...I'm pretty sure Gojo provided info further to what I shared that made you ask that mag question my apologies for sharing what you already knew...I know its an Olds engine in a Flathead bay and it looks like Mags can be cross platformed by the sounds of it...good on you for your knowledge of these systems...they're a little foreign to me...but I know racing is their place and they eliminate heavy batteries or something like that...and this thing did apparently do so but nobody had cameras...

 

No apologies needed! With the 2 threads I got a little mixed up myself. I like these kind of threads and good on him for being able to find and afford a historical ride. I can never get that lucky.

 

1955 Norwalk Motorcade. The rear shot was used in a 1957 issue of Car Craft

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here’s Roy’s truck for sale. Any idea what magazine this came out of? It’s not “Hot Rod Mart”. The format is different so didn’t bother looking there unless the format changed later in the 60’s.

 

still looking for info about this ad. Anyone have an idea where to look? I’m trying to find what year he sold the truck. Thanks!

 

Roy’s personal framed Magazine picture collage. The Hot Rod magazine was given to him by Peterson Publishing in ‘52.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/edwardlloyd.1534/ You might try to contact this guy from Germany. He has a thread titled Time for another 32 pickup. I think that it is a clone of the Roy Desbrow 32 pickup. The last time he was on here was May 23. Just a thought.

 

Thanks @akoutlaw, I PM’d him last Sunday with these pics of the collage. Thought since he went through the trouble of recreating the truck he should see it first but no luck. Doesn’t seem like he hangs out here much anymore. Hopefully he’ll see it at some point though.

 

His website link is at his profile...It is still up, so I suspect you can email him as it is there...Google Translate changed the German to English...He has pics of the Clone there as well...

Happy New Year Hamber...

 

It would be great to get his opinion. He probably has a ton of research material to compare with.

 

Just sent him another message on his site. Hope he’s doing ok and he has time to express his opinion on all this. Thanks @Stogy, Happy New Year to you as well.

 

...I can smell the grease off those pics...

Happy New Year @Jimmy B

 

@GoJoMoJo There is a strong chance your blue pickup was the Roy Desbrow pickup but there need to be a thorough comparison. A few things to look for will be where the wishbones mount or if there are mounting holes like Roy's '32. Second, on the right side cowl are there filled holes where aerial mounted. Third, what is behind the timber dash has it been cutout? Forth, colour is so close. Fifth, is the front crossmember bolted in? Sixth, the blue pickup has a column shift bell below column, not above, same as Desbrow pickup

Yeah, a little grimy

Happy New Year!!

 

So the Desbrow Pickup had a panhard bar...I thought those were a newer phenomenon but I obviously out of touch with the history...

Cross steer as well...maybe I've mistaken panhard for stabilizer...

 

Thanks @Jimmy B amd @Stogy,

The Chassis is completely different from Roy’s truck. Its been green, red and black and has yellow around the body areas (fenders to frame and the exposed frame below the bed)
It has chrome rear side bells, Red center section, drop axle, Houdaille front shocks and the X-member hasn’t been cut as much as Roy’s truck. If there is a chance it’s Roy’s truck it’s just the body. Could have been a body swap to a new chassis when the motor was upgraded if it is.



The cowl has had numerous holes repaired. The truck was at the 1955 Coachman’s motorama and the antenna has moved to the bed.




What’s undeniable is the notched running boards. This is a very specific mod for a specific engine/trans combo.


The key to this mystery is what year Roy put the truck up for sale. Don took ownership of the blue truck in 1953. This has been confirmed with a 1961 registration card. I’m not sure I’ll ever find the For Sale Ad. With the amount of Magazines available during this time period it would be a daunting task to find it. My collection from this time period is not very good.

I did talk with Keith Christensen last night. He was the president of the Coachman’s car club during the 55 show in Norwalk (he was still in Highschool at show location). He was friends with Don and had upholstery work done at his shop In Norwalk. He remembers Don’s truck.

He said he invited the Long Beach Qualifiers to the show that year (Don was a member) but doesn’t remember the truck at the show but said that doesn’t mean anything as he was running around all day attending to his duties as club president.

He’s looking through his archives for photos and will get back to me. He has 4-5 albums of pictures from 54-57

 

Hey Gojo...yes we had discussions about the chassis but I was just staring at those pics that Jimmy posted and noted things I missed...If there's a mag Ad there's gotta be someone here with a copy...but yes it will take time as this has already proved that even the wild stuff sometimes misses the roving eyes...

 

@Stogy, That post was mainly answering @Jimmy B’s questions. We have discussed the chassis before.I’m thinking of carefully removing the back off the picture college and see if I can get any info from the backside of the ad. It obviously has writing on the other side. Maybe something might stand out I can search.

 

Can you put a bright light in front of the pic and see through the backing?

 

March 1952 HRM the ad appeared

 

...Wow!...that was a fast dot connection...leave that collage alone @GoJoMoJo...high fives @Jimmy B

 

Andy....the for sale ad was March of 1952! Awesome job Jimmy B! Happy New Year!!

 

Thank you @Jimmy B!!!!!!

Happy New year everyone!!!

 

After some time digesting all this I’d like to give a big thank you to @Jimmy B for taking the time to find the ad. I swore I looked through every mag in 52 and 53 on the motor trend app but must have missed this one. With that being said I believe there is a strong chance the blue truck is Roy’s pickup now.

The repaired cowl, notched running boards, the color of the overspray and paint under the blue and now the fact this truck was at the 55 show under new ownership. I can’t see any reason it can’t be Roy’s truck?

what does everyone think?