Jump to content

Vintage Oneida Truck


Guest sky1928

Recommended Posts

Guest sky1928

I recently ran across a "Barn Find" mid teens Oneida truck. It appears to be a 1-2 ton. Decent cab and frame, but no bed. How popular are these trucks? What would be the value and how hard are parts to find?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

post-71213-143138338193_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jim_Edwards
I recently ran across a "Barn Find" mid teens Oneida truck. It appears to be a 1-2 ton. Decent cab and frame, but no bed. How popular are these trucks? What would be the value and how hard are parts to find?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Obviously a very rare find. Oneida Motor Truck Company was a Greenbay, Wi. company that built trucks between 1917 and 1931. They were primarily a manufacturer of stake side trucks and were reasonably successful as a manufacturer of buses. Obviously with only a 14 year production history parts may be hard to come by. Determining what engine it has in it may be the clue to how hard parts might be to find. If its a Continental or other popular engine of the time might be a piece of cake parts wise.

This is a link to some of their advertising:

truck ads

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sky1928

Larry and Jim,

Thanks for the replies.

I have been doing a bit of research, but have not found much pertaining to how many still exist. I do have a few more pictures, but they are not too good considering that the barn was packed full of other goodies and clear shots were not possible. I will have another chance to see the truck in a few weeks and possibly look it over better. I will also find out if it has a title.

I will post more pictures and stay in touch. Does anyone know what a fair price would be?

Best Regards,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sky1928

Bofusmosby,

No, the picture you posted looks very nice. This truck needs work, but has potential. There are no rust-through areas and the paint is faded, but appears original. Some glass is missing/broke and the light lenses are missing. Steering wheel is incomplete. That's about all.

Best Regards,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Guest Doug Rabas

I own a 1920 Oneida truck, it is complete and was used by my family in parades circa 1960 and ran well, one water leak at water pump. Has been stored inside on blocks until present. This truck was appraised by an agent for The Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI in or about 1985 valued 'as is' $16,000, valued professionally restored $32,000. Hope this might be helpful. I would interested in any information, history about Oneida trucks and their manufacture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sky1928

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the reply. The research I have found to date is not very much. It appears only a few are around. Do you have any pictures you could eMail me? at lamberty586@comcast.net

I would like to see some pictures of another one to see what they look like, hopefully more complete than this one. This truck has only the cab, on what appears to be a partically restored frame. I still have not found out if the owner has a title, but will be in touch with him over the winter.

If I find out any more information, I will definitely share it with you. Stay in touch. Are you located in Wisconsin?

Best Regards and Merry Christmas!

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...

Hi all!

I reached out to Paul regarding the barn find Oneida and with his help was able to purchase the truck.  We are currently researching and restoring it.  The Oneida Motor Truck company is very dear to me because my great grandfather started the company.

I started a Facebook page about the restoration, although I haven't kept up with it but there is a good video of the first look at the truck.  

I'm hoping to be at the Iola WI swap meet this year to look for needed parts.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing about the smaller more obscure makes like Oneida is they were usually assembled trucks. That means they bought engines, frames, axles, wheels, brakes etc from outside suppliers and assembled them into a truck. If you can find out what engine etc they used it can make finding parts easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An Oneida truck sold in 2004 at the Chet Krause sale by Aumann Auctions.

Chet found it in Green Bay in new condition.

Apparently built for the WWI effort but never made it into service so it was, virtually, brand new.

I believe the odometer showed 27 miles at auction time.

Chet would liked to have paraded it more but it did not have an impulse magneto and he didn't want anyone to break their arm starting it so I retrofitted an impulse to the magneto which took care of that issue.

It ran like a top too.

It sold for $10,500 plus a buyers premium and went to Iowa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As already mentioned above, Oneidas were "assembled" (as were a lot of period cars)...the Coachwork entry is incomplete, as old catalogs show Wauks in the later years (the Coachwork site is a veritable mine of information)...

OneidaTruckLady--that Wauk series (X,,XA,,XAH, ) are all listed in old catalogs for early IH trucks, in case you're not already aware, and were extensively used as free standing power units as well as in gensets, pumpsets, combines etc...there's also a lesser popular XAK...

The online car and truck specs list the the various vendors, but you have to go to old catalogs etc to find actual model numbers to learn if your engine, transmission etc was a then popular model or bad news as a low production unit...

Cont'ls, Hercs and Wauks are bad enough, but Hinkleys...altho Diamond T used them, so it's not hopeless...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We thought it was an early model but the VIN plate says 1928. The good thing is that with such spotty records, we can get by with vintage parts from the era. But they still have to fit in the same space which can also be an issue.

As we go through the truck, we have found evidence of either maintenance or previous restoration issues as parts were put in incorrectly. 

I do wonder about the engine because it does not really fit between the engine mounts on the frame, but it may have also been in an accident because the frame is tweaked on one side.

I've been searching through other forums for the parts we either need to replace or remake, so any resources are wonderful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The truck has a whole host of problems, but miraculously all of the original glass in the windows and doors was there and unbroken. We were worried about the driver's door window, but it had fallen inside the door but was still there and whole.  Also amazing is the condition of the roof. Although the seat was destroyed by squirrels/mice/other rodents, the cotton batting in the roof was pristine and after gently wiping off years of barn dirt, the vinyl roof only had one minor nick near a corner. 

 

Currently looking for some of the more obscure bearings for the rear diff, I have no idea how to find replacements for some the the felt, leather and cork seals, the small headlight lenses have been unobtainium so far, and am hoping to find a good place locally to recondition the leaf springs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Oneida Truck Lady said:

The truck has a whole host of problems, but miraculously all of the original glass in the windows and doors was there and unbroken. We were worried about the driver's door window, but it had fallen inside the door but was still there and whole. 

 

Have you ever seen how a plate glass window breaks?....... :wacko:

You can shave with the shards.......assuming you're still alive....... :ph34r:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ONEIDATRUCKLADY: My apologies for late reply, and also if this all old news:

Mroz and Motor Worlds 1927 stats show  after 1924 reorganization the line was

A9---omitted by Mroz, 11/4T on 27 Ststs, 36x5 rears...Mroz states earlier As 1T, implies 130WB

B9---2T per Mroz, 13/4T in 27 stats, 144WB, 36x6 rears

C9---21/2T, 160 WB, 36x7 rears

D9---3`1/2T, 170 WB, 36x10 rears

E9---5T,  180WB, 40x illeg rears...once we have the model, original engine info may be available.

One must always remember these assembled truck makers often offered engine etc options, or would install whatever the customer insisted upon...combined with the temptation to repower an old truck with something handy, it complicates  restoring originality...

The various online stats (Automobile, Motor truck etc) will give maker of various components but no specific model; but info can sometimes be found in old parts catalogs so you know whether your piece likely to still be around...

I generally didn't put trim etc on my parts list 9most of which is now sadly dated) but do have oldcarlenses.com for lenses...

My 16-26 New Departure catalog only shows Oneida up to 1924??; don't know if a later catalog might include the rest...

justoldtrucks.com has a list of suppliers on their Vendors and Restoration Services section...with sympathy,  Bud

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...