1938 Oldsmobile pickup truck

[trimacar]

I know, I know, this should be in Olds section, but I thought it was of general interest also.

 

I thought I'd seen just about everything, car wise, but I never, ever, saw an Oldsmobile pickup truck.  Apparently they were made for export only.  One time that "rare" may truly apply.......

 

https://www.prewarcar.com/233951-1938-oldsmobile-pick-up   

[TerryB]

Never saw or heard of one!  I thought Mack junior pickups were rare, this one beats them out.

[Leif Holmberg]

Just google and you will find dem in UK and AU! Even earlier year than 1938.

Leif in Sweden.

[Dosmo]

Quite an oddball, for sure.  Family resemblance to the Chevy & GMC of that year, though the cab seems a little taller and the door windows are arched a bit more.  

[trimacar]

I believe they were built 1936-1939.  Very neat.....on another forum most people were saying they were fakes made from GMC trucks, but they're real....

[joe_padavano]

They are real, but they really were just GMC truck bodies with Olds engines.

[8E45E]

1 hour ago, Leif Holmberg said:

Just google and you will find dem in UK and AU! Even earlier year than 1938.

Leif in Sweden.

It must have been sold new in either of those two countries, or possible South Africa, being RHD.

 

Craig

[dictator27]

Look up English built Dodge and Fargo trucks.  Unlike this Oldsmobile they bear no resemblance whatever to their US counterpart.

[60FlatTop]

1 hour ago, joe_padavano said:

They are real, but they really were just GMC truck bodies with Olds engines.

 

Oh, come on, you mean a big manufacturer like GM would just make one vehicle and badge it with a different name? Incredible. And switch engines between divisions?

 

The 1930's must have been desperate times for marketing.

Bernie

[Rusty_OToole]

It could have been a matter of marketing. I know in Canada they sold rebadged Ford pickups as Mercury pickups, this was because some towns had a Mercury dealer but no Ford dealer. In the US you could not go 50 miles and not encounter a Ford dealer, in Canada you could.

 

Likewise in Canada we had Fargo pickup trucks which were rebadged Dodges so the Plymouth and Chrysler dealers would have a truck to sell, for the same reason.

 

In some export markets Plymouths were rebadged as Dodge, DeSoto or Chrysler. In some countries they did not want a huge luxury car but a smaller car with deluxe upholstery, trim and features. And of course, this saved a lot of tooling expense.

 

So, I can see that they might have sold a GMC or Chev truck with an Olds badge in some countries, although I don't know why.

[8E45E]

3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

Oh, come on, you mean a big manufacturer like GM would just make one vehicle and badge it with a different name? Incredible. And switch engines between divisions?

 

The 1930's must have been desperate times for marketing.

Bernie

You mean like a Chevrolet and a Maple Leaf truck?

 

Craig

[dictator27]

You are forgetting Maple Leaf trucks, Rusty!

[Bleach]

7 hours ago, Dosmo said:

Quite an oddball, for sure.  Family resemblance to the Chevy & GMC of that year, though the cab seems a little taller and the door windows are arched a bit more.  

 

The cab does look different than one you'd see on a light GMC truck. It seems to resemble the cab used on the COE's and heavy trucks.

The cab looks a bit cartoon-like on the Olds.

[Spinneyhill]

Ref. rebadging, my friend had a 1935 Chrysler that was a factory badge engineered PJ Plymouth.

[Rusty_OToole]

But there was no Maple Leaf car. I was trying to figure out why Olds trucks when they could as easily have sold them as GMC or Chev.

[Spinneyhill]

If you look at the brass weight tag, you will find the clue. The bottom line says "GENERAL MOTORS -HOLDENS LTD". The aluminium stamped tag above the brass plate has "HOLDEN'S" on the first line.

 

It was made in Australia for that market. It has been in the Netherlands (the NL sticker) and is currently in Belgium.

[junkyardjeff]

GMCs used Olds motors until they got their own around 39.

[Ozstatman]

4 hours ago, Spinneyhill said:

If you look at the brass weight tag, you will find the clue. The bottom line says "GENERAL MOTORS -HOLDENS LTD". The aluminium stamped tag above the brass plate has "HOLDEN'S" on the first line.

 

It was made in Australia for that market. It has been in the Netherlands (the NL sticker) and is currently in Belgium.

Before Holdens was acquired by GM they made bodies for many manufacturers.

Couple of insights of who they made bodies for.

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_production_1927_1930

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_production_1917_1949

Edited March 24, 2018 by Ozstatman (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

9 hours ago, junkyardjeff said:

GMCs used Olds motors until they got their own around 39.

 

 I believe they also used Buick engines from about 1920 into the 50's.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[8E45E]

11 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

But there was no Maple Leaf car. I was trying to figure out why Olds trucks when they could as easily have sold them as GMC or Chev.

It was likely a local ordinance as it was in Argentina for Studebaker and Packard franchises.  The Packard dealer in Argentina scored a major deal for a fleet of trucks, but some trade law there prohibited him from selling Studebaker-branded trucks, so Studebaker-Packard in South Bend produced a limited run of Packard-badged 4X4 trucks to satisfy the order.  http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?73547-Ortiginal-Studebaker4-X-4-truck-photographs&highlight=3e12d

 

Craig

[J.H.Boland]

A well known American built Olds truck.

[dibarlaw]

Yes Oldsmobile did make trucks at this period but the Beverly Hillbilly's Oldsmobile was a re-configured touring car.

 I still wish I had the plastic toy model I got for Christmas in 1962.

[J.H.Boland]

18 minutes ago, dibarlaw said:

Yes Oldsmobile did make trucks at this period but the Beverly Hillbilly's Oldsmobile was a re-configured touring car.

 I still wish I had the plastic toy model I got for Christmas in 1962.

 

I posted this photo with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek !

[trimacar]

1 hour ago, J.H.Boland said:

posted this photo with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek !

 

Yes, but some had their tongue wrapped around their eye teeth and they couldn't see what you were saying!

[Guest]

Previous to Olds engines GMC used Pontiac (split-head 6) engines in their trucks up to 1.5 tons.

[jeff_a]

The Oldsmobile truck that David posted is kind of nice. I saw an ad for an unusual pickup on autolit.com last week: a 1958 Packard export pickup. Boggles the mind.

 

http://www.autolit.com/Store/1958-packard-export-pickup-truck-factory-photograph.html

[60FlatTop]

On 3/24/2018 at 2:04 PM, trimacar said:

posted this photo with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek !

 

The digital concepts of humor in the Man Machine Interface has been a difficult one. Uber is working on it but they aren't up to the funny part.

Bernie

[1939_Buick]

On 24/03/2018 at 12:27 PM, Spinneyhill said:

If you look at the brass weight tag, you will find the clue. The bottom line says "GENERAL MOTORS -HOLDENS LTD". The aluminium stamped tag above the brass plate has "HOLDEN'S" on the first line.

 

It was made in Australia for that market. It has been in the Netherlands (the NL sticker) and is currently in Belgium.

GM Holden used the same basic body shell for several brands. The 3 ribs on the roof identity

The Aluminium tag is typical GMH of the era

 

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by 1939_Buick (see edit history)

[cloud_silver]

This is a beautiful 1938 Oldsmobile truck with a Holden body.

 

Oldsmobile had a full range of trucks alongside Chevy and GMC in the export markets, it included delivery vans, tankers, long beds, short beds, garbage trucks, buses, tractors and pickups.

 

There were 3 major designs for the late 30´s olds trucks, the first in ´36  and the second change came in ´37 and lasted until ´39.  In 1939 the design resembled the 1939 Chevy but with almost blank hood sides with just the olds emblem and a different grille.

 

The Oldsmobile trucks were just rebranded GMC trucks made for export, with different grilles and emblems. In1939 they also used the GMC 228 truck engine.

 

In Denmark, most of the trucks that was completely assembled at the factory were original GM styled cabs, some were metal cabs but some were made like the 1936 Chevy high-cab with a wooden-frame but with the same cab-styling as the current-year truck models in the US.. This was even done to the last of the Oldsmobile trucks for 1939, they used the 1939 cab-styling over the wooden-frame, but with 3 door hinges like the early ´36 high-cabs had.

 

They also sold the types that were only assembled from the fueltank and forward, so you can find many a different cab types on these trucks in Europe.

 

I actually have the frontend and dashboard from a ´38 Oldsmobile truck including the grille and the rare emblem, and a total wreck of a ´39 Oldsmobile C-159 truck (158 1/2" wheelbase) in my possession that I hope I can assemble some day, both of these trucks had/have the wooden cab frame as well.

 

1936 truck.

 

Another Holden bodied olds, from 1937.

 

Another 1938 Holden body.

 

This is a 1938 truck with GM style cab, this truck ended up as a donor truck for my ´39. The picture is taken in the late 80s in Norway. The A-pillars had collapsed when I found it a few years ago.

 

This is the 1939 Cab design.

[nzcarnerd]

By coincidence this photo of an Olds COE turned up on a local facebook page a couple of days ago. Taken when new I think, going by the registration plate. The other photo I found on the net. Not sure about the diesel engine bit though.

[Ozstatman]

A few pic's of a '37 Olds truck taken at a car show at Berry last weekend. Talked with owner, Phil, that's him sitting on the tray(bed) used as his daily driver with Chevy 350 power.

[jollygreengiant]

Never knew Oldsmobile made trucks. They were awesome looking !! Nice trucks !!

 

[Paul Dobbin]

I think the GMC Trucks had Buick engines in the early 20's.

[ManualOldsOnly]

Hey everyone been searching for an olds truck for sale for a while now willing to import as I am in the states. Any help would be appreciated. I didn't realise it's so difficult to look for cars for sale in other countries. 

[Larry Schramm]

I was at the Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village/ Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn this weekend.  Here is a 1920 Oldsmobile truck that was there. It has a Northway engine.  I took a picture of our 1915 Buick truck next to their truck. I could not get my truck any closer as I was already on the sidewalk.  The owner of this truck lives in Iowa and is on the right in the tan shirt.

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

That would be a Northway engine.  The GM group Northway actually morphed into GMC in the mid twenties.

[Larry Schramm]

11 hours ago, nickelroadster said:

That would be a Northway engine.  The GM group Northway actually morphed into GMC in the mid twenties.

 

Thanks.  Corrected.

[aaronbjohnson]

@ManualOldsOnlyI have a 1937 Oldsmobile pickup for sale in East TN.  Please email me  aaronbjohnson@live.com.  My father bought it to restore and passed away.