Ladies & Gents,

Meet "Baby," the '55 Second-Series Chevy Bookmobile. She's a 3600 3/4 ton model, a base chassis cab unit assembled in Atlanta, delivered to the Rock Hill Body Company (RHBC), of Rock Hill, SC. No frills here, folks, just a three-on-the-tree, heater and driver's side sunvisor.


RHBC began as the Rock Hill Buggy Company @ 1899, and later assembled special truck bodies for Model T commercial chassis. The company morphed into the Anderson Motor Company (named for owner John Gary Anderson), making the "assembled" Anderson car from 1916-25. Unable to compete with mass-produced offerings, after the car business ended, they continued to build truck bodies to order until the late-'70's or so.

Following a cosmetic resto and mechanical redo, she'll hit the road with all six-cylinders of Stovebolt Power. Progress has been slow so far, but should speed up this Spring.

The nickname comes from the fact that she was the smallest bookmobile of three owned by the library in a 1970's photo. The only baubles she needs (badly) is a set of NOS 3600 emblems for the hood sides; they're about the only ornamentation on the whole truck.

Such a lovely face deserves a little glitter!

I'll keep you posted.


TG

If you ever find another one let us know! We saw a restored one at our meet in Mobile and just drooled all day. It would be cool for the AACA Library to own one of these and go to meets with it!

Turn this into your Library vehicle, Steve. Perhaps you can think of a better color combination. If not, let me help.
http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/481203#Post481203

Steve,

They're gonna have to pry the keys from my cold, dead hands! A travelling bookseller in Charleston, SC almost bought the one from the Mobile show when it was auctioned from Herbie's (the SC fireworks mogul) collection some years ago; he missed it by 250 bucks and kicks himself daily.

He's looking for another, too, as they made several of them on the GMC panel platform for North Carolina libraries.


Mine is perhaps the last bookmobile to follow the design of South Carolina's first one, shown above in model form circa 1937. Later versions were walk-through types, and mine was obsolete even at the time of its delivery.

Baby will have 1955 and earlier books, plus a mobile auto reference library to answer those pesky questions that come up at shows. Heck, there's even room to sleep inside if I can't afford the high prices at host hotels!

TG