Mystery DB "Truck"

[Teds26DBTruck]

Is this just a hack by an old timer who needed to make a truck out of the family car? [img:center]http://www.bowland.ca/photogallery/DSC00239.JPG

[keiser31]

??????????

[Teds26DBTruck]

I just bought This Truck a few months ago and I was told it was a common practice to have a new DB sedan converted by companies in the Detroit Michigan area. Professionally done to a new vehicle. The reason I’m told is that DB didn’t build a truck in that year. Now seeing the vehicle (I bought it sight un-seen) and the looks of the back corners of the cab, I question that information. You see in the area where the sedan rear fenders would have rapped around the back of the cab there is nothing. Just an opening right into the cab.

Having said that, the box which is made of proper steel frames and struts and oak does look very, old world professional. The box by the way is a gravity dump body.

So hence my question to anyone that knows the production of DB vehicles of the day.

[keiser31]

The double step plates and various other items say to me: 1926 four door sedan that has been altered. Dodge Brothers made trucks in 1926, but this is not one of them.

[nearchoclatetown]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: keiser31</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The double step plates and various other items say to me: 1926 four door sedan that has been altered. Dodge Brothers made trucks in 1926, but this is not one of them. </div></div>I agree, still looks like an interesting project. How about some closer pictures?

[JACK M]

Didnt a bunch of cars get converted so that they would be eligable for more gas rationing durung the war?

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

I can't seem to get the picture to come up.

Harry

[keiser31]

Here it is.

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

Well, I can't tell much from the picture but it does look like an auto body that was converted from what I can see. Of course I'm sure not an expert on old DB cars or trucks so I'm just expressing an untrained observation. Thanks Keiser31 for posting the picture.

Harry

[Teds26DBTruck]

I'm happy this seems to be a very active forum because I am going to have a lot of questions in the process of getting this old girl back on her wheels.

Thanks for the thoughts and insight. I will send out some close up pictures very soon.

She'll be going in the garage soon, next week I hope. The first thing I would like to do is get some wheels on her to make it easier to move around and that seems to be my first hurtle. The disc rims that are on her now are past the point of repair/rebuilding.

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Any thoughts or contacts</span>. Anyone.

Of course she'll be up in the air shortly after getting in out of the north west coast rain. I'll take the cab and box off and send the motor out to a fellow on Vancouver island to be rebuilt. The fellow that will do the work I'm told is 90 yrs old. That would make him a young boy when this vehicle rolled off the production line. Wow!

[Guest imported_Bill-W]

Dodge Brothers did build trucks in those days and did offer a chassis/cowl unit which was used by body builders.

DB trucks were generally ½-ton while Graham Brothers built trucks of larger capacity. GB became a division of DB in 1925.

Is your Dodge Brothers a Canadian-built vehicle? Dodge Brothers had an assembly plant on Dufferin Avenue in Toronto from 1924 through early 1929 when car production was moved to the new Chrysler plant on Chrysler Centre (the site of the present minivan plant) and trucks to the Tecumseh Avenue plant.

The Canadian subsidiary also assembled Graham Brothers trucks from 1924 through 1929 when they became Dodge Brothers trucks.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[jan arnett (2)]

Go to the junk yard and ask them for four space saver tires. They should give them to you when you tell them what you are going to use them for. Drill them for your hub bolt pattern and you will have four tire and wheels that you can use to move the car/truck around.

Jan

[dwollam]

Here is what I would do if it were mine. Find some 24-27 coupe / roadster rear fenders, make a smaller "pickup" sized wood bed, finish out the bottom of the rear of the cab and leave it as a home made pickup. It indeed looks to have been a 4 door sedan in a previous life. As a pickup it will have some real character! The wheels are toast for sure huh? Too bad, they look pretty good in the picture. But most of all, HAVE FUN WITH IT!

[Teds26DBTruck]

So I'm going out to take a few pictures of.... I don't know whether to call her a truck or car but for now...her. When I get to know her a little better I'll give her a name.

Well Kieser I would agree the double runner board steps, one being exactly where the back seat door would have been, is a sure giveaway.

There is no doubt she was a sedan in a former life.

I'm interested to know that there were in fact building trucks in 1926, Bill. Bill your in my area I see (Western Canada), if there are any local resources you think may help I would appreciate it.

So I wonder why the conversion. The idea that cars got converted so that they would be eligible for more gas rationing during the war is an interesting observation Jack. I guess that would have been '40/'41 to '45.

Thanks for the idea Jan. I'm going to call the auto wreckers today about getting some space saver tires.

So Dave that is exactly what I have decided to do. One thing that concerns me are the brakes. I’m sure there is a ton of experience amongst you all on how well and safe they are even when completely rebuilt.

I live on a small island, local traffic running at 50 km per hour is not really that slow but I am concerned about using her as a daily driver (3-4 times a week) from a safety standpoint. Even though things are slow here there are still cement trucks, tractor-trailers, and kids on the road. Any thoughts ??

Back with pictures this afternoon.

[keiser31]

The reason that the rear of the car was removed is probably because the farmer that owned it could not afford a truck. It was a very common practice for a farmer to convert a used sedan into a truck during the depression. You could get a used car fairly cheap, remove the rear of the body, put some wood down and there was a truck. Another dead giveaway that the vehicle was a sedan is that trucks did not come with step plates. Here are the 1926 Dodge trucks.

[Teds26DBTruck]

Link to Larger Pictures

[nearchoclatetown]

In your closeup of the rear step plate you can see part of the rear threshhold and door jam and latch. Also look how the rear of the body contours in at the bottom and compare it to a sedan. I suggest buying a case of Gibbs before you start taking anything apart. Do a google, it works wonders. I still think I'm jealous. I think I need a truck.

[keiser31]

Very cool car/truck!!

[RickBrinker]

What ever it is I like it

[Teds26DBTruck]

Hi Bill.

I can't say if it is a Canadian or US build vehicle. I would assume US because I bought it in North Dakota. Who knows though? I've been trolling around the forum trying to learn about VIN numbers, engine and chassis numbers and such. As you may have noticed in one of the pictures I posted there is a number stamped into the firewall. I'm sure it must be a chassis number. Someone out there would know??? There is also a small 2"x3" plaque to the right of it that is rusted beyond recognition that I guess may have some other sort of number on it. (Vehicle Identifications Number) ?????

[Teds26DBTruck]

Thanks for that information Keiser.

From the looks of those pictures of the '26 Dodge 1/2 ton (odd roofline and door shape)and the info from Bill-W the units that came from the factory to body/truck builders where cabs to the cowl/windsheild only.

I think there is little doubt this was the handy work of a backyard handyman.

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

Ted, DB often sold the truck cab alone and the customer custom ordered the bed they wanted. My 29 has a custom bed on it that is obviously factory but not what is pictured in the Dodge Bros ads of the day. The thing that is different from yours is the cab is complete and all the bed skin matches the metal skin on the cab. All that being said though my father converted a 52 plymouth sedan into a pickup in the mid sixties that I had to drive when I got my license. The cab was still the mopar green, I think they called it Seafoam Grean. The bed was lipstick red, I can positively tell you the truck was not a chick magnet. There wasn't going to be any dating in that truck. I finally moved up in the world and bought a 49 International 3/4 ton truck. At least country girls would go out with me in a real pickup. Good luck on your truck, it looks like a labor of love.

Harry