Whilst browsing the ol’ Youtube for 1st Gen Sable wagons I stumbled across this monstrosity. Although it’s certainly interesting and I can respect the work that went into it I would rank this as “better in theory”, at best.
Back in 1959, Ford introduced a rather unusual vehicle called the Ranchero. It was a half-car, half-truck creation that offered car-like handling with the utility of a small pickup truck. Ford ended production of the Ranchero in 1979, and they haven’t built anything like it since then.
While driving around the other day, I spotted something that caught my eye. This enterprising driver has taken it upon himself to create his own version of the Ranchero…sort of. Whereas the Ranchero was a car with truck-like abilities, this driver has created a truck with car-like abilities.
I must confess, dear reader, that I had never heard of a Diamond T until I was standing in front of one. If you’re not familiar with them either, don’t feel bad. This Chicago-based company was mostly known for producing heavy trucks for the military during World War II. They only made a very small number of pickup trucks between 1938 and 1949 (less than 400 total). One of these was the Model 80D seen here.
This truck originally had a Hercules QX series 6-cylinder engine. This has been swapped out for a Tuned Port Injection 305 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 engine. It has also been fully restored with new paint and hardware throughout.
Get this, long before Tesla’s were rolling down the assembly line that very same facility was cranking out Chevy trucks.. This particular 1980 C30 was also produced there, for the US government. There are some interesting things about it though I’m not sure which modifications were added after the government took possession. Continue reading
Actually, if you haven’t figured it out, it’s a near topless Toyota Previa. My brother snapped this picture last weekend at the Glendale 9 swapmeet. The odd thing is that the rear is not sagging at all, which leads me to believe that this was a purpose built machine (hauling one mans junk) with at least some thought put into it, however strange it may look.
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