Deco Deliveries

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

Crazy full-on streamlining. For our car guys, to my not-at-all-knowledgeable-about-cars self, this looks like a one-off of some sort (some production car is sitting under all that metal) - any one know the car / back story?

 

[Zombie_61]

Rob

How would you like to be walking down a stretch of track, hear a train horn behind you, and turn to see that bearing down on you?

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ that freakin' thing is just too cool.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[BobHufford]

Rob

Love this!

 

[BlueTrain]

I was sad when the De Soto was discontinued but I was heartbroken when Oldsmobiles were.

 

[3fingers]

I was sad when the De Soto was discontinued but I was heartbroken when Oldsmobiles were.

And Mercury and Pontiac.

 

[Zombie_61]

Rob

Rob

I want one of each.

 

[Fading Fast]

And Mercury and Pontiac.

Mercury is a great name, but the brand never seemed here or there to me. I guess it was supposed to be above a Ford but below a Lincoln. Um, sure, but by the '70s, it just seemed lost.

 

[BlueTrain]

I think there was more logic in having several makes within a large car maker's offerings when each make had fewer models. There was also LaSalle and Plymouth. As the different makes expanded the number of their models, the differences were less marked, although I think each GM division had their own engines for a long time. But the bad thing about reducing the number of makes, even when the number of models increased, was the effect on their dealers, the key element in car sales. For every make that was eliminated, and sometimes even models (remember the Pontiac Fiero?), there was a gap in the market that was filled by an import like Kia and Hyundai.

Were vehicles like Tugboat Annie, the Tow Truck, and the ice man's truck, regular production vehicles or semi-custom vehicles? I say semi-custom because I'm assuming that only the body was different. The ice man's truck doesn't look that unusual but the little tow truck is something else. The paint job and lettering on the van is really good, though. These days, we have "wrapped" vehicles with very good graphics but I don't remember ever seeing any unusual truck bodies. If I did, they made no impression. I'll be on the lookout now.

We had an icebox when I was little and I do recall, barely, the ice man coming, but I don't remember his truck at all. It seems odd that you can still buy bags of ice. Sales are probably slow at this time of the year.

 

[3fingers]

I think there was more logic in having several makes within a large car maker's offerings when each make had fewer models. There was also LaSalle and Plymouth. As the different makes expanded the number of their models, the differences were less marked, although I think each GM division had their own engines for a long time. But the bad thing about reducing the number of makes, even when the number of models increased, was the effect on their dealers, the key element in car sales. For every make that was eliminated, and sometimes even models (remember the Pontiac Fiero?), there was a gap in the market that was filled by an import like Kia and Hyundai.

Were vehicles like Tugboat Annie, the Tow Truck, and the ice man's truck, regular production vehicles or semi-custom vehicles? I say semi-custom because I'm assuming that only the body was different. The ice man's truck doesn't look that unusual but the little tow truck is something else. The paint job and lettering on the van is really good, though. These days, we have "wrapped" vehicles with very good graphics but I don't remember ever seeing any unusual truck bodies. If I did, they made no impression. I'll be on the lookout now.

We had an icebox when I was little and I do recall, barely, the ice man coming, but I don't remember his truck at all. It seems odd that you can still buy bags of ice. Sales are probably slow at this time of the year.

I did a bit of looking for Tugboat Annie after she was posted.
She was an International truck chassis with the body built by a local body shop.
There were custom coach builders and body shops who did such things. I would guess the ice man's truck was a standard chassis with custom body as well.
We have an ice plant here. The fellow who owns it has done well peddling ice.

 

[David Conwill]

Crazy full-on streamlining. For our car guys, to my not-at-all-knowledgeable-about-cars self, this looks like a one-off of some sort (some production car is sitting under all that metal) - any one know the car / back story?

I do believe that is a Delahaye.

 

[BlueTrain]

I haven't heard anyone referred to as a peddler lately.

When I was in college, I saw a few vehicles that had been heavily modified, body-wise, though not in an art deco style. In fact, I think there is still interest in remodeling older cars by lowering the roof lines, lowering the suspension, stuff like that. Cars from the 1950s tend to lend themselves for remodeling with an art deco style.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[BlueTrain]

But nothing like that, though.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob