“Over the last 7o plus years, I have worked on, and played with old cars and trucks, but what a ride it has been! Seventy years ago I did not ever expect to see the interest in old trucks that you see today. Your April 15th issue got me to thinking about the old trucks I have had, and worked on over that period of time. My first truck, well, a half interest in a ’29 chevy, began in ’49 or ’50, and there have been quite a few since. The only ones that I have pictures of, I thought I would tell you about. 

In ’68, I bought a rather tired ’56 Chevy half ton, for a work truck; mostly hauling debris to the local landfill, as I was clearing a lot to build on. In ’70, a co-worker had a car to sell that I wanted, and he wanted the pickup, so we worked out a deal, and afterwards, he offered to GIVE me a ’47 Ford 1/2 ton, stake bed pickup. Truly an unusual model; I don’t think I had ever seen a 1/2 ton stake bed. Sorry, but I can’t find a “before” picture, so I will describe it. All original paint, in dark blue, with clearly visible logo and information of a Seattle fuel company on the doors. Jim, the guy that gave it to me, had the seat recovered, in authentic material, and had the distributor repaired so that it ran well, but he said would often stop, for no reason apparent to him. Brakes were bad too, so I did a partial brake job, sufficient to drive it home. Making an inspection there, I stepped onto the stake bed, and promptly fell threw! After some consideration, decided to do at least a cosmetic ‘restoration,’ not planning to keep a Ford in a GM garage! I removed all the rotten wood, and then had the body and chassis sand blasted. They forgot to protect the radiator behind the minimal grill, and it leaked like a sieve when I drove it the short distance home. I primed every thing while the radiator was gone thru, and then painted it in the original blue, with the cream accents on the grill. Then, rebuilt the stake bed using all the old hardware. However, I just couldn’t resist the desire to build the sides out of straight grained fir, with a stain and varnish finish, instead of the original painted blue. So attached is the picture I took before selling it to a neighbor that was bugging me to sell it too him. I sold it too cheaply, but did make a little money on it. Oh yes, the ‘engine stopping’ problem, I figures it was the coil, and sure enough, one day while giving it a test drive, it stopped. I lifted the hood, grabbed spark wire, and using the starter button on the starter solenoid, cranked it over, and, no shock. Once it cooled off, drove home, and replaced the coil.

The second truck, with a few pictures was first my daughters. We had restored a ’66 Mustang while she was in high school, finishing it during her junior year. Looked great, but she wanted a truck. A co-worker had told me they had an old ’56 GMC they wanted to sell, so we looked at it. It ran fine, was very rough, and had a really bad differential, but the price was right, so it came home with us. It was given a good differential, but that was all I did for some time. She was going to do the restoration, but somehow, nothing ever happened. During her freshman year in college, she had me sell the Mustang, and bought a Porsche the next spring. At that time she needed the money back out of the GMC, so I bought it, and again, decided on a “cosmetic” restoration. The only other mechanical work I did was brake maintenance. Then body work to deal with dents and rust, and repainting the heavy rear bumper. Polished out all the chrome, what little there was, and did a hand restoration of the hub caps. It ran great, and was easy to sell, so we both made money on it!

It is hard to contemplate the prices such trucks now will bring!”

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The post Old Cars Reader Wheels: The trucks of Pat Jacobs appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

There aren’t many concepts cars and show cars left to rediscover. Most were well-photographed and documented in newspaper articles of the day, and then in books and magazines of today. Yet we found one more.

While cruising old GM Motorama brochures in Walter Miller’s inventory, I stumbled across a non-descript bi-fold brochure with “Introducing GMC’s Bluegrass Runabout” and the profile of a horse on the cover. Copywriters must have thought a thousand words were better than a photo, because there were no images of the truck inside. From the text, it appears the brochure was handed out at 1956 GM Motorama shows alongside the Bluegrass Runabout pickup truck.

To find out what the truck looked like, we scoured the Old Cars archives, our own “GMC: The First 100 Years” book, miscellaneous image services and even General Motors Media Archives. So little-known is the truck that staff members of the GM archives hadn’t even heard of it, and when they searched for GMC Bluegrass Runabout, the staff came up dry. When we asked them to instead search for images of the GMC display at the 1956 GM Motorama, that’s when we struck gold.

Hidden within a few images from the Los Angeles and Boston stops of the GM Motorama is a 1956 GMC Suburban pickup behind stanchions with a couple unusual features: 1955 Oldsmobile “spinner” wheelcovers and an unusual emblem at the leading edge of the fiberglass bed. When one of the images is blown up, “GMC Bluegrass Runabout” can be read on the front license plate. Bingo!

Most of the details mentioned in the brochure aren’t visible in the surviving black-and-white images that picture the truck. Oddly enough, the brochure doesn’t mention those unique features that are visible (the Oldsmobile full wheel covers and special bed emblem.) Those features include the following mix of GMC options, aftermarket accessories and unique features:

• 316-cid Pontiac V-8 and Hydra-Matic drive
• Lexington blue and white exterior (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• GMC Road Shock Dampers and Kudu stabilizing bar
•  Honduras mahogany bed floor (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Stabilized synthetic sailcloth bed cover that could wound up on a reel (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Two-way radio on the dash (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Ultronic electric door opener (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• A deep package tray mounted beneath the rear window (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• A concealed tool compartment built into the left rear corner of the cab (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Deep-pile blue floor carpet (Bluegrass Runabout only)
•  Blue and white seat upholstery and door and roof trim (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• GMC radio, spotlight, clock, deluxe heater, cigarette lighter, right armrest, trouble light, tilting rear-view mirror
• Textured metal covering the inside steps behind both doors (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Copper-plated grille (Bluegrass Runabout only)
• Special brake pedal (Bluegrass Runabout only)

The next year, GMC displayed a different show truck at select auto shows. That truck was the gold-and-white 1957 Palomino, and it, too, was based on the fiberglass-bed GMC Suburban pickup truck (the GMC counterpart to the Chevrolet Cameo). Like the Bluegrass Runabout, the Palomino was loaded with GMC options and unique trim components. The Palomino is known to survive.

GM sometimes updated its show vehicles with different features for the next show season and it’s possible the 1956 Bluegrass Runabout became the 1957 Palomino. However, there’s no evidence to confirm that possibility at this time.

Now that we’ve confirmed that the Bluegrass Runabout was built and shown, we’d like to know if it still exists. If not, perhaps there are other photos out there that better capture the truck’s unique features. (If you can add to the story, email us at oldcars@krause.com)

Watch for a feature story on this truck in an upcoming issue of Old Cars.

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AUBURN, Ind. – A 1939 GM Futurliner owned by the National Auto & Truck Museum is joining the new National Historic Vehicle Register.

The giant, bus-like vehicle already is in the nation’s capital awaiting its appearance at the Washington Auto Show, Jan. 23 -Feb. 1. Later, it will take part with other vehicles on the register in a Cars at the Capital display May 3 and 4, 2015, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. When its D.C. tour is through, the vehicle will return home next spring for its first display inside the Auburn museum. Until a recent remodeling, the Futurliner was too big to fit through the museum’s doors.

Car collector Joe Bortz of Chicago donated the Futurliner to the museum in 1992. In 1998, a group of volunteers from Michigan began a seven-year effort to restore the vehicle.

In return for their work, the museum allows the volunteers to exhibit the Futurliner at car shows across the nation in warm-weather months. Until now, the Futurliner has taken up residence for the winters in museums across the region.

General Motors built the museum’s Futurliner and 11 more like it for touring exhibits. They traveled the nation in a caravan during 1940 and again from 1953-56, carrying displays of futuristic marvels such as microwave ovens and stereophonic sound.

Each Futurliner is 33 feet long, 8 feet wide, more than 11 feet tall and weighs more than 12 tons. Only nine Futurliners remain, and five are reported to be in total disrepair. The Auburn museum’s No. 10 Futurliner has been on public display more than any of the others.

Only a few vehicles have been selected for the new National Historic Vehicle Register since a January announcement of a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe as the first choice. Since then, publicly announced selections include a 1947 Tucker “48” prototype, a 1964 Meyers Manx dune buggy, and a 1938 Maserati 8TCF “Boyle Special” that won the 1939 and 1940 Indianapolis 500 races.

The Historic Vehicle Association created the register in a project with the U.S. Department of the Interior. A vehicle chosen for the register must meet at least one of four standards:

•  ties to an important event in automotive or American history;
•  ties to significant people in automotive or American history;
•  distinctive design, engineering, craftsmanship or aesthetic value; or
•  a vehicle that was the first or last of its type produced, has rarity as a survivor of its type, or is among the most well-preserved or thoughtfully restored surviving examples.

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