Technic Zetros

 

A variant of the Lego platform, as a Mercedes Zetros kit

GMC New Design flatbed truck.

This is a nice example, at least appearance wise, of a GMC New Design truck, the style of which is identical to the Chevrolet Advanced Design Truck.

The Advanced Design was introduced in 1947 and produced through 1955, although oddly you'll often see it claimed that it was produce through 53.  Indeed, 1953 seems to be associated with them, as people will often simply refer to the series as a "53".  We recently featured another example of it here:

Chevrolet Panel Truck

 Posted elsewhere some time ago, a beautifully restored Chevrolet panel truck.

Chevrolet Panel Truck

An exceptional example of a restored Chevrolet panel truck circa late 40s early 50s.

The one we're showing now is located out in front of the College Bar in Douglas, Wyoming, and it advertises that establishment.  It never moves, so I don't know if it's functional.  It's likely a 6100 2 ton truck or a 4100 1 1/2 ton truck.

The series was enormously successful and many examples of them remain in use.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, June 21, 1923. Somewhere West of Laramie...

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, June 21, 1923. Somewhere West of Laramie...: 

Saturday, June 21, 1923. Somewhere West of Laramie and somewhere near Hutchinson, Kansas.

Earlier this week, we noted this:

Thursday, June 21, 1923. Dawn of the advertising age. Somewhere West Of Laramie.

The modern advertising age dawned on this day in 1921 with an ad for the Jordan Playboy automobile:

Today In Wyoming's History: June 21: 1923   This advertisement first ran in the Saturday Evening Post:

The advertisement is the most famous car ad of all time, and the ad itself revolutionized advertising.  Based on the recollection of the Jordan Motor Car Company's founder in seeing a striking mounted girl outside of Laramie, while he was traveling by train, the advertisement is all image, revealing next to nothing about the actual product.  While the Jordan Motor Car Company did not survive the Great Depression, the revolution in advertising was permanent.

Anyway you look at it, it's still a great ad.

This, by the way, is the print date.  The actual issue of the magazine would be a few days later.

On this date, the advertisement actually ran.  I've always thought that it ran in the form set out above, but there were multiple versions, and it would appear that in actuality, the version below is the one that ran.

It's similiar.

But I like the one set out at the very top better.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, June 21, 1923. Dawn of the advertising ...

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, June 21, 1923. Dawn of the advertising ...: 

Thursday, June 21, 1923. Dawn of the advertising age. Somewhere West Of Laramie.

The modern advertising age dawned on this day in 1921 with an ad for the Jordan Playboy automobile:

Today In Wyoming's History: June 21: 1923   This advertisement first ran in the Saturday Evening Post:

The advertisement is the most famous car ad of all time, and the ad itself revolutionized advertising.  Based on the recollection of the Jordan Motor Car Company's founder in seeing a striking mounted girl outside of Laramie, while he was traveling by train, the advertisement is all image, revealing next to nothing about the actual product.  While the Jordan Motor Car Company did not survive the Great Depression, the revolution in advertising was permanent.

Anyway you look at it, it's still a great ad.

This, by the way, is the print date.  The actual issue of the magazine would be a few days later.

1930s? International

 

I saw this parked on the street the other day, with a for sale sign in the window.  I didn't stop, so I don't know the year for the truck.

International manufactured pickup trucks from 1907 to 1975.

The Story of a REAL Ranch Truck: 1991 W350

1965 Dodge TownWagon Cummins Power Wagon

M923 5-ton 6x6 truck, wildlands fire truck conversion.

The M923 was the last in the line of a series of 5 ton US military 6x6 trucks.  A 6x6 remains in service, but it's a cab over.  

Featuring a Cummins diesel engine, a 5 speed automatic transmission and single, rather than dual, wheels the truck was, and indeed is, quite modern.  Built by AM General, with production commencing in 1982, over 44,000 of them were produced, and they remain in service around the globe.

Not surprisingly, like prior 6x6 trucks, they've gone into civilian use in various roles, including as wild lands fire trucks, such as this example.

Humvee in South Korea

 

Two Humvee's in South Korea in 1987.  At this point in time, these vehicles were nearly new to US service.

The Humvee series of vehicles, of which there are many special purpose bodies, is a great series of military trucks.  Nothing compares to them, really, except perhaps the first Dodge 4x4 series of military vehicles that came into service just prior to World War Two.

M35s in South Korea.

 South Korean Army M35 2.5 Ton 6x6 trucks.

These U.S. military trucks were part of a series of 6x6 trucks that dated back into the 1920s.  The 6x6 was developed, for U.S. military use, by the Artillery branch of the U.S. Army which could not find a suitable civilian product for use as an artillery tractor. Developed over the years, the series came into use in a major way at the onset of the Second World War, by which point civilian contractors could and did supply an entire series of 6x6 trucks, all of which closely resemble each other, but which in fact varied by manufacture.

After World War Two the service wished to standardize the trucks and update them, resuling in the M35, which entered service in 1950, just at the start of the Korean War.  Produced all the way into the 1990s, the series remains in widespread use around the globe, although it has been replaced by other trucks in U.S. military use.

The 6x6 series of trucks were great vehicles, and in very real terms, the World War Two vintage trucks can legitimately contend for the most important piece of military equipment of the Second World War.

 South Korean troops in 6x6 truck.

South Korean Army M38A1

 M38A1 equipped with a recoilless rifle, 1987.

 South Korean M38A1 with recoilless rifle.

M1009 CUCV Blazer

 Diesel military Chevrolet Blazer, M1009 CUCV.   They were awful.

 Me, as a Sgt E-5, HHB, 3d Bn, 49th FA.  1987. South Korea.

Food trucks

 

I'd guess these to be 1940s (maybe 30s?) or early 1950s vintage refrigerated trucks that have been converted into food trucks.  One is an ice cream truck, and is a 4x4, which would lead me to believe that the body isn't on the original frame.

Very unusual, but apparently quite successful, presentation.

Modern Ranch Trucks in Use.

If you watch a "modern" Western, to the extent I do so, which is very rarely as they irritate me, chances are you'll find at least some of the ranchers in them driving fairly old trucks.  Maybe Yellowstone, which I haven't watched and will not watch, doesn't do this.

Anyhow, that's only partially been the case in my lifetime. When I was young, and well into my adult years, lots of ranches kept a flat fender style Dodge Power Wagon.  That's no longer the case. They didn't lose their utility, they just became collectors items, and working ranches don't use collectors items of any kind.  They sell them.

Having said that, lots of old trucks remain on ranches for specified uses, some as old as the Power Wagons that went into collectors' hands.  But for daily use, of every type, almost every working ranch has a relatively new flatbed pickup.  Here's a good selection of them from recent brandings.

Every truck depicted here is relatively new, and they're all automatic transmissions as well. Every one.

Indeed, amongst stockmen, I’m the only one I know that drives a manual and lacks an automatic transmission.

All of these trucks are, additionally, diesels. Every single one.  Mine included.