Extended Chassis Suppliers

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Extended Chassis Suppliers
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Barker, Somerset, England on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 04:11 am:

Can anyone point me to information on who were the significant designers and suppliers of Model T chassis extension kits in the USA, both for the car chassis and later on, the TT chassis, please?
I am aware of Olsen. Did Eros make truck kits as well as tractor conversions?
Who did the UK company Baico (British American Import Company) get their design from?Baico ad 1917


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Barker, Somerset, England on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 05:00 am:

....and I have found adverts and a patent for the Smith Form-A-Truck


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Martin on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 06:42 am:

There was also the Maxfer Truck & Tractor Co of Chicago, but I was recently shown another chassis I had never heard of before by Redden Motor Truck Co Inc of Chicago.
Same deal, extended chassis rails, heavy duty rear spring and chain driven axle with solid tyres.
Hopefully this one will get restored one day.
Chris M.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Martin on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 07:05 am:

Simplex and Dearborn were two others selling the same idea.
Here is an ad for the Redden.
Chris M.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 07:46 am:

I would guess, but I have not seen a copy, that the CD mentioned at:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/118222.html?1262092715 which states:

"20+ books on CD for Model TT Ford 1 ton truck 1918-1927"

At one time it was available form the Ton Truck Club – but I do not know what the current status of that chapter is at the moment. If someone has a copy of the CD – would you look and see if it covers only the Ford Ton trucks or if it includes good information on the other aftermarket conversions?

Also the “Vintage Ford” had an article back in the Sep-Oct 1985 issue – but it only showed about 5 additional aftermarket add on frames/axles. The bulk of the article was on the Commercial Fords offered by Ford Motor Company.

The book “Ford Trucks Since 1905” had a few pictures of assembled trucks but was not really that helpful as it often gave an identification of which company produced the body but often not which one produced the chain drive add on.

I will try to post some of the advertisements from the Sep-Oct 1985 issue later this week.

My guess, you will probably need to look through the advertisements until you can find one that is identical or very similar to the one you are looking for. In addition to that you may want to start compiling “fossil evidence” such as the Wright Truck Attachment – 18 photos and the only one of those I have seen. See Model T Haven photos at: http://www.modelthaven.com/15t.html But they were made in Washington State and that is on the other coast from where I normally live, so there may be several of them on the west coast.



The truck conversion I have seen the most often is the Smith Form-A-Truck. Of course in some cases it may have been a photo of a different manufacture and we mistook it for a Smith. And from memory, one of them used to sit on Main Street USA in Disneyland in the blue Global Van Lines paint scheme. Many of us who visited there in the 1960s or early 70s have seen that one. [Photo found some where some time probably on one of the other threads. Thank you to the person who posted it!]



Good luck, and please keep us posted on what you discover.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Barker, Somerset, England on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 08:22 am:

Hap, Chris,
many thanks for your quick and helpful replies. The Vintage Ford 1985 article is good, and I have followed the other links you gave. The '20 books...' one doesn't seem to lead anywhere, as you suspected.
In the UK we had Olsen, Baico, Rejax (selling the Baico product), Eros, ETO.
In this UK advert, you will see that the exhaust is on the left. Assuming it didn't have a Model N motor (joke), I think it was a US picture reversed to show a RHD truck. This was in a 1919 sales catalogue. It doesn't look like the Smith, which seems to have had lateral extensions as well as length.
Baico was very successful, the UK club, the Model T Ford Register of GB, of which I am the archivist, has lots of contemporary photos. Later on, Baico also produced the 'Extendatonna', a similar adaptation of the TT chassis to carry 2 or even 2.5 tons.
Baico sales catalogue 1919.Baico Extendatonna 1925


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Monday, June 11, 2012 - 04:00 pm:

A name that I am usually surprised doesn't come up very often is the Graham Brothers. Later, famous for the Graham-Paige automobile, they had a long and successful history before that. The Graham Brothers invented the machine that made producing the famous Coke Cola bottles cost effective in large numbers. When they sold out to Libbey-Owens, they were presented with many opportunities to invest into new industries. One of the brothers had a penchant for engineering and took it upon himself to begin designing tractors and truck conversion kits. Officially entering the truck conversion market in 1916, they prided themselves in the highest quality, reliability, and most complete truck conversion kits on the market.
In the early '20s, they expanded to building complete trucks in a marketing agreement with the Dodge Brothers' Company (The brothers themselves, had tragically passed away fairly young). They used Dodge engines, hoods, radiators, and many other parts depending upon the size of the truck. They sold through Dodge dealers across the nation.
Their conversion kits were built primarily for Fords, but also built ready made for a number of other marques or anything on special order. IF I recall correctly, they once built a kit to be put onto a Stutz chassis.
There is a great deal of information on this era of their careers in the book "The Graham Legacy: Graham-Paige to 1932" by Michael E. Keller, Turner Publishing Company. I never did get the second book which picks up after 1932. There are several copies of ads and clips from brochures showing kits on Ford chassis. I do not have permission to post them. Maybe someone here knows the rules better than I.
While I have the book because I have a 1927 6-45 Paige sedan, I find the connection between Paige, and Graham to be interesting. Graham interests seem to consider Paige to be the unwanted step-cousin. I haven't checked it for a couple years now, but there used to be a Graham-Paige web site and forum. There was much more interest in post-WWII graham rototillers than in Paige automobiles. If you had a single Coke bottle, you were greeted with more enthusiasm than some poor guy with a 1922 Paige 6-66 (the most desirable of all Paige models). This model T site welcomes 4 cylinder Chevy owners better than that poor guy got. Model T people are the best. Just an observation.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Langevin , Grants Pass , Ore on Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 01:51 am:

I own a chain-drive form-a-truck chassis made by Ralston in San Francisco , California . It came from the Harrah`s collection in the `80`s , via Ken Keesee and Mark Mahoney . The builder was somehow related to the Ralston family of Ralston-Purina Mills fame .It was `sposed to be the only survivor , according to The Harrah`s Museum .


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