Help indentifying this vehicle

[TsgtRet]

[HomeRacingWorld]

Might be one of those J.T. Cantrell types. They did a lot of modifying to these in the early days.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That looks like a Buick or Oldsmobile grill up front, maybe even Cadillac. It sticks out too far and is too sharply pointed to be a Suburban. Stretched large capacity vehicles were commonplace in snow areas, and they usually had woody bodies like that with "doped and painted" canvas for a roof, stretched over wood ribs, like the much older cabriolet bodies in the 20s. The term "Station Wagon" comes from hotels sending vehicles to the train station to pick up and deliver passengers the same way an airport limo does today. Lots of them were custom coachbuilt, with the front end of a luxury car grafted onto a custom body that had truck rear fenders. That one looks like one that has all the doors on the right side and is entered like a bus with a low roof. Lots of room to walk around bent over in those things.

[OL Mike]

[OL Mike]

During the 1940′s and 1950′s a few body companies created their own design of truck not offered by the chassis manufacturer. In this case the Campbell Co. made their own “station wagon” body to fill a need of a small number of buyers. its all wood construction and 3 or 4 side doors made a very attractive package. It was similar to the GM all metal Suburban with 2 doors.

It this example the Campbell body was built for a Chevrolet or GMC truck. GM would provide the 1/2, 3/4, and 1 ton chassis with factory front sheet metal and windshield plus rear fenders to their dealer. Campbell offered a completed wood body as an exact fit. It could be shipped to a specialized body instillation company and then the local Chevrolet and GMC dealer would have it installed.

Campbell’s body was a replacement for the GM all metal Suburban body. It offered more accessibility and better seating for passengers. Thus, the extra cost was not a factor to many buyers. The Campbell fitted GM truck was perfect to transport people to and from airports and train stations, for school bus routes, hotels, country clubs, tours, camps, etc.

Below is a 1951 ad from the Mid State Body Co. in Waterloo, NY. Shown are the three different Campbell bodies that was available at that time.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Mike, did you forget to attach post some things that you are talking about? I've seen the camp and tour bus types several times, but they are the only ones with a truck cab I've seen. No fancy hotel would put a guest in something that looked like a converted truck, even if it was, in fact, a converted truck under the skin. Since this vehicle doesn't appear to have a front clip from a truck, it was probably one of the fancy rigs.

[OL Mike]