While Diamond T was best known for its big, heavy-duty trucks, the company occasionally dabbled in other markets. Take for example this experimental 1946 station wagon.
Founded in Chicago by C.A. Tilt in 1905, the Diamond T Motor Car Co. built its reputation on heavy-duty road trucks and tractors, and along the way, the company also produced a series of well-regarded (and seriously overbuilt) pickup trucks. So maybe it shouldn’t be totally surprising that Diamond T also built a handful of wood-bodied station wagons engineered along roughly the same lines as the pickups. Take for example this one-off prototype assembled in 1946 as the truck maker was considering an entry into the red-hot post-World War II passenger car market.
A.O. Smith supplied the 110-inch wheelbase frame, while a Continental F-226 L-head six provided the power and the drivetrain was assembled from Warner Gear and Dana-Spicer components. The Wettlaufer Engineering Company of Detroit constructed the station wagon body, while the sheet metal parts were reportedly painted a dark maroon. After the lone prototype was tested and evaluated, Diamond T management determined that the vehicle would be too overbuilt and overpriced for the civilian car market and the project was shelved. The wagon then served as a company shuttle for several years, was sold to a Chicago truck driver in the 1950s, and reportedly, it hasn’t been seen since.
Many companies experimented with seemingly unusual, for them, products they may or may not be associated with, like IH refrigerators. Companies, I’m sure, spent a ton of cash and manhours trying to get into what might be a hit. A Diamond T station wagon, and a wood one, when wood was on the way out, sounds a bit out there, and many never make it, sometimes, consuming the company itself trying.Diamond T did make other vehicles, the “Pak-Age-Car”, a stab at the parcel van business, with a novel front drive and a drivetrain that could be removed easily. History has shown, rarely do these “ideas”pan out, like the Chrysler hemi powered air raid siren. It put out a wail that could be heard 25 miles away. It was never used.
Thanks, always appreciate your thoughts.
The Chrysler Air-Raid Sirens weren’t produced as a speculative idea, and there wasn’t just one produced. The United States government contracted for over 100 of them to be produced and placed in various cities around the country (Los Angeles and Detroit each had over 20). The purpose of them was to warn the public in the event of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. So to say that they were “never used” (for which we should be thankful) is a bit like saying the same about nuclear warheads – they were put in place for the purposes of defense and public safety, and only sounded for testing purposes.
~ Stories like this always spark fantasies of discovering an unknown gem in some remote barn or field. Hey, it may still be out there waiting patiently for one of us to stumble on to it.
I would wet my pants if I opened a barn door and saw that thing…
I’ve never submitted links before, but I read, one was found in 2004 in N.Wisconsin, of all places, and must be the one that “went missing”. Apparently, it was made for a Diamond T executive. It was sold at a Mecum auction in 2018.
http://forums.aths.org/Attachment10246.aspx
Thanks. I remember the auction but not how much it brought.