That's D-T as in Diamond-T Trucks of Chicago, who were a famous (mostly) truck manufacturer located on 26th Street in Chicago. The ghostly outline of the plant can still be seen in parts of the old site.
As I have mentioned before, my Grandpa, Archie Danielson, was a Chief Engineer at the company, known as the "Cadillac of Trucks". It existed as a separate company between about 1911 to 1960. They built huge amounts of trucks, of prime tank movers and of half-tracks during World War II for the U.S. and allies.
After the war, they were also looking for new markets and built this big, solidly-built station wagon automobile as a possible new market in 1946. Grandpa was a Chief chassis engineer on this vehicle and one of the included pictures shows it posed right in the driveway of a house here in Riverside, IL. The big station wagon apparently disappeared long after it's experimental built at the company. It is a cool-looking vehicle !
In the next post, I will put up the pictures of it taken from an article back in the 1980's about the station wagon.
Many years ago, I read in a magazine article that the Diamond-T 1946 station wagon was eventually sold to an employee of the truck plant on 26th Street in Chicago and was last seen in the 1950's somewhere in the vicinity of the Chicago factory before it vanished. It would certainly be a find if it ever re-appeared out of the mists of time !
I read that Diamond-T employees sometimes joked to outsiders that it was a hidden project of the Tucker Corporation, located for a short time just down the road on Cicero Ave. in Chicago.
Diamond T products had the well earned reputation for being high quality. The only Diamond T model I have in my collection is a pickup from the forties. Thanks for the tie in with your family and the company Mike.
Tony, that same article also had an image of this "school-bus"- like Diamond-T vehicle from sometime (I think) in the later 1930's. I am not sure what position my Grandpa held there in regards to this machine, but it really good-looking and would make a wonderful replica !
Tony, that same article also had an image of this "school-bus"- like Diamond-T vehicle from sometime (I think) in the later 1930's. I am not sure what position my Grandpa held there in regards to this machine, but it really good-looking and would make a wonderful replica !
Yes Mike, that's the image I framed my reference from. I, too, would LOVE a diecast of it!!
It would look great as a camper ! My Grandfather's family had a "Covered Wagon" trailer pulled behind their 1936 Chrysler Airflow 4-door sedan. There is an exact same trailer at the "Motorhome Hall of Fame" in Indiana, which also has various model displays in their glass display cabinets.
It would look great as a camper ! My Grandfather's family had a "Covered Wagon" trailer pulled behind their 1936 Chrysler Airflow 4-door sedan. There is an exact same trailer at the "Motorhome Hall of Fame" in Indiana, which also has various model displays in their glass display cabinets.
Many years ago we went to the Motorhome Hall of Fame museum when my Mom was still around and the trailer there brought back many pleasant vacation memories from the 1930's.
