VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 What is this?

At the swap meet last weekend a fellow was trying to figure what to call the 29 Chevrolet he has would be called. Turned out it was a vehicle I sold to his dad back in the 60's. I had tried to find it again but it found me. The present owner is going to restore it.

Okay.....so what is it?

I think you guys are working two separate threads. Maybe a moderator for this section could clean these two up…


other thread here...

Brewster we had it in another thread and got no response so we thought we would put it in the 29-32 section.

Dog, It looks like a sedan delivery but it has windows on the sides. There are six single seats in the back portion that fit on begs that fold into the floor when the seats are removed.

I was told it belonged to a convent in Cincinnati when new.

After looking at the photo the vehicle could be a Panel Truck. Cool looking rig though!

The tire and wheel size are the same as a 29 passenger car.Did they have sedan deliveries in 1929?

A bus.

I agree it is a small bus with all those seats and windows to see out.

I need to move the photo over here, too, so it is easily seen.

I told Jim to buy this thing back again from the current owner, put it all back together - and tell everybody it was the Prototype for the Suburban...

Years ago we had a Model T with a hack body. It was originally thought the body was home made but under the seat was a 1" high number machine carved into the wood, 1826. When I went to Hersey with my dad we saw another T hack there with the same exact body other than the roof. Our roof had been redone at sometime as all the uprights had scarf joints and evidently not done back to original. This other hack had the same type and size number in the same place under the seat. The was a decal on the upper roof showing the body was made by the Martin and Parry Body Works of IL. Wonder if this body has any sort of identification of an aftermarket builder like Wayne or Martin and Parry? Just a thought.

Just read up on the Martin and Parry Co. and it seems Chevrolet bought them in 1930 and continued making commercial bodies for the Chevy vehicles. Pretty damn interesting. Here is the link to the story. There is even a picture of the depot hack body we had, it's just on a brass era T when ours was a 23'.

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/martin_parry/martin_parry.htm

Here's the link to the depot hack:http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/martin_parry/oo1917-Parry-02.jpg

That looks like a modified canopy express. The bodies were custom made by a couple of manufacturers for chevrolet. Chevrolet bought one of the companies in 1931. 1931's were original chevrolets after that, but most likely you could get custom bodies made as well. Pretty cool, Mae west turned on into a mobile home.

Yes she did, and I have seen photos of it as well. The last I heard, which was a couple of years ago, Mae West's 1931 Chevrolet Motor Home was restored and living in Central California.

When I compare the truck to those in the truck brochures in my collection, the photo looks like a factory modified Hercules 1/2 ton panel truck to me. The windows behind the doors and seats being the major modification. The basic vehicle looks like a Hercules body not a Martin Parry for 1929.