A VCCA member Bill Denman has converted a number of '27 or '28 chassis to depot hacks. His design is based on the Martin Parry bodies produced during those years. I suspect he has plans.
There were several companies that build those bodies for Model T and Model A chassis. Don't know if any survive today.
I have a '31 chassis that some day might be a depot hack. Planned to get the basic design sketched out and then determine the wood dimensions and then cut out the individual pieces. I envision it as building a large cabinet with swinging doors on both sides. The majority of individual parts are straight with 90 deg. ends. Not too difficult when compared to fitting wood to a rounded and wider at the back than front metal covered body.
One of the things to think about is that the Chevy depot hack foundation vehicle was the half ton commercial chassis.
Most everything is the same as the car, but the cowl is a one-piece steel stamping that doubles as the firewall and the dash board. Also, the location of the gas tank is under the seat.
Below is a scan of a page from the 1927 Chevrolet truck catalog that shows the half ton commercial chassis. You can easily see the commercial cowl and the gas tank location.
You'd buy this chassis from Chevrolet and then you could build your own body, take your chassis to a local cabinet builder, or choose a body from a number of body builders, most of which had their roots in the horse-drawn buggy days. Some of those body builders were Springfield, Martin Parry, and Hercules.
My 1928 Canopy Express started its life as a half ton commercial chassis and then went to Hercules for its body. I scanned the whole 1928 Hercules body catalog and it is available in the list of Technical Articles in the Members Only area of the main VCCA web site.
Below is a page from that catalog that shows an interesting variation of the depot hack, with bench seats in the back that fold up to allow for hauling more stuff in the bed. Although this body was meant for the one ton chassis, I think it could be scaled back for a half ton chassis.
One other resource might be the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. They have a 1926 Chevy depot hack in their collection. This museum houses what is left of the legendary Bill Harrah's car collection. They have a very extensive library which might contain plans associated with their depot hack. It might be worth a phone call to check it out.
Cheers, Dean
Last edited by Rustoholic; 10/22/2005:19 PM. Reason: added some info
Dean 'Rustoholic' Meltz old and ugly is beautiful!
Below is a fine example of a 1928 Chevy Depot Hack that is owned by the GM Heritage Center. I believe the body would fit exactly onto a 1927 chassis. In '28, only the engine compartment was lengthened by four inches.
The GM folks might have more information about this vehicle in their library.
