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For one point: What is this, and what was it for?
Only a correct, complete and specific answer will earn a point; tag-on's to other guesses will not. So, be specific and complete!
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Up
Any relation with Union Pacific M 10000 Streamliner train?
No direct connection I'm aware of, though it surely was inspired by such streamlined trains. It was built some years later, by another company that was not directly connected to the railroad business.
Up
This truck is described on some sites as a beer truck from 1937 but I doubt it because no advertisement for any beer make is shown.
I found this truck some time ago, described as a Ford from 1936 with a license plate D13-900 (I can't decipher from which state : Illinois ?). On the side of this truck, there is a four-word inscription : the second three-letter word coul be MEX or NEW; the third seven-letter word could be PRODUCE and the last word seems to be OHIO. Under this inscription, there is another three-word inscription in small letters, and under this one another unreadable inscription in smaller letters. Maybe it was a demonstration shop for some product
Interesting answer. In the original photo I used for this puzzle, there are four words on the side that can be read, which identify the user/owner of the bus. None of the words none of which is three letterers long, or has anything to do with produce.
It was not used as a product demonstration vehicle. It was used for the purpose that its appearance suggests.
Don't tell me it's a mobile steam iron ! :lmao:
If it doesn't have anything to do with produce, maybe it is police, which suggests a fashioned coach for transporting convicts ?
Not a paddy wagon
Is it a Rescue Truck ?
Unable to read other possibilities. A TV studio ?
Quote from: pguillem on September 22, 2013, 09:06:44 PM
Unable to read other possibilities. A TV studio ?
No - you're over-complicating it. Despite its unusual appearance, its purpose is quite ordinary and common.
a mobile home?
No sir. Even more ordinary than that.
a promo bus?
A blood transfusion bus ?
Quote from: pnegyesi on September 23, 2013, 04:49:05 AM
a promo bus?
It was a bus. Other than the name of the company printed on the side, I don't know that it served any other promotional purpose.
A shuttle bus for a company ?
Yes
Was Ford the company ?
The chassis under the bus, and the builder of the body, are unknown to me.
The company that used this bus was not Ford.
Do I have to find the name of this company ? If it's the case, is it in the automobile industry ?
Yes, the name the company is needed.
Not an automotive concern.
General appliances ?
Not appliances - including clothes irons! ;D
Aircraft ?
No sir
Radio industry ?
No sir.
Food industry ?
There are a lot of industries, aren't there?
Not the food industry.
Maybe it's not an industry. Could it be the army ?
No, it's an industry.
showbusiness ?
No sir.
An aviation company ?
No
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
How about the bearing industry?
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 10:57:24 AM
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
Not chemicals. Looking for hard goods made from metal, wood, and other materials.
Quote from: 4popoid on September 25, 2013, 01:09:12 PM
How about the bearing industry?
Some of their products used bearings.
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on September 25, 2013, 02:58:55 PM
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 10:57:24 AM
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
Not chemicals. Looking for hard goods made from metal, wood, and other materials.
A furniture manufacturer ?
Not furniture
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on September 25, 2013, 02:58:55 PM
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 10:57:24 AM
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
Not chemicals. Looking for hard goods made from metal, wood, and other materials.
Getting short of ideas. I'm thinking about scaffolds and wheelbarrows. A construction manufacturer ?
A manufacturer of agricultural implements?
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 05:28:36 PM
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on September 25, 2013, 02:58:55 PM
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 10:57:24 AM
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
Not chemicals. Looking for hard goods made from metal, wood, and other materials.
Getting short of ideas. I'm thinking about scaffolds and wheelbarrows. A construction manufacturer ?
You're getting very close - think a little more generally...
Locked for pguillem
Quote from: 4popoid on September 25, 2013, 06:04:43 PM
A manufacturer of agricultural implements?
Not too far off. Let's see what pguillem has to say. If I unlock it, you can have another og.
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on September 26, 2013, 04:02:14 AM
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 05:28:36 PM
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on September 25, 2013, 02:58:55 PM
Quote from: pguillem on September 25, 2013, 10:57:24 AM
I'm not very good at finding broad categories. Chemical industry ?
Not chemicals. Looking for hard goods made from metal, wood, and other materials.
Getting short of ideas. I'm thinking about scaffolds and wheelbarrows. A construction manufacturer ?
You're getting very close - think a little more generally...
Locked for pguillem
Is it home improvement ? I'm thinking of "rénovation" businesses like Canadian Tire, Home Depot and Rona...
Not home a home improvement product retailer or contractor. Think smaller.
Locked for one more answer from you.
A gardening center ?
Not a retail establishment of any kind.
Open again to all.
A repair company ?
Not a services company.
Could this thing have been operated by a Department of a City?
A restaurant?
Quote from: Bill Murray on September 27, 2013, 10:24:58 AM
Could this thing have been operated by a Department of a City?
Not a municipality or government.
Quote from: targhediferro on September 27, 2013, 10:34:02 AM
A restaurant?
This bus was not operated by a service-sector company.
A manufacturer of earthmoving or mining equipment?
An aquarium or mini-zoo?
Let's summarize : this is a shuttle bus for a company
- which is not in appliances/aircraft/automobile/radio/food/showbusiness/chemical products/furniture
- not a retailer
- not in services of any kind
- not a city or a government
- but a company which is in hard goods made of metal, wood and other materials, including bearings
- but which is not a construction company
This bus seems to be registered in Illinois. The economy of Illinois is based on services (excluded) and agricultural machinery with giant companies such as Caterpillar and John Deere. A manufacturer of agricultural implements is not too far from the answer.
That's all I know, but I can't find the eye of the needle, But I remain perplex with the inscription, which doesn't help me at all. Maybe my photograph could help, if Otto allows me to post it,
Quote from: 4popoid on September 27, 2013, 11:30:26 AM
A manufacturer of earthmoving or mining equipment?
Think smaller
Quote from: targhediferro on September 27, 2013, 02:59:58 PM
An aquarium or mini-zoo?
Nothing to do with animals or public amusement.
Quote from: pguillem on September 27, 2013, 09:27:22 PM
Let's summarize : this is a shuttle bus for a company
- which is not in appliances/aircraft/automobile/radio/food/showbusiness/chemical products/furniture
- not a retailer
- not in services of any kind
- not a city or a government
- but a company which is in hard goods made of metal, wood and other materials, including bearings
- but which is not a construction company
This bus seems to be registered in Illinois. The economy of Illinois is based on services (excluded) and agricultural machinery with giant companies such as Caterpillar and John Deere. A manufacturer of agricultural implements is not too far from the answer.
That's all I know, but I can't find the eye of the needle, But I remain perplex with the inscription, which doesn't help me at all. Maybe my photograph could help, if Otto allows me to post it,
Sure - why not.
a manufacturer of mobile houses?
I salute pguillem for doing that list which I was going to do but just did not find the time.
On the back of the copy of the bus photo I printed off my PC I have almost covered the page with incorrect guesses.
From my side, the bus is a very close replica of the Union Pacific M1000 (or M10000 depending on the reference source) engine made in the 1934-1935 time period. From what I can find, most of them were named after cities on the West Coast of the US.
The logo we see on this bus is very similar to the style of logo used on the engine for "The City of Portland" train, Portland being in Oregon. As such, I have concentrated my search to the State of Oregon. pguillem feels it comes from Illinois and he may well be more correct than I am.
According to Otto Puzzle, the bus was made "several years later than the engine",
quotation marks are mine, which would make it closer to what?? 1938-1940 maybe????
What is really baffling is that using several dozen search parameters on Google (and I do not use SBI of course) I have not found either this photo or any other photo of a similar bus. Given that I have found hundreds and hundreds of "Art Deco busses", "Streamlined busses" and I am tired of looking at Gilmore trucks, GMC Parade of Progress trucks and busses, Labatte brewery trucks etc. etc. I find it hard to believe such a unique bus was not discovered by some other enthusiast forum and commented on.
So for this post, may I ask if the venue of the truck Portland, Oregon?
Another image of our mystery machine.
Thank you pguillem for posting the new photo.
Sadly, it only seems to make the mystery deeper.
I agree that the license/registration plate is from Illinois. It appears to be a "Commercial" plate with 2 numbers separated with a - and then 3 numbers and with some sort of wording on either side of the numbers.
The last two words on the top line in the logo area seem to me to say "Produce Company" as you have earlier stated.
Not to further confuse the issue, but the shape of the windscreen on the driver's side in your photo seems to be different than the shape on the entry side as in OP's photo. This might be the way it was designed, the different angle of the two photos or there may have been two or more of these vehicles produced???
I have tried to find the names of Produce Companies in operation in Illinois in the 1934 to 1940 time frame but came up empty trying to match the first word or words.
And........even as I said earlier that this very rare bus must have been discovered on some other enthusiast forum, I cannot find your photo on the net either using the standard search parameters.
1.5 hours of searching and thinking and I am no further ahead than I was........
Snap.
Quote from: Bill Murray on September 28, 2013, 11:53:30 AM
And........even as I said earlier that this very rare bus must have been discovered on some other enthusiast forum, I cannot find your photo on the net either using the standard search parameters.
Snap.
It is described as a beer truck from 1937 on the H.A.M.B. forum (presently getting a database error)
Vert nice picture, I really love the beast.
As my nickname shows I am deeply interested in streamlined trains and I have spent a lot of time on this M 10000 clone, with no success of course and like you, Bill, I have seen hundreds of pictures of the Labatt's beer trucks. I'll rest for a while, in the hope that some fellow puzzler may solve the mystery.
Luciano
Could this have been coachbuilt by the General Body Co in Chicago?
I'm going to go way out on a limb, and say that this shuttle bus was the property of: The Heil Furnace Company. At the time of the picture, Heil was headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I agree that the license plate appears to be from Illinois, but perhaps Heil used this bus to transport commuting employees from the Chicago area to southern Wisconsin. An alternate theory would be that the license plate is a dealers plate, and this is a builders photograph. The bus so resembles the Union Pacific M10000, I wonder if the body wasn't built by Pullman-Standard, who built the M10000 and successors, and Pullman-Standard was located in Pullman (south Chicago), Illinois.
Excellent detective work 4popoid.
I cannot come up with the Heil connection but am still looking around.
I agree the plate is a bit odd, it has the numbers of a commercial plate but I cannot match the writing on either side so it may well be a dealer/manufacturer plate. Google was little help here.
I like the Pullman-Standard thought and will be looking at that some more in a bit.
In any case, I believe we are looking at a COE chassis and that would most likely put the year from 1936 or later as there weren't many COE trucks in the popular lines before then.
A most challenging puzzle to be sure.
It was not used by a produce company, a beer company, nor a furnace company. I don't know who built the body.
was it used by a city in Illionis?
Gale Products, Division of OMMC?
a school of some kind?
A band bus ?
This puzzle is getting me nuts. I was thinking of woodwind an brass instruments, strings and percussions, and Jack Conrad's band bus.
A manufacturer of engines?
Quote from: pguillem on September 29, 2013, 02:21:20 PM
A band bus ?
This puzzle is getting me nuts. I was thinking of woodwind an brass instruments, strings and percussions, and Jack Conrad's band bus.
Not a bus for musicians.
Western Electric ?
Nope.
Let's try something a little different, as guesing every non-services company that existed in or near Illinois during the 20th century could take weeks, months, or more.
On the side of this bus are four words. Part of one of those words has been stated before. Here's the clue:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ P r o d u c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I've been trying to work out what the words are. On the CSI television programmes they have pictures consisting of three pixels, click the "enhance" button, and everything comes into crystal clear focus, but it doesn't seem to be working for me...
However, I think that the last three words could be "Metal Products Company", but I can't work out the first one at all.
Quote from: Tom_I on September 30, 2013, 04:07:11 PM
I've been trying to work out what the words are. On the CSI television programmes they have pictures consisting of three pixels, click the "enhance" button, and everything comes into crystal clear focus, but it doesn't seem to be working for me...
However, I think that the last three words could be "Metal Products Company", but I can't work out the first one at all.
Those three words are correct. Locked for you!
_ _ _ _ M e t a l P r o d u c t s C o m p a n y
Is it the Duro Metal Products Company in Chicago?
It is!
My hat is certainly off to Tom. Duro was #4 on my list of 4 letter words to try to find the company.
My question, though, is now what????
Chassis, coachbuilder, year etc. and is there a clear photo of the bus with the complete logo??
I have about 4 hours research into this puzzle and I am so happy it is getting solved, I didn't care who solved it, but I would like the whole story if we can get it.
Bill
I consider it done.
I'll post the picture with the logo visible tomorrow morning (my time zone). Since pguillem did much of the up-front work, I think he's earned a point as well. If somebody can provide credible proof of the mechanical base or builder, another point may be awarded.
Well done, all.
Quote from: Tom_I on September 30, 2013, 04:23:09 PM
Is it the Duro Metal Products Company in Chicago?
Congrats Tom ! Your lateral seeing is a lot better than mine ;D
And thank you Otto !
Here's the un-retouched version of the puzzle pic, and a closer look at the wording. Still not super clear, but the best I can do with the resources at hand.
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
QuoteDuro Metal Products Co.
Chicago, IL., U.S.A.
Manufacturer Class: Wood Working Machinery & Metal Working Machinery
This maker of woodworking and metal-working machinery was established in 1917, but really started to pick up steam in the early 1930s with the decrease in cost of small motors that enabled "portable" (i.e., not driven by line-shaft) machinery. Duro machines were aimed at the light industrial and high-end home users.
Duro's lathe was sold by Montgomery Ward. In 1968 Rockwell Manufacturing Co. purchased the overarm router-shaper and a belt sander from Duro; the belt sander was never made by Rockwell.
The company survived to at least 1981, and probably into the late 1980s. By that time they were facing strong competition from Taiwan. A company named JAF, Inc. of Ashland, WI, owned the rights to the name from 1989 though 1996. The Duro name no longer exists, and parts and service are not available. If you need parts, your best option is to buy a parts-donor machine.
Address (1949 Popular Mechanics): 2651 N. Kildare Ave, Chicago 39, Illinois.