Oily Rag Roadster Pickup

[wensum]

On a recent visit to a friend in Australia I had a chance to inspect his '29 Roadster Pickup
In Australia, Government rules required that the car bodies were built in Australia which resulted in all sorts of unusual body’s right up until the '50's
This RPU appears to have the front half of a phaeton body with a wooden tray on the back and supposedly ex factory.
It is still in regular use and is used to explore remote and difficult locations as the owner is a member of the Feral Sports Car club (Their website is a real hoot)
Some original pin striping is still evident and the car continues to be reliable despite no serious rebuilds of mechanical components etc.
If you can pick it, note the .22 cartridges wedged under the windscreen and the Rolls Royce Flying Lady mascot on the petrol tank
Note also the right-hand-drive car pedal layout

 

[spdway1]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Phil]

Great truck. If it could talk bet I could tell som real stories.

 

[Tudortomnz]

That certainly looks like the Ford Australia made Utility Delivery. They designed & made a different type ''bed'', nothing like the Nth American steel box tray. There were a few variations in the bed design.
The back of the cab would be flat & the top would be non folding.
It does have plated shell & lamps, not usually supplied on a commercial chassis, but it may have come like that ; foreign markets sometimes jazzed up standard cars to lure a sale during the lean Depression.
Looks to have been well used by the worn clutch pedal. Original looking & a great Model A to own.

 

[Flat-Foot]

What a cool survivor.

 

[Tiny]

Thanks for turning me on to the Feral Club. Those guys look like they have too much fun!! If I ever move out of the states its going to be to Australia. "Where the men are tough and the sheep are pretty" as a Tasmanian friend says

 

[Russ/40]

What an amazing piece of history. Hopefully WELL photographically documented before it is further gone. Of interesting note is the reinforcement in the cowl for the spare support bracket seen in the starboard photo. Would be quite and interesting and challenging project to reproduce the bed construction. If I had it, I would NEVER restore it, but would make very effort to duplicate it. What a great truck.

 

[Brother Hesekiel]

Great pickup!

Back in 2006 I had a RPU here in California in about the same condition. On the doors was still visible the hand painting for a Camshaft Grinding Company in Central California. At that time I wasn't even remotely interested in "really old cars" so after a few trips to lunch and Starbucks, I sold the truck for $10K. Wish I could turn the clock back!

 

[1937pickup]

Looks like the clutch gets used much more than brakes-does that indicate anything?

 

[Mad Mac]

Looks like the clutch gets used much more than brakes-does that indicate anything?

No hills there - its all flat, red and dusty

 

[wensum]

In fact, in the part of Australia where it's located (Castlemaine), it's quite hilly with the Mount Tarrengower hillclimb course only a few miles away and as a result of extensive gold mining many years ago the whole area was stripped down to bed rock for alluvial gold before mining started.
But yes, on the whole, Australian roads are straight and flat with little camber and lined almost solely with gum trees which can make driving somewhat boring over the long distances involved