The term "Huckster"...

[Steve Plucker]

Just how did the term "Huckster" come about in old car language?

Pluck

 

[eswanson]

I'm replying not because I know but because I want to know, thanks for asking Pluck

 

[Farrell In Vancouver]

The Wagon was perfect for hawking veggies or for a tradesman selling his skills door to door. Its based on the selling of cheap wares or services, seldom with any guarantee.

 

[Bruce Adams]

A "Huckster" is another name for a peddler of cheap stuff. It would seem easy to transport term that to a truck with drop down sides that he might have worked out of.

 

[roccaas]

Much like "Drummer", drumming up business, as a term for traveling sales men (and women I guess). A Texas company I worked for had printed materials in the archives relating the activities of train borne men travelling from town to town "Drumming up business" as Drummers.

 

[Special Coupe Frank]

During the 1940's and early 1950's, they revised the marketing name to "Canopy Express"... believe Chevy & GMC made these thru the 1954 model year...

 

[Roadster62]

I'll loose a few friends over this, but "Huckster" just brings to mind poorly made wooden bodies that look nothing like aftermarket bodies sold in the 1920-1930's.

 

[Huckster]

I guess i'll have to take a few more pics of one that was done the right way.
This is the closed version.
Got the plans from i believe it is called wagon works in iowa.
Will get some inside pics later. not completely original but i think it will do.
By the way my dad is the man that brought this one to life.

 

[Jazzjr]

I guess i'll have to take a few more pics of one that was done the right way.
This is the closed version.
Got the plans from i believe it is called wagon works in iowa.
Will get some inside pics later. not completely original but i think it will do.
By the way my dad is the man that brought this one to life.

Thanks for the Photos, I also got my Plans + a video package from the Wagon Works in Iowa also. Pictured in my avtar is the stage mine is in. I'm also building mine the same as yours, with the Full side Windows, and Oval windows in the rear Doors. What did you use for the Large Side Windows, Lexan?? Please post the Inside Photos, plus e-mail them to me, Thanks

Now I have to get back at the Project, thanks for the Motovation.

 

[Mike V. Florida]

1. One who sells wares or provisions in the street; a peddler or hawker.
2. One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product.

A peddlers truck, usually with flared side boards and a canopy.
Etymology: Middle English hukster, from Middle Dutch hokester, from hoeken to peddle

 

[cretin]

Never heard the term, but interesting info.

 

[Special Coupe Frank]

1. One who sells wares or provisions in the street; a peddler or hawker.
2. One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product.

A peddlers truck, usually with flared side boards and a canopy.
Etymology: Middle English hukster, from Middle Dutch hokester, from hoeken to peddle

Thanks Mike - this sounds like it relates to the expression to "hawk one's wares"...

FYI, my (now deceased) uncles once answered this same question for me when I was a youth... they said the term had been around since their childhood ( Teens thru Thirties )...

There were other less-flattering, ethnically-based names for street peddlers, but that's a subject probably best left alone.

 

[coupe1942]

Old thread, but.......... I converted my '30 Murray body town sedan to a Huckster body when I was stationed at 29 Palms, CA, back in the early 80's. I built it at the base wood shop and virtually everyone working there thought it was some type of picnic table until I drove up to the shop with the chassis and put the body onto it. Sadly, I no longer have any photos due to a computer crash. The kids loved the thing.

I too had the plans from Wagon Works. As best I recall, they had a couple of different versions of the body available, but it was so long ago that I am no longer sure.

I am now going blind in reading all the archived messages here to catch up a bit, but this one brings back some fun memories of that ol' car, for sure. When I was stationed in Wichita Falls in the late 70's, there was also a man there who had a Huckster inside his workshop near Scottsdale park. I believe his name was Smitty, but he passed away from a heart attack when I was stationed there. He was a retired Col. in the AF and i was a Captain back then. His Huckster gave me the incentive to do that to the old town sedan I had at a later date.

You either like them or hate them, I suppose and there doesn't seem to be any in between to it. Me, I enjoyed it at the time. Mine was an open door version.

 

[raprice]

It's funny, but I never saw the word Huckster to be a negative term. I've always looked at the word to denote a person who sells stuff. My good friend owns a '25 Ford Huckster and it looks like it could be used to sell anything, but mostly fruits and vegetables.
That's just my take on it.
Rog

 

[pgerhardt]

I'll loose a few friends over this, but "Huckster" just brings to mind poorly made wooden bodies that look nothing like aftermarket bodies sold in the 1920-1930's.

Here is what a period steel bodied 1928 huckster was like (except all the wood would have been painted and I could not bear to cover up all that pretty & expensive oak!):

 

[vern hodgson]

There was a woman, her name was feather stone, came thru Seattle around the time of our 72 national meet. She drove a really neat 30,31 huckster she would set up at the malls and display this line of bath and beauty products. The name of the company escapes me at all he moment but I did come across the article and a photo in the past year. Now as soon as I return home and go thru my archives (which are few) I will post the photo. This had sloped display units on both sides and the end. Tailgate down. The center was for storage of stock. It was a very good design for farmers selling their produce on the roadside etc.

 

[vern hodgson]

Thanks for the Photos, I also got my Plans + a video package from the Wagon Works in Iowa also. Pictured in my avtar is the stage mine is in. I'm also building mine the same as yours, with the Full side Windows, and Oval windows in the rear Doors. What did you use for the Large Side Windows, Lexan?? Please post the Inside Photos, plus e-mail them to me, Thanks

Now I have to get back at the Project, thanks for the Motovation.

Some of these hucksters are more like depot hacks to me

 

[coupe1942]

Nahhh, I don't agree, as having had one and then seeing this as the more common body style for a Depot Hack, they only look similar to the outside because of the wood use.

Many of the Hucksters I have seen had racks built into them and would not have carried passengers to the rear. This one was at Tishomingo recently, in a car show there. The body style for this Depot Hack was for T's or A's, but to me they just don't look the same as a Huckster.

I can be completely wrong though, but just my take on it.

 

[99ZoomR]

This is what I think of when I hear someone talk about a "huckster".... Mr. Haney's truck was a '23 or '24 Dodge Brothers I think...

 

[Capt Quahog]

The "Huckster" type truck is a side loading vendor wagon. Remember back in the 1970s when a number of outfits offered body kits to create huckster cars/trucks. Most of the existing Model A Ford "Huckster" wagons were derived from later made products. Recall too seeing sellers roll into antique car flea markets with huckster wagon cars loaded full of goods. As soon as parked, side canvas would be rolled up and sales commenced immediately. Always thought that type of vehicle to be very cool and practical.