This is one of the most unusual vehicles that I have seen and the seller thinks that it may be one-of-a-kind. I think they may be right, what do you think? This is a very rare 1946 Murty Brothers truck and it’s a front-wheel-drive configuration, that has to be its most unusual feature. The seller has it listed here on Hemmings with an asking price of $10,500 or best offer. It’s located in Ashland, Oregon.
How’s that for a profile?! This is one unique vehicle, I could see a big trucking company buying this and restoring it for their museum, or maybe the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum? This would be a great addition to that museum. I don’t know how much logging has historically happened in Iowa but they have steel and pipe and other long materials which could have been hauled with this one. Murty Brothers started their business in 1938 in Portland, Oregon and they had several patents or inventions over the years, including those for a twin-steering axle, an air spring brake which was sold to Bendix, and a mechanical-tilting truck cab for cabover trucks.
Cool, literally, that’s the radiator behind the cab! Yes, the engine is, or was, mounted backward with a transfer case in front of that which brought the power to the front wheels only. Here’s a photo of this truck apparently in operating condition. It’s thought that it’s been in the Portland area its whole life, and at least one use was for a transfer and storage company. I wonder if it could have been a prototype front-wheel-drive, another possible Murty Bros. invention? I couldn’t find another instance of a front-wheel-drive truck of this size or from this era. Hopefully, Howard, Geo, and a few other truck experts will chime in on this one.
Murty Bros. also made flat-topped narrow cabs for various manufacturers which were made for hauling pipe, steel, logs, and other long materials. Here’s a Murty Bros. cab on a Diamond T. That would be a fantastic way to haul your classic cars to shows! This example has a PTO-driven winch behind the cab which is thought to be for pulling logs onto the low bed which would have been perfect for logging companies. I even found a toy of a 1946 Murty Bros. “Riggers Lowbed Dock Truck” for railroads. Maybe they made more than one of these trucks, it sure looks like this one, doesn’t it?
There’s probably no air-ride seat here, this is all business and it looks like it’s in fairly good condition inside, relatively. There is some rust on the bottoms of both doors but they say that the floors are solid. Literally, floorboards! It’s a Chevrolet cabover cab so that’s pretty unique given that the original grille and radiator are gone from the front with it being a backward-V8-engine configuration. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that before.
Here’s where the Ford flathead V8 engine would have been mounted. The seller has the engine and it appears to be complete, but it’s disassembled. Another running engine comes with the sale. Overall, it looks like a very doable project, although the size alone would take a lot of space in a big shop so this isn’t a one-car garage project. Have any of you heard of a Murty Bros. front-wheel-drive truck?
Scotty knows, I can’t resist a truck post. Specialty trucks have been around since the beginning. Trucks adapted for a specific purpose, in this case, moving and storage. A truck like this was needed for big bulky things, like transformers or anything needing a low center of gravity. The front drive was needed because a rear drive wouldn’t work. Quite ingenious, actually. The cab is a late 30’s Chevy and the front drive, I’d imagine is military. One thing for sure, this vehicle didn’t go far, like one side of a factory to the other. Very cool find, and in true “Howard A” fashion ( thought I left, hey?) naturally, price-wise, they’re nuts, very limited appeal. As is, I’d say it would overheat on a winter day.
The best way to wake us up as we start the day; as we peruse the morning BF caseload we note the good looking AMC/Camaro/Challenger/ Mustang, the well kept Alfa/Austin/MG/Triumph, wonder at the BSA/Harley/Indian/ Kawasaki Triumph/Matchless/Velocette…
And as we scroll down we’re hit with “WHOA!!!! What the heck is THAT!?!?!”
Today you’ve done it again, Scotty, and will pique a response from our experienced truck guys-already we have Howard A. online 👍🏻 and geomechs can’t be too far behind. Wayne, you know trucks-have you ever sen anything like this?
You guys know your readers.
Lol! Not sure where you find this stuff but keep them coming! I knew this would bring Howard out of the wood work. Thanks gang!
This is the stuff that makes this site so cool! I’ve never heard of or seen anything like this truck. Purpose-built back in a time when it was essential that someone figure out a way to build a machine to do a specific job, using whatever was available. Impressive even now. Not useful or valuable, but interesting.
I would second all the comments above. This truck: unusual, cool, interesting, impressive engineering. I’m glad this site features more than muscle cars.
Definitely a purpose-built truck. Set up so that one didn’t have to worry about coupling up a rear drive. International devised a super low driveline to accommodate a low-floor panel truck but that would be extremely costly so why not use a front drive that was available. Sure looks like a flathead V8 powered it. Hard to cool for sure but they managed to keep them cool in the back of buses. I question the cab. Something tells me that it was perched on there sometime after the truck was built. I’m thinking it was originally straight panels and square cut panels of flat glass to give it all the aerodynamics of a brick. This cab isn’t on straight. Anyway, it wins the prize for the unusual truck of the month…
I recently purchased the 1946 Murty Brothers COE abd transported it to Washington state. I am a muscle car restorer, so this is a little different for me., but I am planning on restoring it back to original. Most of the original parts are intact. Upon my initial inspection, I found that the original color was yellow, not the current red, I want to determine who contracted the construction and more about its early use. If anyone has any information about the early history of the truck and its yellow history, I’d like to hear about it. I’m hoping somebody from the Portland area can help with the research.
I would love this with a small home built on the back, and I think you wouldn’t need to be too concerned about the weight of building materials. A log house would be too “cutesy” and brick might be too middle class. No, I think I would go with cinder block or rammed earth, though with the latter you might not want to drive it through a heavy rainstorm.
Great find! Sure looks like it https://www.historicrail.com/images/410156-Large.jpg
AMAZING!
How on earth did you find that?
Hi, scott m, I have a link to that one in the 4th paragraph… I know that not everyone clicks on the links that we provide, though.
Did some summer logging in Oregon while in college. Don’t remember seeing this particular brand of vehicle but after digging the roads into the mountainside they used something similar to bring up the diesel winch unit used to haul the lumber out of the valleys. The winch unit had “feet” that extended out and they drove the truck out from under it. If you ever want to build yourself up physically logging will do it for you. Never worked so hard in my life.
I’ve seen a few of them over the years mostly used for hauling long length steel ect. Back in the day some hat a door in the roof so the driver could get in when the truck was loaded on both sides. Nice one
Found this
https://www.militaryissue.com/
1946 Murty Bros. Rigger’s Lowbed Dock Truck 1/87 Kit
Item # 410156
What a great find- thanks for sharing it. Being that the truck is already here in Oregon it might be a better candidate for our very own Pacific Northwest Truck Museum, located here in Brooks (just north of Salem on I-5). The Truck Museum is just one of several vehicle/railroad/mechanical historic collections located on the site, information about which can be found here: https://www.antiquepowerland.com/
As I recall these pieces where built in Oregon? Eons ago I think I was at a presentation on them at our local American Truck HS chapter. They were a very special built piece.
I can only imagine this vehicle being used to move about heavy stationary machinery, like aircraft assembly plants, etc. previous posts on this makes all those points plausible.
This truck is unique only by way of it’s age and defunct manufacturer. This type of specialty vehicle has been around for decades and is alive and well, but you probably haven’t noticed.
http://dallassmithcorp.com/
Still, this might be the only fwd heavy duty truck ever made. Intriguing.
Not at all, and I would not call it heavy duty with a license of only 14,000 lbs. GVW in spite of it having class 8 hubs, wheels, and tires. These trucks are still made but they have new cabs, not rusted out relics like this one.
Nobody seems to have noticed that it has the military gauge cluster that was used in all GM medium and heavy duty military trucks of the era. I think that hints at who the original owner may have been.
I would think a flat head Ford V8 would have trouble just moving the truck let alone any load on the back.
Also, traction would be poor. I would be surprised if many logs were put on it on dirt roads in the forest as it would most likely spin the front wheels especially in mud, if that Ford engine had the power to spin the wheels.
70/30 weight distribution between front and rear would allow for more than adequate traction. It can safely be assumed that this truck was not meant for off-road operation, especially given the ground clearance, or lack thereof. The truck is licensed for only 14,000 GVW, which is only slightly more than a one ton pickup. A Ford 239 cu in 100 HP flathead engine would be adequate to get this rig down the road at about 45 mph max. Don’t expect whiplash on acceleration either.
get rid of the rear if U want. Just some rails running back, ol used mobilehome trailer axel, long enuff back there to keep it from fallin on its nose – tow it home or up onto a trailer. Love to see the flat head in there. Now – what to do w/it? No idea…
/OR/
U could also use it asa ‘pusher’. Sit way hi up there? Extend those same rails FORWARD & steer/push from back…
Reminds me of the ol detroit diesel. No “sides” (swap intake’n exhaust) or “frnt/back” to it. Can B run anyway U want…even 2 ‘backs” (FW on both ‘ends’)
The cab is absolutely a GM product!
I remember driving several of my father’s GMC and Chevy trucks. The only differance is this truck has no vent wing windows!
Now that I study it more, Not only is the cab GM, the entire front portion is from a GM “cab over engine type. Except the grill is missing!
The instrument panel is ’40-’46 Chevrolet. The COE nose is ’39 or ’40 Chevy. The doors would be missing their lower bottom corners of the cab was from a COE. This is because the fenders overlap the COE cab. Its is likely a conventional cab with the COE nose applied with sheet metal replacing the COE grille. The grille top moulding is the COE version of the ’39 conventional moulding.
This is a ’40 – ’46 Chebby civilian truck instrument cluster. Tell me you don’t see the difference. However, I do agree with the rest of your assertions.
http://classicoldcars.net/1940-chevrolet-truck/1940-chevrolet-truck3.jpg
FYI – The vacant hole in the gauge cluster panel is for an instrument light (see the left side). This is what the GM and Chevrolet military variants had.
Further proof of the military heritage……..
https://www.gmccckw.nl/typesENG.php
C’mon guys…..how about some creativity? Imagine pulling into a car show with your “Trailer Queen” on it or just an old Hot Rod on the back! Someone that has the room and expertise to get this cleaned up & somewhat pretty, would have a hell of a car hauler. Definitely would bring the most attention to any show.
That sure looks like a GM bell housing to me.
Cool, reminds me of the ones my grandfather had. Weird trucks like Atterbury, Knox, etc.
I would love to have this to restore but being a cancer charity (www.1in8.org) we’d have no way to get it from Oregon to NC. :(
I seem always the sucker for a very different truck and this sure seems to fit the bill. Its a certainly different concept of the drive line and I had never knew something like this existed before but after thinking a bit it sure makes sense even way back when it was built! I hope somebody buys it and put it back the way it was when new it deserves to live on if for no other reason than its concept!
That’s one funky looking old truck,looks like it should have been in a cars movie!
I saw one of these at agricultural museum in woodland Ca.when they had a truck section. It was earlier and I think it had chain drive to the front wheels,unfortunately the trucks ended up in storage last I heard. The info said they were for self loading and unloading of machinery using the cat head.
Sitting here pondering how you could get chain drive to power a steering axle. Hmmm.
I’d guess, the same way GM did with the Olds Toronado…
The Toronado and GM motorhome had a Morse HV chain setup, which had not been invented at the time of this truck, and power still went through a differential. I believe the Murty truck had a gear drive drop box, much like a transfer case.
I recently purchased the Murty Bros. prototype and have moved it to Washington state for restoration. This truck shows that it was originally yellow, similar to Caterpiller equipment. Does anyone have any idea who, in the Portland, Oregon area, would have contracted the construction.