This 1949 Diamond T truck immediately caught my eye for its handsome design and bent windshield design. The Diamond T lineup was often celebrated for its handsome looks, as competing trucks from the likes of Mack were simply designed to be workhorses – not win a beauty contest. The Diamond T seen here is a solid survivor, with just some surface rust to contend with. The seller says it doesn’t run but shouldn’t take much, and it’s listed here on eBay with a $9,500 Buy-It-Now.
There appears to be some restoration work attempted, as those door panels look too nice for a truck that’s been sitting. The cab looks incredibly solid, and the wood-stake bed is a handsome addition to an already-handsome truck. The interior is simple but orderly, and both the bench and carpets look perfectly usable as-is. This Diamond T looks like it has potential to support a business operation either as a light-duty work vehicle or marketing collateral.
If you did use it for that purpose, some of its operating expenses could likely be written off. The heavy-duty winch on the bed looks useful, though I’m not sure what you’d be winching since the bed isn’t long enough for a vehicle. The seller clarifies in the listing that the truck does run with gas squirted into the carb, but the carb does have a leak which likely means you don’t want to leave it running for too long. It’s also said to go into each gear with ease.
The Hercules six-cylinder that’s under the winged hood is claimed to be original, along with the transmission. While the moon-stye hubcaps aren’t original, it does get the wheels turning in your brain that this would be an incredibly slick hot-rod build – but really, with so much of it still so well-preserved, it’s difficult to want to break up such an original truck. The potential is there either way when it comes to restoring this truck – which path would you choose?
Stick to Diamond T’s, you say? Alright, I will. This is a model 201, not sure the present owner knows that. The ID plate on the right side of engine compartment would confirm this. It’s the last year for this style, and in 1950, D-T went with the IH cab and fenders. The motor is a Hercules QXLD3, about 237 ci, and 90 hp. Probably has the “crash box” Warner 4 speed, and Clark rear end, probably in the 5:13 something range, so about 45-50 will be wound out tight.. Diamond T used all quality, war proven mechanicals, an “assembled” truck, they didn’t make any of their own parts.Cabs were McLaughlin, and frames by A.O. Smith. The winch is for dragging something onto a trailer, and by the looks of it, could pull a tank. I think the price is fair, I’ve seen D-T’s go for 5 figures, easy. I ( foolishly) sold my Diamond T pickup 20 years ago for $4,000( stupid ex-wife) to an old farmer friend, and I trust he still has it. One actually could get full wheel covers, but they didn’t look like this. Diamond T was the “Cadillac” of trucks, and like Cadillac, you paid a hefty price for one, almost twice the cost of a Ford or Chevy, but like anything, you get what you pay for, at least back then, it was clearly twice the truck.
You do indeed know these. This is a nice looking truck, the heavy winch will improve the ride. I miss seeing the cast spoke wheels and those padded door covers would have to go. When I was in high school, the neighbor up the block was a car collector, he owned an insurance company. His daily drivers were a pickup version of this, a Franklin sedan and Imperials. Howard, these were custom trucks off course…..but do you think it started as a pickup?
While this bed is clearly home made, they did sell a 201 with dual wheels. The rear bodies (stake, dump, van) were furnished by aftermarket companies.
A comprehensive description. Thank you, sir. It’s posts like this that are the reason I return to this site every day.
Howard, you said that you have driven everything. A 10 spot says you didn’t drive the one tractor with the air-cooled Wisconsin 40 horse helper engine. Iowa 80 has a neat museum and you’ve probably driven most of the collection types.
The 80 archives has the story about this particular tractor. It was home built to help flatten out the hills arkund here.
Hi Dick, well, obviously, I haven’t driven EVERYTHING, but being around trucks and construction equipment all my working career, I’ve driven a lot. No, I never was to Walcott I-80 , but I know the late owner, Bill Moon, had a lot of trucks. He was a big promoter of ATHS. Funny you mention “added motors”.Enthusiastic truckers looking to “get over the hill” did whatever they could.This is about the strangest application I’ve seen, but an enterprising trucker out of Illinois, named Frank Gripp, made this Diamond T cabover with a Buick V8 in front of the IH in line 6.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/odhfs/12281932606
Dick, not sure why you keep kicking Howards posts. FFS, Let him be, maybe he missed driving one or two. He knows his stuff. Between him and Geomechs they know it all with old trucks. You should have been here about 10 years ago. You would have learned somthing about old trucks.
Thanks, Mike, it’s cool. BS can run rampant on blogs, so people automatically think it’s not the truth. Still, lot of great knowledgable folks here, regardless of what they’re into. I’m into trucks, Dave likes Jaguars,( and sprawling ranches, I think) Dick could tell us everything about the aviation industry, your Willys( and attitude) is great, Jamies Brit smarts, Scotty’s oddballs, and geomechs, now there’s a guy who forgot more than I know, and all the others here that have specialized interests. It’s what makes this site great.
….aaaand cue the “take off the body and trash the rest” crowd in 3, 2, 1…
Alright Lawrence, I mean Tim S…….
An a one, an a two and your Welk um.
Wunnerful!
These are trucks, especially in pickup form, that I like just the way they are—fixed up of course. For me the only way for these is fix them up original, right down to the engine, semi rigid suspension and T-9 crashbox. A guy offered to sell me a fully restored one last month. It was actually very reasonable but still so far beyond my means that it still would cost more than (2) of my first houses. Funny thing is: if I had the money I would’ve seriously considered it but those winning lottery numbers are just to daggoned elusive. I guess I’ll just have to keep dreaming….
Guarantee your next paycheck there won’t be another one at the local Saturday car show/Cruise-in.
I can see putting in an overdrive unit just so you can get 60 mph out of it without blowing up the engine even the two lane roads need that much. Second choice would be a 2 speed axle. And as Dave said those door panals have to go. With these old flatties it wasn’t about the horsepower as much as it was about the torque. So don’t be to deceived by the low 90 hp. Neat old truck good for trips to home depot or the dump.
You could do that, but I’m not sure you want to go 60+ with this unit. I doubt the motor would blow, these were stout motors, that could be held wide open all day. They didn’t have enough carburetion to blow, a governor of sorts. If one intended to drive this at those speeds, something the truck was never designed to do, an update in running gear would be in order.
Awesome looking Diamond T. I’ve always liked the 1948-50 Diamond T trucks. If I could buy a truck like this I’d keep it as original as possible, patina and all, but I’d also upgrade a few things to make it safer to drive in today’s traffic. Among the things would be to install a small (2.8 litre) Cummins turbo diesel under the hood. I’d also upgrade to an all synchromesh manual gearbox.
I restore M series military trucks and I always hear about the guy who wants to get his Deuce to run at 70 mph, I tell all them the same thing I am going to say here. Is it possible to make these old trucks go that fast? Of course it is BUT IN NO WAY IS IT SAFE unless you are completely updating all the brake systems, suspension, type of tires and gear ratios! Needless to say unless you are a very stupid individual making these old trucks “FAST” is VERY expensive to do correctly and you are making changes that cannot be put back to stock easily!!
I agree. Many people don’t realize, 45 was plenty fast in the 40’s. With 2 lanes, hills and 90 hp, the average speed for trucks was more like 35. That’s what 50’s car hp. was all about, power to pass those slow moving trucks.
Most exes are stupid, or something along those lines from our point of view! That why their exes! Nice truck, though!