Looking somewhat like a kit car, or truck, Powell made two interesting four-wheeled vehicles in the 1950s that used 1940s chassis and drivetrain technology. It isn’t hard to wonder why that formula didn’t work in the long run, but I’m glad there are still a few around today. It doesn’t get much more fascinating for me than this 1957 Powell Sport Wagon, there weren’t many of them made in the last three months of production. Thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
It’s hard to tell the exact year of this Powell pickup or “Sport Wagon” because the chrome trim isn’t installed and we don’t even know if any trim comes with this truck or any other extra parts. The Powell brothers – Hayward and Channing – began making radios in the mid-1920s and found that the inexpensive radios sold much better than the expensive ones did, which was not too surprising. They made several other radios and were successful, but by the mid-1930s had moved to scooter manufacturing.
During WWII, they helped with the war effort and after that moved to small motorcycles, and once again helped with the war effort for the Korean War in the early 1950s. After that, two-wheelers were off the table and they moved onto the Sport Wagon in 1955. It’s hard to believe they only made them until March of 1957, but one big reason for that is they were designed to use the chassis and drivetrain of the 1941 Plymouth. There were around 1,200 made in total, just over 1,000 pickup models, and around 150 station wagons.
If this is a 1957 model, it’s well worth restoring as it’s rare. I know, “Just because something is rare doesn’t mean it’s valuable…” but yeah, no, this one deserves to be restored and to be in Scotty G’s Museum of Oddballs, soon to open (2039…). You can see that it needs pretty much everything inside and out, but it’s a very simple design and it looks straight and rust-free for the most part, at least from what photos the seller has provided. They don’t show a rear view and I’m assuming the pull-out “drawers/fishing pole holders” are gone, but I could be wrong. Many more photos are needed if they expect to wrangle up a serious buyer for this Powell.
Here’s what should be a 1941 Plymouth 201-cu.in. L-head inline-six, which should have had 82 horsepower. It should be backed up by a three-speed manual with a column shifter sending power to the rear wheels. The seller doesn’t give any information as to the condition of any of the components or really anything, other than this one was in storage for 50 years and just pulled out. It’s a shame, this could have been a legendary listing with such a rare vehicle, but there are only six photos in their craigslist ad, and this truck is in the Walnut Creek, California area. They’re asking $8,000, and here is the original listing.
Interesting, thought I knew just about every 30s through 60s auto nameplate but this one is new to me. What peaks my curiosity is the chassis/drivetrain–
a 1941 Plymouth. Did Powell just salvage pre-used components or did they utilize new-unused frames, drivetrain and related suspension parts? How would a “new” automobile with “used/reconditioned” parts be classified–
new, re-assembled, salvage? Anyone know?
I seem to recall that they bought up ’41 Plymouths from used-car lots and junkyards, repaired what didn’t work and added the new bodies. Production ended when they couldn’t find any more donor cars.
How they were registered, I don’t know.
Thanks, Ray. Maybe someone else knows more they can tell us.
They bought the used frame and drive train. Rebuilt all the components and sold as NEW 1956-57 Powell Sportwagons. Produced around 1000 trucks and 300 Wagons. Around 100 trucks exist according to the registry,
I currently own a 56. There is a Facebook group with a good following.
Being 1941 Plymouths, it would seem that they would be hard to find- auto production came to a halt in 1941 and with the huge scrap drives during the war, there would not have been many non runners surviving the war. Those that had been kept as drivers would have had a lot of miles on them by the time the Powell Brothers began searching scrap yards for donors.
They used junkyard parts, cheap and easy access. This model and the wagon, SUV or whatever you want to call them were designed to be cheap utility vehicles. Wasn’t that common to have two cars in the driveway way when they were selling these. Believe it was California so doubtful any new got east of the Mississippi. Throw a modern drivetrain in it and have a ball at the local Get together.
There is a handful that have made it past the Mississippi. Those probably came this way over the years, not when new, They were selling for $1000 new while a new Chevy or Ford was around $1600. I doubt they could have sold them competitively if they were shipping them across country.
I have one that I take out to a few shows. I have only had one person say that had actually seen one in person. Quite the conversation piece, but unfortunately rare doesn’t translate to valuable.
I was in a car club many yrs ago where the President’s last name was Powell. He swore he was related to the brothers. In his back yard he had two (2) of the P/U’s in poor shape, but definitely like the one for sale. Lost track of him after I moved.
Scotty I’m looking forward to your museum when it opens in 2039. I have no doubt it will have some epic oddball vehicles.
Whoa, this is creepy. I no sooner get done saying Powell used Plymouth mechanicals on the ’39 post, and one shows up. The unexplained wonders of BarnFinds, I suppose. If there ever was a candidate for the “generic” car, Powell would have to win. It looks to be fabricated in a garage, and I believe it was in Compton, Cal. from 1954 to 1957. They say they ran out of ’41 Plymouths, and I bet a few ’39-’40s got in there too. It sold for around $1,000 new, hundreds less than a Ford, and was touted as the 1st car to sell for under a grand. ( $998) Options were limited, and I believe Powell remained a regional make, hence the location of this one. I never saw one in Beer City.
The hilarious, yet kick below the belt Simpson episode, where Homers long lost brother Herb, ( Danny DeVito) is the president of Powell Motors in Detroit. “Pow, pow, Powell makes a powerful car”, and naturally, Homer ruins everything and the plant is sold to an Asian firm, Komatsu Motors. They don’t say who Powell Motors was, but you can figure it out.
SG, could you move the starting date to the museum up a few years? By 2039, most of us will be pushing daisies,,,
In storage 50 years? For some of us 1975 doesn’t seem that long ago…
There was a dealership in Fresno, Ca. It was a Shell Service Station and the owner’s name was Henry. I used to hang out there when I was a kid. I saw one at a storage yard in Oroville, Ca. a few years ago and stopped to look at it. The owner came over and smarted off saying if I could tell him what it was he would give it to me. When I told him what it was and when it was produced then asked for a bill of sale he told me to get the **** out of there. If I remember right Henry sold a few but gave the whole thing up. Good Memories.
I bought 1 in Oroville 2yrs ago. He is in my FB group. He had another one that he parted out so now I have spare doors, hood and steering column. This ’56 was on private property, so not the 1 you saw.
I owned a ‘56 Powell pickup years ago. They are crudely made, but cool. Subject vehicle is a Powell pickup. As mentioned, Powell made a few wagons, fSport Wagons), but this is not one of them. My research told me that they started with a ‘41 Plymouth, but used various Dodge and Plymouth parts as they progressed, and donor vehicles became harder to find. This, and the fact that Ford rolled out the Ranchero for the ‘57 model year, sounded the death knell for Powell.
Powell’s idea was to produce an cheap, sturdy, no frills pickup. In the age of $70,000 pickups, maybe somebody needs to pick up where he left off…
It must have been around 1960 while riding with my older brother in his 1955 Ford 1/2 ton pickup with a front drop axel and raised rear end that we stopped at a red light in Redding California, when a beautiful young woman in a bikini was walking down the sidewalk. Apparently the guy behind us was watching her and crashed his Powel pickup into the back bumper of my brothers pickup. It crushed his grill and radiator. The beautiful girl just smiled and walked away. The Powel driver drove it to an empty lot a couple blocks away as his coolant drained from his radiator. That was my only experience with a Powel vehicle.
God Bless America
I have several educational videos on Powells on YouTube under my user name 600miles channel. I have 1 that compares 3 different years I had 54, 55, 56. And about this ’57 – a previous owner stripped off all the side body trim and punched all those extra holes in the back. This ’57 has the tubes below the hinged lids.
The Powell’s sold the vehicles under their own serial numbers – its located on top of the right front frame rail and preceded by the letters PMC-****. All had 4 digit serial numbers that I am aware of. The vehicles had rebuilt MoPar six cylinder engines sourced from Plymouths, Dodges, Industrial engines, etc. Hayward and Channing also built three motor homes but never patented the concept. I corresponded with Haywood some years back before he passed away and have a photo of him and family with one of the motor homes.