It is one thing when exotic or rare cars come up for sale in “survivor” status. One would expect that they’d be under excellent car because they were expensive and rare from the very first time their gleaming paint saw the sun. Muscle cars are little bit more surprising to see as survivors because they were mass produced with the intention of being fast and used on tracks and on the street. The biggest shocker of all (for me anyway) is when a classic big rig like this 1953 Diamond T truck comes up and it has never been restored or rebuilt. Why? This thing’s mission in life was to get used every single day, hauling as much weight as it could haul and over the year it probably saw a rash of different drivers. Some of those guys were smooth and kind to the truck and the others were butchers that hammered the poor thing as hard and it could be hammered every waking moment they drove it. Now, the cab was painted at some point so maybe that knocks it off true “survivor” territory but let’s be honest here. Is that enough to “ruin” a rig like this? Mechanically, it is a miracle!
We’ve all driven down the highway and seen rigs that were less than 10 years old looking like they were ready to break into pieces and just fly into a canyon.This truck? More than 60 years old and it could hook up and work today. With a working weight of 65,000lbs, this was one of the heaviest duty trucks you would spec for road use in the early 1950s and the reason it was able to handle the big loads was because of the engine. The non-turbocharged Cummins makes power numbers that trucks would be sure to laugh off today but for the era, it was a mover and this truck had it backed with a manual transmission because the idea of an automatic in a truck like this was about as conventional as aliens landing on the White House lawn. It was an impossibility then. The interior of the truck is perfect and complete with a little fan and really nothing else. That bench seat looks like it would be a torture device after a shift sitting on it!
I could go on for hours on how sweet this truck is and how with 44,000 miles it is barely broken in but I’ll let you do that as you scroll down to see the photos and the click on the link to see more photos and info on the actual eBay ad. This Diamont T is perfect and execptionally rare!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THE RIG AND THEN CLICK THE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM TO SEE THE EBAY AD –
Canuck dollar goes down, work is hit and miss and Brian posts my ultimate RV haul truck want. I’m going back to bed, this day’s wrecked .
That this survived is indeed impressive. With only 44,000 it’s just shy of a miracle.
Hell of a find, but the advantage goes to the Ford for me. Not by much though.