In my earlier years here in Southern California, it was very common for plumbing companies (and carpenter contractors) to have a steel mini-rack welded to the front-right fender such as seen on that 1934 ford pick up. With an accompaning similar rack connected to the right-rear fender/bed, long sections of pipe could be easily carried to job sites. These types are still found today, though in much less numbers, as the lumber/pipe racks which extend over the truck's cab roof allows long pieces in larger numbers and are very common on contractors trucks today also with long ladders. A steel company I worked at evenings during my college years had a Mack truck with a factory narrow cab with the right side of the flat bed extending to the front bumper on the right side. There was zero way anyone could enter the truck from the curb side!
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA
On Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 11:25:27 AM PDT, Dennis Storzek via groups.io <soolinehistory@...> wrote:
On Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 07:37 AM, Philip Dove wrote:
The truck in the foreground has been adapted to carry long timbers. What happened if the driver braked suddenly?
This arrangement was common on this side of the pond into the sixties on steel delivery trucks, since steel is typically sold in longer lengths than lumber The railroad museum I was active at years ago had a succession of these trucks that we used to haul donated rail; one was a Diamond T of early fifties vintage that had bi-fold doors, like on a phone booth, so the driver could enter the single seat cab, the other was a mid fifties International that had a roof hatch for access. We also had a '47 International fitted with a pole auger (for setting line poles) with a similar rack on the right side so it could carry the pole it was going to set. The load should stay if properly tied down, although I've heard this story:
Cop, "Why didn't you stop when the light turned red?" Driver, "Well, it's like this. You could have had the truck go through the intersection with the rail on it, or the rail go through by itself."
