South Bend Lathe Salesman's Car....

Jason B · Jan 4, 2008

Here we have a series of photos of a salesman's car. Dated 4/17/53

Wish I had the car, let alone the equipment. Notice they could swap out lathes in a pinch. Oh, and opposite the shaper is a drill press. Can anyone ID the car? Must of had good power to pull that weight around all day. I wonder if these SB's sold themselves or did the salesman really have to work hard for each sale?

Paula · Jan 4, 2008

Wow, Jason, that's wild!

Car looks like a 1950 Chevy DeLuxe wagon.

anchorman · Jan 4, 2008

H. O. T. – Hot!

I wonder if you could get an inverter and run the little shaper as you are driving down the road...

I know we're supposed to be looking at the machine tools, but is that real wood trim on the side of that car?

thanks for sharing,

jon

Jason B · Jan 4, 2008

Yes Paula, it is wild!

Oh, and I don't think they used fake wood back then. I could be wrong though, I am only in my 30's.

Here is another set of pics. Seems you could go smaller for the playboy salesman style ride. Any idea on what this car is? Dated 1948.

anchorman · Jan 4, 2008

I'll stick with the station wagon, thanks. I'm all about form following function on this one.

The quarters in the back of that coupe look all to familiar to the spaces I have to work in my house at the moment... At least with the wagon, you could work on longer pieces. and it comes with that cute little shaper, too

-jon

starbolin · Jan 4, 2008

Mobile Machining

Gives a whole new meaning to when the guy says the lathe has 'a few miles' on it!

Jason B · Jan 4, 2008

How about this one for ya anchorman? Big enough?

Lol, thats quite funny starbolin.

Jason B · Jan 4, 2008

Alright Anchorman, not enough eh? I'll go bigger!

I like the 1/4 cut out drill press in the last pic. Also, everything is so shiny!

anchorman · Jan 4, 2008

much better. you can just pull either one up in the back yard.

-jon

Halcohead · Jan 4, 2008

I don't think you'd want to run the shaper in the van while driving. it'd spit the chips right up into the windshield...

Very cool though. I've heard the military has machine shops in trucks for field maintainence.

Edit: Notice the heavy ten has the (very rare) ultra-fine feed motor attachment on it. Odd. I guess they really decked the demo models out.

Perry Harrington · Jan 4, 2008

Looks like a 1947 Chevy Coupe

Dennis Turk · Jan 4, 2008

Cars

The station wagon is a 1949. The gas cap is on the outside of the fender and was under a little tour in 1950. The little coup is either a Plymouth or a Dodge. Cant tell from the rear but I bet my 76 year old brother could."-))) Looks to be a 1946 to 48 . See some times it pays to be old and have a good memory. Well not really I have a 52 Chevy sitting in my garage.

Turk

vraptor · Jan 4, 2008

Now, can't you just see this truck breaking down and the doofus mechanic saying that you need a new (insert part name here) and he doesn't have one. The drivers just say "Gimme and hour and I'll make it." I'd pay good money to see the look on the mechanic's face when they hand him the part.

piniongear · Jan 4, 2008

The Chevy wagon is either a 1949 or a 1950 because it had a two piece windshield. May also be a '51 though, because the one piece w/s appeared for the first time in 1952. But I agree with Dennis that it is a '49.
But notice the front license plate in the first photo.......look at the rear plate in the other two photos of the rear of the car. The number appears to perhaps be the same, yet one is clearly a 1951 plate without a plate frame, and the other seems to have a frame around it and better matches the front plate.
Different lathes for sure, and the car seems to be the same one....but was it really?
Was the lathe swapped out, or was it a different, yet similar, car in the SB fleet?
Wha' happened to the cars that were parked to the left of the wagon?
Guess I will never know. Worry, worry........pg :confused:

Marc_Stokeld · Jan 4, 2008

THis is a really cool thread! Thanks for posting these pics, as they sure are enlightening and entertaining for me.

I do have to wonder though-how do they level the lathes at each stop?

aametalmaster · Jan 4, 2008

I like the last pics. That set up would make a nice camper. Then you could play while on vacation. That would be great. Thanks for sharing...Bob

MilGunsmith · Jan 4, 2008

Marc_Stokeld said:
I do have to wonder though-how do they level the lathes at each stop?

You don't need to if the machines are mounted correctly to the van. My old 5ton Army shop truck had a lathe and a mill mounted in it with extra frame work under the truck. We would just park the truck in a reasonably flat location and go to work. The same for the lathes on ships and subs.

enginebuilder · Jan 4, 2008

And they wonder why South Bend is Americas most popular lathe.
Sunnen tried this technique with their engine rebuilding equipment, dont think it worked as well.
Great thread, thanks for the pics

Jim

-TJ · Jan 4, 2008

Perry may be right on the coupe - At first glance I thought it was a '48 Ford, but the rear window & tail lights are different (my dad has a '48). It could be a Mercury too.....I'll send the pictures along to dad, he'll know.

Awesome pictures, thanks!!!!

[edit]According to my dad, it's a 47/48 Plymouth Business Coupe. He wondered the same thing about how the lathe is powered.

220swift · Jan 4, 2008

In the last picture of the truck/trailer they have a cutaway South Bend drill press.

Hal

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