There are few weirder tales in automotive lore than the one in regards to the origin of at this time’s Good Worth or No Cube Powell Sport Wagon. Let’s discover that story and see if it makes this undertaking truck’s value palatable.
Like seeing the golden arches on the finish of the day on a protracted highway journey, there’s one thing comforting in regards to the considered a V8 Mustang. Heck, it may very well be just about any V8 Mustang; with just some exceptions, they’re all fairly nice. A type of exceptions, it appears, seems to be the 1993 Mustang LX 5.0 convertible we checked out yesterday. At first look, issues appeared as much as snuff. A fast peek inside, nevertheless, revealed what gave the impression to be an ostrich and purple velour customized inside that, aesthetically not less than, hasn’t held up all that effectively. At $13,900, a lot of you discovered that discomforting and the one reduction was a large 92 % No Cube loss.
As odd because the customized inside on yesterday’s Mustang was, it could’t maintain a candle to the historical past of at this time’s wild, totally distinctive candidate: a 1957 Powell Sport Wagon. The truck itself is fairly attention-grabbing, however its origin story is one thing else.
All of it started within the Nineteen Twenties when two Southern California brothers, Hayward and Channing Powell, being contemporary out of commerce faculty, started a enterprise manufacturing house radios. That segued into constructing motor scooters, with the corporate then increasing within the mid-Fifties into auto manufacturing with the introduction of the Powell Sport Wagon pickup and two-door taking pictures brake. Powell was capable of produce the four-wheel autos of their small Compton, California manufacturing facility as a result of the Brothers primarily based their design on the present chassis’ from 1941—49 Q Sequence Plymouths, pulling these chassis’ from native wrecking yards.
Every was completely inspected and rejuvenated, with the Plymouth 6 engines rebuilt and all worn gadgets changed. They had been then mated with a easy metal and fiberglass physique designed for ease of manufacture and restore. With the recycled underpinnings and easy, economical design, Powell was capable of promote the vans for underneath $1,000 at a time when a median automotive price extra like $1,700.
Powell produced round 1,050 Sport Wagons and fewer than 120 enclosed vehicles earlier than ending manufacturing, not resulting from monetary difficulties however as a result of the corporate had merely used up the native provide of outdated Plymouth chassis. The Powell brothers then switched to creating off-roader mini bikes.
Jalopnik pal and automotive collector extraordinaire Myron Vernis owns a Powell. I’ve a private connection to the corporate, as the primary self-propelled automobile I ever owned was a Powell Challenger minibike.
You possibly can add your title to our illustrious group with this 1957 Sport Wagon undertaking. The truck is tough, however general, it appears to be largely full. We don’t get to see the again or a lot of the mattress, which is just too dangerous since one of many Powell’s social gathering items is a bit of stovepipe constructed into the right-hand mattress cap that gives storage for lengthy skinny gadgets like fishing poles or social gathering platter submarine sandwiches. One noticeable factor on the truck is the sequence of holes within the bodywork on every flank, indicating that this truck possible as soon as had the non-compulsory facet trim. When new, the trim was pulled from a Ford sedan, however it will possible be difficult to search out at this time.
Happily, the 201 CID L-head inline six appears intact, save for an air cleaner. Naturally, that can require an entire overhaul (once more), as will the ‘three-on-the-tree’ guide gearbox. Different points embody some banged-up bodywork, lacking passenger-side door deal with and badging, and an inside that has seen the Powell’s bench seat changed by a pair of a lot later buckets and the removing of the instrumentation.
As I famous, it is a undertaking, and the bones appear to be a strong begin to making this an awesome weekend whereas away. In keeping with the advert, the truck really has a clear title and has lately been pulled from—prepare for this—50 years of storage. The asking value to get your Powell on is $8,000, and per the advert, solely critical folks want apply.
What’s your tackle this small slice of automotive historical past and that $8,000 asking? Is {that a} truthful value for the Sport Wagon because it sits? Or is that an excessive amount of to resurrect this Lazarus of a truck?
You determine!
Dallas, Texas, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
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