There are few weirder tales in automotive lore than the one in regards to the origin of at the moment’s Good Worth or No Cube Powell Sport Wagon. Let’s discover that story and see if it makes this challenge truck’s worth 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 could possibly be just about any V8 Mustang; with only a few exceptions, they’re all fairly nice. A kind 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 pink velour customized inside that, aesthetically at the very least, hasn’t held up all that nicely. At $13,900, a lot of you discovered that discomforting and the one aid was an enormous 92 p.c No Cube loss.
As odd because the customized inside on yesterday’s Mustang was, it might’t maintain a candle to the historical past of at the moment’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 recent out of commerce college, started a enterprise manufacturing house radios. That segued into constructing motor scooters, with the corporate then increasing within the mid-Nineteen Fifties into auto manufacturing with the introduction of the Powell Sport Wagon pickup and two-door taking pictures brake. Powell was in a position to produce the four-wheel autos of their small Compton, California manufacturing facility as a result of the Brothers primarily based their design on the prevailing chassis’ from 1941—49 Q Collection Plymouths, pulling these chassis’ from native wrecking yards.
Every was totally 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 in a position to promote the vans for below $1,000 at a time when a mean automobile value 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 good friend and automobile 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 could possibly add your identify to our illustrious group with this 1957 Sport Wagon challenge. The truck is tough, however total, it seems to be principally full. We don’t get to see the again or a lot of the mattress, which is just too unhealthy 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 elective facet trim. When new, the trim was pulled from a Ford sedan, however it might possible be difficult to seek out at the moment.
Thankfully, 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’ handbook gearbox. Different points embrace 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 elimination of the instrumentation.
As I famous, it is a challenge, and the bones appear to be a stable begin to making this an awesome weekend whereas away. In accordance 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 worth to get your Powell on is $8,000, and per the advert, solely severe individuals want apply.
What’s your tackle this small slice of automotive historical past and that $8,000 asking? Is {that a} honest worth 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.
Assist me out with NPOND. Hit me up at [email protected] and ship me a fixed-price tip. Keep in mind to incorporate your Kinja deal with.
