Posted by Paul on July 04, 2000 at 14:06:02:
In Reply to: Slant Six (225 cid) posted by CraigH on July 04, 2000 at 12:30:27:
Up until December I had an old power company truck. I got rid of it after I got my PW. It had a lot of things that were modified but done in a morkmanlike manner. I talked to a retired employee of the company shortly after I got it and he saw it sitting in my drive way with the power company lettering on the doors.
The way he said it would happen is they have an old truck that fills a need. In this case it was a boom truck specifically modified to emplace power poles. Since the other trucks didn't have to do this job, they could carry equipment for other purposes. This cut down on running for that part they didn't have with them.
Since it wasn't used all the time, on slow days the mechanics would fiddle with it and make it more user friendly. Mine for instance had a sliding rear window. This was never an option in 1950. It really made it nice to drive on hot days and if someone was in the bed, things could be passed through to them.
If the engine went bad, it got replaced. I knew mine had a really good engine and low hours on it. The former employee said it was the third engine in the truck and the 28,000 miles on it was original. The truck sat and idled a lot.
It is quite possible the engine in the PW needed replacement and a 225 was laying around, it would probably have gone in. I know down at work, sometimes someone will have a small project that needs some welding. I've taken things to work on occasion and the work looked better than some of the stuff you buy. After all, on the PW you're looking at, the mechanic that worked on it may have to drive it.
By the way, my '50 almost got air conditioning but they couldn't get a unit out of one of the scrapped supervisor cars in time before they were auctioned off.