I have found what I was told was a 1927 Durant truck that is still all together and in good restorable shape. I am trying to learn as much as I can about it. Any information would be muchly appriecated. Any idea on what it is worth? Please help, thanks.
mt arledge
If it is a Mason Truck then it is quite rare, and would be worth the effort to restore it. The Sloan Museum in Flint is in the final stages of restoring a Mason.
If that's a Mason (or a Flint) the year may be off...
Mroz's truck book shows 1922-25 for the Mason, supposedly all 11/2T models (originally rated 1T 1922, uprated for 23 and later) per Mroz. He states Herschell-Spillman "O" motor, but McCord 1930 catalog says it's a Herc, which is more likely. I have a Herc "O" in my engine lists but not a H-S "O", altho they did use single and double letter designations in the early years and my engine lists are far from complete.
Auto Qtly's book also shows same prod years, with note "becane Flint Roadking" (Flint being another of Billy Durants car empire). Oddly, the book had no cross-index under "Flint" or "Flint Roadking".
The Mason plant was supposedly sold to GM in 1926 (per Std Cat Am'can Cars 1805-1942) but a point to consider is that some states used the year of registration as the year model (rather than the actual production year). If this truck languished in some dealership until 1927, the registration etc could well show it as a 1927 model. With sympathy, Bud
The Mason RoadKing was built it Flint and powered by Hercules model O engine. The factory were it was built still stands, it was purchased in the 30's by Standard Cotton and was used to build seats for Fisher Body which occupied the old Flint factory (Fisher I, site of the sit-down strike), a 1/2 mile away.
It looks like Durant Motors at one point planned to combine the Flint and Mason factories (much of the Flint factory was never utilized under Durant). But before the RoadKing work was moved to the Flint Motors site, the plant was sold to GM (fisher body). Have not found any reason to beleive any Flint RoadKings were ever built. But then, only 3 Mason RoadKings are known to exist.
Jack: I don't know what identification information you have re' your possibly Mason axle, but in case it's helpful Mroz's book says the rears were all double reduction, and that both front and rear axles "...were made by Flint...".
I don't know if that meant there was a Flint axle co, or whether that meant Durant made their own axles in their Flint plant.
If there are wheels, Mroz said they used Hayes with 34x5 pneumatics all around. HTH Bud
Jack,
Bud may have a point in that maybe those axles are from a Flint, or Flint factory built for the Mason Truck.
RIKER Truck; Also in the early 20's(under DURANT Mtrs) the RIKER truck was produced by LOCOMOBILE in the Flint plant. "Source"; is my Locomobile ads and Locomobile Repair Parts ordering Manual. Not sure of the production dates.
Lance C.
Do You own a car built by Durant? 26 Locomobile JR-8 Sedan and 26 JR-8 Roadster project, 30 Durant 410 Special Deluxe 4Dr.