1918 Chevrolet Four-Ninety Half Ton Truck - About - News & Issues
Chevrolet's historians believe that the company may have built a small number of Four-Ninety trucks for its own use in 1916, and records show that some of the trucks were converted to ambulances and shipped to France. Chevy introduced two four-cylinder trucks for the 1918 model year, both cowl chassis designs that were only outfitted with sheet metal on the front. Truck buyers of that era typically added a wooden cab and cargo box or a panel van body, whichever style best suited their needs. The truck was priced at $595. A one ton truck, called the Model T , for 'truck,' was priced at $1,125, again without a body. Although it was based on the FA-series car, the pickup was built on a truck frame and was both longer and stronger than the half ton truck. In 1930, Chevy bought the Martin-Parry body company and began to replace its simple cowl chassis trucks with steel bodied half ton pickups already equipped with a factory-installed bed. The trucks were available with either a roadster body, shown above, or a closed body, like the panel truck on the next page. Source: trucks.about.com
