The fun-to-drive 1937 Plymouth PT-50 half-ton pickup was the most popular 1937 Plymouth truck. That's right, a Plymouth truck.
Plymouth, the division of Chrysler that started in 1928 and was shut down in 2001, was never known for trucks. It built trucks for such a short period -- from 1935 to 1942 -- and only dabbled in them again with the easy-to-forget Trail Duster front-wheel-drive car-pickup in the mid 1970s.
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Most 1935-1942 Plymouth trucks were pickups, though there was also a Commercial Sedan sedan delivery and a Westchester Suburban, which was a woody wagon rather than a truck, but was included in the commercial line because it used the truck chassis.
Plymouth also sold a bare truck chassis, to be equipped with bodies from outside suppliers, accommodating payloads of up to one ton. Only 158 of these chassis were sold in 1937, priced at $495 ($395 without the cab, though only 11 of those were built).
The 1937 Plymouth PT-50 half-ton pickup, which cost $525, was by far the most popular 1937 Plymouth truck. Nearly 11,000 were built for the model year. Standard equipment included safety glass all around, a spare wheel nestled in the right front fender, and a six-foot-long pickup box, about four feet wide.
Power for the 1937 Plymouth PT-50 half-ton pickup came from the Plymouth L-head six with 70 horsepower. The three-speed floor-mounted transmission had silent helical gears in second speed.
Options for the 1937 Plymouth PT-50 half-ton pickup included a rear bumper, bumper guards, left-hand spare wheel mount (providing dual sidemounts), right-hand windshield wiper, and chrome windshield frame
Fenders were ordinarily painted black, but could be ordered in the body color. The sedan delivery version cost $140 more than the pickup, and included chrome bumpers front and rear as standard. At that price it was not the hottest seller, accounting for only 3,256 units.
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