A Little Red Chevy Pick-up Truck

By R. Glenn Reid - Oshawa, Canada representative

It seems not only old cars have a big following here in Canada, but old pick-up trucks are fast becoming desirable vehicles. Pick-ups here in Canada have been a vehicle of choice for many years, mainly for their versatility and durability. Not only just for farmers, but many business contractors and out door types have always favoured pick-ups. A friend at work who knows my love of automobiles and trucks took me to see an old buddy of his who owns a 1932 Chevrolet Confederation Model Series BB pickup truck that had a little bit of fascinating history to it.

The truck was built in Oshawa during the worst years of the depression, in fact in 1932 the City of Oshawa nearly declared bankruptcy. There were numerous soup kitchens in town, roughly some 20,000 residents relied on the city for food and medical supplies. Car and truck production was down to a trickle and wouldn’t pick-up until late 1935. So anyone buying a truck in 1932 had to have a few dollars to spare. Though the original owner is not known, the truck spent all of its life in the Ottawa area and Ray Cook bought it in the late 60s for $10.00 from a neighbour in the Goshen Road area near Renfrew, Ontario. The neighbour, Luther Curtis was going to give it to him for nothing, but his wife came out and said ‘we want $10.00 for it’. (Them Ottawa women are something else, eh!). It was all hand painted in black, and so started the long process of restoration, Ray wanted the truck to look the best, so his intention was to do a complete body-off. Some of his buddies volunteered to help in this long process, Ray being a very busy man, allotted Monday nights as his truck night. During the stripping down of the paint on the cab door he came across the name, Charlie Dumolin, a stone mason, and in fact one of the guys helping restore the vehicle, Vic Dumolin said "yah I thought this truck looked familiar" it was his father’s!

Fate struck before the vehicle was finished; at the age of 66, Ray took a stroke and so final touches on the vehicle came to an end for a short time. Ray’s son-in-law, Daryl Fiebig continued doing small things to get the vehicle running. Those stove bolt 6 cylinder engines are one tough motor, and to get things running just right, Daryl acquired a carburettor kit from a parts dealer in Texas. They told him over the phone: "Those ‘32 Chevy trucks are very rare here, even in Texas, so hang onto it, you’ve got one valuable truck".

Daryl installed the carburettor and the motor was running just like the day it rolled off the Oshawa line. The vehicle was now painted in red with black fenders and one thing that was missing was the radiator cover. So Daryl, who often goes to the Carlisle Flea Market in Pennsylvania, came across an original ‘32 Chevy rad cover for $30 US - that was the icing on the cake. Ray had made a good recovery from his life-threatening stroke, but has to use a walking stick. This past fall, Ray Cook gave his ‘32 Chevrolet pick-up to his daughter, Debbie Fiebig, knowing that she and husband, Daryl would cherish and preserve it. Ray said that he doesn’t want a hot rod made out of it. Ray was telling me a few years ago, someone came by the house and offered him $20,000 for the truck.