38 Ford 5th wheeler

[gman]

I was scanning some photos that a friend loaned me, and amongst them was this pic of a 1938 Ford Club Coupe with a very interesting 5th wheel type of conversion. I would have loved to have had a rear view of the boot area to see how it all attached.

The photos were of a number of specialty vehicles (hearses, etc) built by Melbourne body builders Martin and King.

I don't have any other info, maybe someone out there in VV-land knows more!

cheers

Graeme

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Gman,

That is a wonderful photo of the Ford and fifth wheeler. Thanks for posting it. Wouldn't mind if I found that in a shed somewhere, eh?

It's a bit different to any other fifth wheelers we've seen on the forum from the 30's, 40's or 50's because they have all been built to be towed by trucks, but I think this is the first Australian built fifth wheeler which we've seen that was built to be towed by a car. It is a bit smaller than the truck based vans such as the Highway Princess, but then you would expect that. As you say it would be interesting to see what the tow coupling looked like.

You mention that the car is a 1938 model, but is there any indication whether the van is also from the 30's, or was it post-WW II?

Don Ricardo

[Roehm3108]

Another perspective could be that this IS NOT a fifth wheeler at all, but rather a caravan with the V section hanging over the car boot In some ways that would make more sense than butchering up a perfectly good rear of a car

[Roehm3108]

OR .... is the clue perhaps in the youtube to be found here:

www.everything-about-rving.com/when-were-the-first-fifth-wheel-trailers-built.html

[griffin]

Nice to see a good quality photo of this unit which was specially built in 1938 and was in fact a mobile dentists surgery for the Gippsland region of Victoria. That photo, and one of the interior was published in various newspapers from WA to Qld and several articles without photos were published too. The attached is from the Albany Advertiser (WA) 12-9-1938 was about the most comprehensive.
The article indicates the coupling was patented so the details could be found on line at the patent site, but I can't find the link at present, sorry.

George

[gman]

A mobile dentist's surgery - who would have thought it? And Don, I would like to find one tucked away in a shed somewhere, preferably mine! :-)
The photo was in an album of 'factory' photos from Martin and King, so I can only assume it was taken in 1938.

cheers

Graeme

[Franklin1]

A similar combination was built in 1937 for the U.S. Public Health Service...



Link: www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009009944/resource/


And this "Adam's Bungalow" was built about 1917...



Link: