1947 Fargo Truck

 & 1947 COLUMBIA TRAILER:

• This truck was Purchased new by Bob King for Sea-Van Motor Freight in 1946,

hauled freight between Vancouver and Seattle until 1953.

• From 1953 to 1974 it sat n storage at Bob King’s West Pender warehouse.

• Restoration work was carried out between 1974 and 1976 by Provincial Museum staff.

• The FARGO has a 5 speed transmission and 2 speed drive axle.

• The Fargo Motor Car Company built Fargo trucks from 1913 to 1922 in Pilsen Chicago.

• In 1928 when Chrysler started buying up manufacturers it acquired the unused “Dodge brand” and used Fargo for it’s trucks.

• When Chrysler bought Dodge it sold Dodge trucks with both Dodge and Fargo nameplates. similar to Chevy and GMC trucks today.

• In 1930 Fargo trucks used as many Chrysler automobile parts as they could and the lighter Plymouth Model Q based commercial truck called the “Packet” used the Plymouth 4 cylinder engine.

• Also in 1930 the heavier “Clipper” was built on a Chrysler 65 Chassis with a DeSoto Six cylinder engine.

• The same year saw a one ton “Freighter”,  and soon a full range of Fargo trucks, all the way up to a Dump truck.

• Chrysler now had Dodge, Fargo and Graham Brother “badged” trucks and dropped the Graham as the Graham Brothers had started their own car company independent of Chrysler.

• Depressing era sales saw the demise of the Fargo brand in the US, but still made for Canada, India, Turkey and the “Fargo over the Globe” logo suited this well.

• Fargo trucks for Canada were built in Canada but the export Fargos were built in the US, 3,500 1½ ton Fargo trucks for export were built in Detroit from 1933 to 1935.

• “FARGO” was also the trade name given to DODGE Trucks sold in Canada and other foreign markets.

• Often only minor trim differentiated them from Dodge trucks and they were also sold as Fargo or DeSoto trucks in Latin America.

• Europe and Asia got Fargo or DeSoto trucks built at Chrysler’s Kew England plant.

•  Australia got British made, American made and even home build trucks under the Dodge, Fargo or DeSoto names and sold via Chrysler Australia.

• In Spain, Heavy 38 Tonne Fargo trucks were built by the Chrysler Spanish Subsidiary, sold in England as the Dodge 300 series while named Fargos elsewhere in Europe.

• This ended in 1978 with the sale of Chrysler Europe to PSA Peugeot Citroën

• Fargo DeSoto trucks were still produced in other parts of the world including Turkey up to 1978, based on Hino trucks. That ended with the newly merged  Daimler Chrysler bringing Dodge trucks back to Turkey.