Old Farm Trucks From Before Radios Were Standard

On the farm, early pickups were tools — not toys.

By Clell G. Ballard
Updated on January 24, 2023
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by Clell G. Ballard
Dodge trucks built from 1941-’47 had a dashboard with basic gauges and a glove box. The rest of the space was occupied by switches and a crank handle to open the windshield.

In our formative years, certain things are just accepted as “given.” The dictionary has almost half a page describing that term (give, given, giving) but the definition used here is “to concede or grant as a point in an argument.” Much of what we learn is just the way things are. It isn’t until we are older and wiser that we question something. Even then, most of the world around us is accepted just the way it is.

Probably the one item that is questioned more than any other is food. Each culture has items to eat that other cultures would reject. On Aug. 7, 1942, when the U.S. Marines invaded the island of Guadalcanal, they were short of supplies. A captured Japanese headquarters promised to have foodstuffs to supplement GI rations. A supply of canned goods was found in an officer’s tent. Although they were hungry, the Americans discarded them all. Reason? The cans contained a Japanese delicacy: raw pickled fish eyes.

Green dashboard with a round radio speaker

Although the U.S. is a huge country where an unbelievable variety of agricultural crops is produced, through the first half of the 20th century, American farmers functioned similarly in many ways. The transition from horse farming to tractor farming was basically complete by the 1940s. The small family farm was still the basis for agriculture and frugal lifestyles were the norm. Having come through the Great Depression, farmers put special emphasis on making careful decisions about finances.

Growing up in the early 1950s, I assimilated the standards of my elders. Many things were accepted without question. If there was a current issue that was important to the adults in my life, they discussed it in detail, much of the time in my presence. This is not in reference to the controversial subjects of politics or religion. Times were changing rapidly and people needed to understand what was happening and make adjustments.

No patience with frivolity

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