Yvonne, I noticed the sign for "Sunrise on Sunset", and found the phone number & called them. It is a coffee shop on W. Sunset Blvd. The girl who answered said it is a 1939 Chevy. (2921 W.Sunset Blvd. Phone: 509-768-6381) Maybe you can call and ask more questions? Google Street view (Oct, 2011): where It is painted blue, strung with (blue?) lights & sign on right rear of bed reads "Blue OX".
Never one to argue with a lady, but I don't honestly believe the young lady knew what she was talking about. I'm sure someone has said.... sometime... that it's a '39 Chevy. I've pulled up tons of photos of those trucks. The grille doesn't come close to the Chevy grille. It's that hump in the center that is entirely different. The front fenders on the Chevrolet trucks of that year didn't have the long sweep. And, the dash in those trucks had the speedometer closer to the steering column. Seeing the dash, someone has added an AM radio where the glove box was. So, this sure could have been a vehicle that a hobbyist used assorted parts to modify/salvage the truck. Who knows. Beginning to remind me of...........
You are reading my mind, Will! Most of these old relics have been picked over to restore the chosen few. When this truck was painted blue, in 2011, it may have been the work of the owner of the "Blue Ox". The girl did not hesitate, when she answered, which made me think that it was a stock answer, that she had picked up. I'm sure the question is asked a lot. I didn't think she was correct, either. I just thought I'd try the direct approach. Maybe it depends on who answers the phone. I think we have to go back before Johnny Cash....like "who built the pyramids and how did they do it"? We may never know the full story of this "truck"! I googled the Blue Ox Coffee Shop, and got this Winter picture! Brrrrrrrr! and a night time picture!
Today, I was posting a picture onto the Old School North Idaho Facebook group, and it was a picture of my dad with the first old line truck that they had for the new REA that was just starting up in the area. I looked at the picture, and the old line truck was actually pretty similar to the one that I posted in this thread about the old truck we would see when I was visiting in Spokane. I can't tell what kind this truck is, either, and I don't think that the grill is the same; but it is sure similar in appearance.
That is exactly what it looked like, @Joe Riley ! I remember seeing it many years later, when we had made a trip up to the old ranch house. It was laying out in the weeds, and pretty rusted up by then; but it was neat too look at it and realize that I had actually used that when I was a baby. My dad was a line man for that same company all of his life until he retired, and it was something that he really enjoyed doing.
Yvonne, I know that I posted Wichita Lineman, by Glen Campbell before, for your Dad, so I won't post it again. But here is the story behind the song, which was written by Jimmy Webb, just for Glen! “Well, I didn’t want it to be about a rich guy!” he laughs. “I wanted it to be about an ordinary fellow. Billy Joel came pretty close one time when he said ‘Wichita Lineman’ is ‘a simple song about an ordinary man thinking extraordinary thoughts.’ That got to me; it actually brought tears to my eyes. I had never really told anybody how close to the truth that was. “What I was really trying to say was, you can see someone working in construction or working in a field, a migrant worker or a truck driver, and you may think you know what’s going on inside him, but you don’t. You can’t assume that just because someone’s in a menial job that they don’t have dreams … or extraordinary concepts going around in their head, like ‘I need you more than want you; and I want you for all time.’ You can’t assume that a man isn’t a poet. And that’s really what the song is about.”