Milk Delivery Van: 1950 DIVCO 300C
The term DIVCO stood for Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company. For two-thirds of the 20th Century, they built a variety of commercial delivery vehicles, including the little trucks that may have brought milk to your house when you were a child. The 300C had an all-steel van body that included a “snub-nose” front with a somewhat-rounded roofline. This one looks to have been stored outdoors for ages and the year of production is unknown. The seller believes it’s a 1950 model and it’s going to need a lot of work to see action on the road again. Located in Mechanic Falls, Maine, this old workhorse is available here on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $4,800 (or Make Offer). Our thanks to Russell Glantz for the tip!
The target audience for DIVCO’s milk trucks were delivery drivers, primarily dairy producers, and beverage distributors. Yet earlier versions weren’t refrigerated – so to keep milk and other cold items cold – some ice was put on top of the milk crates. This later caused issues to the trucks themselves because when the ice melted, it formed water that contributed to the vehicles rusting from the inside out. As a partial solution, DIVCO began offering factory insulation and – later – refrigeration. They were most often powered by four and six-cylinder engines supplied by Continental and Hercules. After 64 years in business, DIVCO called it quits in 1986.
Mostly visible on the sides of the seller’s truck, there is a “Rainbow Dairy” logo present from when it was in service. Its shape closely resembles that of today’s Rainbow Milk, a Middle Eastern company that also produces dairy products, but we’re unsure if there’s any connection. We’re told the truck is largely complete and was acquired as a 1950 model, but there is no title to back that up and the manufacturing plate is difficult to read. Restoring this truck will not be an easy project.
The biggest challenge is going to be fixing the body and frame. Both contain a lot of rust, and some of it has grown to the size of large holes, and dents and dings abound. One of the doors needs attention and a windshield pane (flat glass) is missing. This van will be difficult to load onto a trailer or just move around as one of the rear rims has separated from its wheel mounting plate. Under the hood lies an inline-6 motor whose operating condition is unknown. But if you’ve got the time, energy, and budget to invest in this truck, it could be a cool display piece or weekend warrior once completed!
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Comments
The price doesn’t seem udderly ridiculous. Looks like a whole lot of truck for the price, but then again, some flipper will probably buy it and skim all the profit off the top.
Maybe two people will go half-and-half on it?
Hiss. Boo. Derisive catcalls.
You’re a quart low on that idea………..
Here’s one I spotted at a wrecking yard in Blackburg,VA.
when was that taken
Earlier this year.There’s
another one there that’s in much nicer shape.
never understood the yrd owners who do this sort of stacking – $ loss to the metal for a space gain?
I still have very fond memories of Divcos pulling up to our house while we ate breakfast to deliver goods. No telling what year they were–they never changed! Graystone Dairy had them tooling all over town back then. We even had a wooden box in the garage we put the empties. Inside, it was dated,
“April 1956”. I still have ours in the basement!
I can still hear the clink of the milk bottles. George the milkman was our guy:-)
Driving one took a little bit of getting use to the combination Clutch Brake peddle. First half clutch the brake as you continued to push the peddle. First few shift would put your nose close to the windshield as you grabbed a gear ending up slamming on the brakes! 😂😂
Keney our milkman drove for Kesslering Dairy. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings he would stop and deliver 4Half gallons, to the refrigerator in the basement. Would come in the side door with a cheerful “ Milkman” my brothers and I loved him. His claim to fame as far as I was concerned was to watch him grab 2nd gear in his Divco while standing up driving.
I remember seeing a lot of these when I was a kid. They use to make the Twin Pine Dairy deliveries to the little neighborhood grocery store. My dad was the plant manager at the DIVCO plant on Hoover Rd. in Warren , Michigan till he passed in 1972.
I think the truck has been repowered with a 215 Ford six. Continental and Hercules engines of the day were flatheads. Electrical has also been upgraded to 12 volts.
The engine in this vehicle looks like a Ford 240 or 300 six. The 215 and the 223 engines had their manifolds on the opposite side of the head, and the valve cover had two retaining studs through the top of the cover.
I would cream my pants to own that…..
I never thought something like this would have any value, fast forward to YouTube and other auto restoration shows and people build them. I guess with this thing if you’re going to restore it bring money its going to take a lot, and I hope the buyer has lots of fun. I would be curious to see the finished product.
Funny how the Chrysler Airflow front end looked ugly when new, (and still does to me – Lincoln got it right with the Zepher) and this looks just right. As does the VW bug. Is it what we are used to, or, with minor changes could the Chrysler have gotten away with it? The add on upright grill they used made it even worse. I dealt with an estate with an old Railway Express Interntional (1946 with title and little rust) conveyed it to a body shop for no dollars, they were going to put the body on a modern chassis/drive train and use it for advetising and picking up parts around town. Local brewhouse put a modern chassis under one, and taps on the right side, kegs inside, to cater parties/weddings/etc. So if the body above the frame is OK, maybe beer, or pizza, or subs, or ice cream.
Looks like Twin Pines colors
I remember the milkman having the seat pushed back and drive standing up. Wasn’t aware of the clutch/brake set up, would love to inspect it now to see how it worked.
Have a good friend in PA whose dad was a milk delivery guy and drove a DIVCO until his route grew too big and he had to get a bigger truck. He has some great pictures of his dad’s DIVCO.
drive?
I remember when they called out what they had & walked or used horse. Most traffic in frnt of the house – all the ‘salesmen’ using the back. Fish, tinkers, shoe, ice, a whole crowd, noisy 7 to 4; 5, 6 days/wk.
Fast forward a few decades…. Will our grandchildren be nostalgic for those gray Transit vans a blue arrow with “Amazon” on the side, which used to come into the neighborhood and deliver packages? So quaint. After all, everything is now delivered by drone. To think the normal way to get milk used to be physically going to a grocery store.
A little off topic: the Pastor at my church said an Amazon driver came to his door inquire about his wife; he was concerned because she hadn’t order anything in a couple of days.
DIVCO offered bulletproof Nash Ambassador OHV 6 engines into at least 1968, though Nash stopped offering it after 1956. American Motors kept all the machinery and would run off a batch of 80 or so every year for DIVCO, which called them the “Super Six”.
Hidden away in St Paul is a cave full of abandoned Divcos. Urban explorers call the cave “Milktruck”.
A couple years ago I read a very in depth article about the Divco company and all the different products they produced, the size of the trucks went all the way up to Mobil library or in modern terms “bookmobile” interesting company and there is also a pretty active collectors group for these trucks, will be interesting to watch this.
My grandfather had one of these. Yes, he was a dairy farmer, and for many years delivered milk, butter, cream, and eggs all over his town. The truck was slowly returning to Mother Nature when I was a kid; I guess its remains got hauled off for scrap years ago.