There are few weirder stories in automotive lore than the one about the origin of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Powell Sport Wagon. Let’s explore that story and see if it makes this project truck’s price palatable.
Like seeing the golden arches at the end of the day on a long road trip, there’s something comforting about the thought of a V8 Mustang. Heck, it could be pretty much any V8 Mustang; with just a few exceptions, they’re all pretty great. One of those exceptions, it seems, turns out to be the 1993 Mustang LX 5.0 convertible we looked at yesterday. At first glance, things seemed up to snuff. A quick peek inside, however, revealed what appeared to be an ostrich and red velour custom interior that, aesthetically at least, hasn’t held up all that well. At $13,900, many of you found that discomforting and the only relief was a massive 92 percent No Dice loss.
As odd as the custom interior on yesterday’s Mustang was, it can’t hold a candle to the history of today’s wild, utterly unique candidate: a 1957 Powell Sport Wagon. The truck itself is pretty interesting, but its origin story is something else.
It all began in the 1920s when two Southern California brothers, Hayward and Channing Powell, being fresh out of trade school, began a business manufacturing home radios. That segued into building motor scooters, with the company then expanding in the mid-1950s into auto production with the introduction of the Powell Sport Wagon pickup and two-door shooting brake. Powell was able to produce the four-wheel vehicles in their small Compton, California factory because the Brothers based their design on the existing chassis’ from 1941—49 Q Series Plymouths, pulling those chassis’ from local wrecking yards.
Each was thoroughly inspected and rejuvenated, with the Plymouth 6 engines rebuilt and all worn items replaced. They were then mated with a simple steel and fiberglass body designed for ease of manufacture and repair. With the recycled underpinnings and simple, economical design, Powell was able to sell the trucks for under $1,000 at a time when an average car cost more like $1,700.
Powell produced around 1,050 Sport Wagons and fewer than 120 enclosed cars before ending production, not due to financial difficulties but because the company had simply used up the local supply of old Plymouth chassis. The Powell brothers then switched to making off-roader mini bikes.
Jalopnik friend and car collector extraordinaire Myron Vernis owns a Powell. I have a personal connection to the company, as the first self-propelled vehicle I ever owned was a Powell Challenger minibike.
You could add your name to our illustrious group with this 1957 Sport Wagon project. The truck is rough, but overall, it looks to be mostly complete. We don’t get to see the back or much of the bed, which is too bad since one of the Powell’s party pieces is a section of stovepipe built into the right-hand bed cap that provides storage for long skinny items like fishing poles or party platter submarine sandwiches. One noticeable thing on the truck is the series of holes in the bodywork on each flank, indicating that this truck likely once had the optional side trim. When new, the trim was pulled from a Ford sedan, but it would likely be challenging to find today.
Fortunately, the 201 CID L-head inline six seems intact, save for an air cleaner. Naturally, that will require a complete overhaul (again), as will the ‘three-on-the-tree’ manual gearbox. Other issues include some banged-up bodywork, missing passenger-side door handle and badging, and an interior that has seen the Powell’s bench seat replaced by a pair of much later buckets and the removal of the instrumentation.
As I noted, this is a project, and the bones seem to be a solid start to making this a great weekend while away. According to the ad, the truck actually has a clean title and has recently been pulled from—get ready for this—50 years of storage. The asking price to get your Powell on is $8,000, and per the ad, only serious people need apply.
What’s your take on this small slice of automotive history and that $8,000 asking? Is that a fair price for the Sport Wagon as it sits? Or is that too much to resurrect this Lazarus of a truck?
You decide!
Dallas, Texas, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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