Jim Kennedy’s Car Collection

This 1941 Plymouth PT-125 Pickup was originally shipped from Detroit on April 24, 1941. It was one of 6,029 units of this model built in that year, the last one during which Plymouth offered trucks. The company discontinued the model for 1942 and did not resume production of the pickup after World War II.

 

This truck was shipped to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the time, Plymouths were sold through the existing dealership network for other Chrysler brands: Chrysler, Dodge, and DeSoto. Because Dodge had its own pickup truck series (the Plymouth truck was essentially the Dodge vehicle with a different front end and Plymouth badging), the PT-125 was likely delivered to either Baxter Chrysler-Plymouth or Wagner DeSoto-Plymouth in Cedar Rapids.

 

The history of the pickup is unknown until it was discovered in a pole barn in La Porte, Indiana, in the early 1980s by the finance manager of the local Chrysler dealership. He bought the truck, which was running but dilapidated, as a restoration project. He rebuilt the engine, which had been scavenged from a 1953 Dodge sedan. He also used the pickup to haul lumber.

 

In 1989, the truck was sold to a resident of South Bend, Indiana, who trailered the truck home and undertook a complete restoration. That owner noticed the pickup, although advertised and titled as a 1939 model, was a 1941 (a fact confirmed by Chrysler Archives); he applied for a new title to reflect the correct year.

 

In 2013, the pickup was offered for sale through Mecum Auctions, and purchased by the Charlie Thomas Collection in Houston, Texas. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Thomas consigned the truck to the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. 

 

I purchased the truck through the Volo Auto Museum in August 2013 and enjoyed it for four years. Titling and registration the vehicle in California were complicated by a few considerations: the original Iowa title had been based on the engine number, and the engine had been replaced; the Indiana title had been reissued to correct the model year; and, as a commercial vehicle, the pickup was required to be certified at an official weigh station. Fortunately, the load of required paperwork fit snugly in the pickup bed.