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Is a regular cab pickup too indulgent for you? Want to go the Superleggera route and free up even more space and payload capacity for cargo? Then the DeKalb Lumberjack was made for you.
This 1960 model recently popped up for sale in Oklahoma on Facebook Marketplace, and wouldn’t you know, it sold in a hurry. But as you can see, it’s a highly specialized vehicle. Designed for hauling lumber while maintaining a more compact footprint than conventional flatbeds, it’s essentially an enlarged, motorized version of those open-side shopping carts from Ikea. The only space set aside for a person is the tiny single-seat cab, placed at the extreme forward-left corner to free up space. And if what you’re carrying is flat and stackable, there’s plenty of that.
Jeff Griffin via Facebook Marketplace
Extra-long items can be laid parallel to the cab, while the area behind can serve as a conventional flatbed. There’s also a long channel below that so you can double-stack cargo, and a sort of cabinet (almost like a proto-RamBox) between the wheels on the passenger’s side. That’s a lot of cargo capacity in a package that’s probably easier to maneuver in built-up areas than the trucks used to deliver building materials today. The tradeoff, as you could probably tell, is driver safety and comfort. That pod-like cab does not look like a fun place to spend a workday.
This unusual truck is the product of the DeKalb Commercial Body Corporation, named after its hometown of DeKalb, Illinois. According to the specialist website Coachbuilt, the company was founded in 1904 as Sycamore Wagon Works, a maker of horse-drawn wagons and buggies. It adapted to the rise of internal combustion by becoming a body builder for commercial vehicles, putting its own bodies on other manufacturers’ chassis.
Jeff Griffin via Facebook Marketplace
In this case, the donor chassis comes from a 1960 Ford P-350. The “P” stands for “parcel delivery,” indicating what type of body this chassis was originally designed for. DeKalb also used Chevrolet and Dodge chassis for its Lumberjacks. There was also a bigger Lumber King version, one of which, based on a Chevy P35 chassis, sold for $19,500 on Bring a Trailer in 2022.
The seller was asking $21,500 for a truck with a similar amount of patina, though it’s unclear how much it finally sold for. According to the listing, this truck was ordered new by a lumberyard in Jacksboro, Texas, and only left the Lone Star State for Oklahoma a couple of years ago. Its original inline-six was replaced with a Chevy 305 V8 at some point. Total mileage wasn’t listed, but the seller claimed to have accumulated 10,000 miles during their ownership. Sounds like he got some good use of it!
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Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
