February 25, 2008

ometimes my jobs overlap. This is one such case. I was talking to an elder man and we got onto the subject of farming and discussing the old thresher nearby. Then we got to talking about an antique truck I had never heard of. Due to the crowded bay of the shoppe, I couldn't get a very good view of it, but will when I go back out in the Spring.

Fargo was a brand of truck manufactured and sold in Canada by the Chrysler Corporation. Fargo trucks were almost identical to Dodge trucks, save for trim and name. Production began in the late 1920s.

By mid-1936, Canadian Chrysler-Plymouth dealers began selling Fargo trucks - 864 units in that year. By the time Canada entered World War II in 1939, a good many Fargo and Dodge trucks were being slated for military duty. Although Canadian passenger car production ceased along with American civilian auto production in 1942, trucks continued to be produced throughout the War. During this time, over 6,000 civilian-style Fargo vehicles were produced, likely for military use throughout the world.

With the cessation of hostilities, the production of civilian trucks took off with the rest of the industry. In the final two of the six year run of FL models (1942 - 1947), over 22,000 Fargos were produced, almost four times that of the first four years combined. Fargo was now going it alone with no Plymouth light truck companion south of the border. The marketing of any type of truck under the Plymouth name would not resume until 1974.

It was all part of the process of "rationalization," they said. It was the "rational" thing to do, one might suppose. After all, a Fargo was never anything but a Dodge with a different name. Yet there was something that was different - a uniqueness that was Plymouth's, and Canada's, that is now gone . . . and missed.

Elsewhere in the world, Fargo and DeSoto trucks continued to be produced, at least through 1978. Apparently now, however, none are being built anywhere, with the Fargo "E" serial code disappearing in 1987 to make way for the new Eagle brand.