My personal Carnation Truck

[Tom Chaney]

Many of you may remember the vintage Carnation truck that used to grace Main St. at Disneyland. It disappeared in the late 80's... probably a result of Carnation being bought by food giant Nestle. I've been trying to determine its current location with no results. I'm willing to bet it is languishing in a warehouse somewhere backstage or in Glendale.

Anyway, the truck was constructed on a genuine 1931 Ford Model "A" chassis. The truck body was designed by imagineer Bob Gurr and fabricated by workers at the Carnation plant near Glendale. Bob Gurr joined Disney in 1954 and designed pretty much everything that moves at Disneyland: the Autopia cars, Monorail, Main St. vehicles, Flying Saucers, Atomobiles and Doombuggies, etc.

Recently, he appeared at a festival in Northern California. MiceChatter "Circarama" was kind enough to obtain this photo of Uncle Walt in the Carnation truck with Mr. Gurr's autograph.

THANK YOU Circarama & TigerLily!!! This is a wonderful Disney treasure I will cherish forever.

[Neverlandtink]

Many of you may remember the vintage Carnation truck that used to grace Main St. at Disneyland. It disappeared in the late 80's... probably a result of Carnation being bought by food giant Nestle. I've been trying to determine its current location with no results. I'm willing to bet it is languishing in a warehouse somewhere backstage or in Glendale.

Anyway, the truck was constructed on a genuine 1931 Ford Model "A" chassis. The truck body was designed by imagineer Bob Gurr and fabricated at by workers at the Carnation plant near Glendale. Bob Gurr joined Disney in 1954 and designed pretty much everything that moves at Disneyland: the Autopia cars, Monorail, Main St. vehicles, Flying Saucers, Atomobiles and Doombuggies, etc.

Recently, he appeared at a festival in Northern California. MiceChatter "Circarama" was kind enough to obtain this photo of Uncle Walt in the Carnation truck with Mr. Gurr's autograph.

THANK YOU Circarama & TigerLily!!! This is a wonderful Disney treasure I will cherish forever.

Very cool, Tom! I love that kind of stuff. What a nice friend Circarama is!

I wouldn't be surprised at all if that truck is backstage in the "boneyard". I bet the tour guides at the park would be able to tell you where it is next time you're there.

Lannie

[TiaDalmaFan]

Wow, VERY nice gift!

It took me a minute to recall that truck. It mostly sat idle in the side street near the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, right?

Why'd they have to get rid of that? Even if Nestle owns the name, it makes sense for that to be there. Stupid corporations.

[Tom Chaney]

It's my understanding that the truck was originally constructed to be a working truck as well as a display. Each morning before opening, the truck would be loaded backstage with ice-cream, etc. to supply the cafe on Main Street. Then it would be parked for display.

When Nestle purchased Carnation, production of fresh milk products under the Carnation name ceased. Today, only a few canned products, powdered milk, pet products and instant breakfast items bear the Carnation logo. The ol' truck boasts "Fresh Milk and Ice Cream" which just aren't produced under the Carnation name anymore. So... what to do? Repaint and rebrand an icon or just send it away?

I suspect it was easier to just take it backstage and park it.

[Villains Fan]

Wow! What a very nice gift from Circarama and Tiger Lily!

I remember, as a kid, that truck being parked on one of the side streets of Main Street, and being able to climb up in the driver's seat. Here's a picture of my brother and I "driving" it (sorry for the lack of quality, it's a scan of a picture):

[StartedByAMouse]

Tom -

Let me start by saying that I know next to nothing about cars so I'm not sure if this lead is anything concrete. File this simply under the "I wonder" category.

I'm not even sure what made me think of a possible connection but I have a photo of a truck that was parked in Adventureland in 2003 near the exit to the Jungle Cruise that may be the Carnation truck repurposed.


(You can click on the picture to be taken to my Flickr account where there's a larger image available.)

It's definitely not the same body but it appears to be the same chassis. I tried finding some other photos of the Carnation truck for comparison and it seems like it could be the same. This one has the same wheels (though not the same tires), the front fenders look like they might have been the Carnation truck's rear fenders, and even the Carnation truck's headlights look like they've been mounted under the windshield just below the net with the coconuts. Like I said, I know nothing about cars but even the engine housing looks the same.

Unfortunately, I don't know where this truck is anymore. I haven't seen it in Adventureland for a number of years. As I mentioned, my photo is from 2003 but I think the truck was parked there for a number of years.

Not sure if this helps much but maybe it does a little.

Matt

[Tractor]

The Carnation truck is a pre 1915 model t with a simple pie wagon body. That is also a pre 15 model t but with a cab and isn't the same truck.

[StartedByAMouse]

Thanks for your assessment, Tractor. As I said, I'm not that knowledgeable about cars and I have no way of knowing whether the Island Taxi Cargo vehicle is the same as the Carnation Truck.

I am curious as to how you know they aren't the same? Based solely on the body? I said above, " It's definitely not the same body but it appears to be the same chassis." Disney has been known before to repurpose existing ride vehicles, such as retaining the chassis of the Mark III monorails and turning them into the Mark V.

You mention that they are both pre-1915 Model T's. Wouldn't it be strange that Disneyland had a pre-1915 Model T in the Carnation Truck but got rid of it or placed it backstage in storage only to get another pre-1915 Model T to serve as an outdoor vending cart? Again, not saying that Disney definitely did modify the Carnation Truck into the Adventureland one but my hypothesis is that it could be and might even make sense that it is since no one knows what happened to the Carnation one.

I just wonder what signs, besides different cabs, led you to believe that they are two different vehicles?

[Tractor]

Well they could have taken the body off and put another body on the frame but i doubt it. The headlights and fenders changed from an earlier style to later. The only things that are similar between the two is the frame, wheels, radiator, and hood but those are easy parts to get. Here is a similar truck the on http://www.mtfca.com/gallery/photos/Breker14.jpg I know there is a few companys making pie wagon bodies out there if someone wants to reproduce the truck.

[Tractor]

if someone wants to do it here is a link to get you started
http://www.mtfca.com/suppliers/Suppliers.htm

[StartedByAMouse]

The headlights and fenders changed from an earlier style to later.

Except that it appears as if the original headlights have been moved to under the windshield of the Adventureland truck and the Adventureland truck's front fender appears to be the same as the rear fender of the Carnation truck.

I'm not saying that you're wrong but your examples haven't convinced me I'm wrong yet.

[Tractor]

Those lights under the windshield are sidelights and are on most model Ts. Trust me i have owned a model t and in my family we have had over 20 over the years. I grew up around them. They aren't the same. i think one of my dads friends built this but not for sure. The fender on the front does look the same but one problem it doesn't have the flange at the bottom.

[Tractor]

One thing that is interesting to me is how they used parts from A's and T's on this ie the frame. Mouse I am looking to see if I can find a vendor who sells the fenders. To me the rears look like motorcycle fenders or something made in shop. The headlights on the carnation truck sorta do look like side lights buy notice how they are flat on the carnation and round on the jungle one. Sidelights and rear tail lights have that round bottom to them. Also the radiator doesn't have ford stamped on it but looks like a circle. The hood is also wrong for a T. T's had 6 or 16 louvers and this one has 11 maybe it also was in house. I had my Dad look at the pictures awhile ago and he said it definitely was a T but now some things seem wrong for a T but could be made in house. Thank Go for Davesland and his pictures. I counted the louvers wrong and there is 12 not 11 and there is a closed look at the circle and I can't identify the maker of the radiator but will check out a site that Reproduces them to see if it was made by another maker and not Ford

[StartedByAMouse]

Cool. Thanks for pointing out the differences.

Since no one knew where the Carnation Truck went and Disney's well known for repurposing old things for new, it seemed to me that perhaps that's what happened here.

I guess Tom's quest continues!

[Tom Chaney]

Tom -

Let me start by saying that I know next to nothing about cars so I'm not sure if this lead is anything concrete. File this simply under the "I wonder" category.

I'm not even sure what made me think of a possible connection but I have a photo of a truck that was parked in Adventureland in 2003 near the exit to the Jungle Cruise that may be the Carnation truck repurposed.


(You can click on the picture to be taken to my Flickr account where there's a larger image available.)

It's definitely not the same body but it appears to be the same chassis. I tried finding some other photos of the Carnation truck for comparison and it seems like it could be the same. This one has the same wheels (though not the same tires), the front fenders look like they might have been the Carnation truck's rear fenders, and even the Carnation truck's headlights look like they've been mounted under the windshield just below the net with the coconuts. Like I said, I know nothing about cars but even the engine housing looks the same.

Unfortunately, I don't know where this truck is anymore. I haven't seen it in Adventureland for a number of years. As I mentioned, my photo is from 2003 but I think the truck was parked there for a number of years.

Not sure if this helps much but maybe it does a little.

Matt

Hi. Thanks for your interest. Actually, the truck in Adventureland (which is now also missing!) is definately not a "repurpose" of the old Carnation truck.

The Adventureland truck is a genuine Model T Ford. It's probably around a 1925 model, but Fords among those years all look alike to that's just a guess. The Carnation truck, while based on a 1931 Model A Ford chassis, it was highly modified to appear to be a pre-1915 model.

Here's a bit of trivia regarding the Carnation truck: As a tribute to designer Bob Gurr, the radiator emblem read "Gurrmobile". Bob recounts that many times, while in the park, he overheard guests remarking, "Oh yeah, I remember those!"