Coachbult.com - Columbia Body Co.



Columbia Body Co. - 1915-1930s - Detroit, Michigan

Columbia Body Co. of Detroit, Michigan was famous for their low-budget funeral service vehicles mounted on Ford Model T chassis. Columbia was one of the many firms which offered "slip-over bodies", bodies that fit over the chassis just behind the passenger compartment of a Model T, in the space where the turtle deck was normally placed. From 1914 to the late 1920s Columbia built casket cars, hearses, ambulances and first-call cars on the dependable Model T.

Old Ann Arbor Town, by Hazel Proctor pictures a Columbia Body Company on pp128. Is it a branch of the Detroit firm?

1918 Columbia commercial bodies available for converted Ford Model T chassis included a Light Weight Stake Body, an ambulance body, a funeral car body, and a number of delivery vans ranging from compact designs for parcel delivery up to huge furniture and moving van bodies, all available with a choice of open or closed (vestibule) cabs.

Also built small parcel delivery boxes that could be mounted on the rear of Ford Model T roadsters without having to remove the roadster body. Columbia offered these 200lb bodies sized to fit any automobile chassis.

Columbia built their business around supplying alternative automotive bodies for the Model T as well as their line of commercial bodies. In Columbia's 1918 catalog, they offered a Laundelet Limousine, Combination Merchandise and Passenger Wagon as well as various Taxicab bodies outfitted for specific markets - Detroit and New York double-tariff bodies must have been big sellers as they were offered in subsequent catalogs.

With the introduction of Ford's new Model T One-Ton chassis in 1918, commercial body builders like Columbia finally had a standard set of dimensions to work with and they soon started to offer bodies designed specifically for the new Ford chassis. Up until 1918 many of their bodies were built for various truck conversion kits, whose size and quality varied from one manufacturer to the other.

Columbia took great pride in being able to convert obsolete horse-drawn equipment into modern motor trucks using converted Ford Model T as a chassis.

Even though Ford was offering the Model TT One-Ton chassis, some operators were looking for more weight carrying ability. Columbia met the need in 1920 with their new "slip-on frame with side springs and extension". As the name implies, the conversion slipped over an existing Model T One-Ton chassis and could now handle up to 2 tons. Columbia manufactured a number of larger capacity freight bodies to match the higher capacity of the new frame conversion kit. One such body was the truss side open express body that included flared rails to help with loading.

As late as 1922, Columbia continued to offer similar bodies for both the Ford Model T and TT chassis. The bodies for stock Model Ts were light and shorter than bodies designed for the TT, but followed the same designs and construction methods.

One attractive item in Columbia's 1922 catalog was their 4-column combination hearse and ambulance body. Called the "New York Ambulance" included beveled plate glass windows, a folding rear step and Spanish grained leatherette upholstery.

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Columbia is credited with building the prototype speedster body for the 1927 Duesenberg Model X. Many feel the deSakhnoffsky designed it as is similar to the speedster bodies found on Auburn Model 8-115 chassis, which he also designed?

Columbia may have also supplied bodies to Cadillac during the late 1920s and early 1930s before Fisher and Fleetwood took over 100% of their coachbuilding.

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Although some very early Ford trucks were sold with commercial bodies, Ford discontinued the program in 1913.

For over ten years Ford had literally given away their truck body business to independent builders around the country and in 1923 decided to stop being so generous, and implemented a new fully equipped Ford Truck sales program starting with the 1924 model year.

Some of the 1924 Ford brand commercial bodies were built at Ford's Highland Park plant while others were outsourced from various suppliers who included Budd and Simplex Manufacturing. The first body made available was an all-steel express body, a canopy express body became available later in the year in three popular styles; totally open, screen-sided or with roll-up curtains.

The new Ford bodies were stocked by larger dealerships and could be ordered individually through regional Ford distributors by smaller dealers, who couldn't afford to keep them in inventory.

Following closely behind the express bodies was Ford's new enclosed cab which were easily identified by their sloping windshields and half moon openings in the rear quarters. By the middle of 1924 Ford had 8 distinct fully equipped (cab, chassis & body) light trucks available across the nation. Within 5 years many of the small commercial builders found themselves out of business, while larger ones prospered, providing that they were official Ford body suppliers.

In 1925 Ford introduced an optional body for their runabout which attached to the chassis in place of the rear deck. That body was the first production Ford pickup truck, a vehicle that eventually became the most popular motor vehicle in North America, and remains so today. The official name of the vehicle was the "Ford Model T Runabout with Pick-Up Body", and it sold for $281 fob Detroit. It featured four stake pockets and an adjustable tailgate, and required a 9-leaf rear spring.

Ford also introduced an enclosed cab to go along with their open cab in their new truck body program during the same year.

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Many local carriage makers and truck body constructors furnished bodies for Ford's amazing Models T, and for a number of years the Model T was undoubtedly the most popular professional car chassis in the world. During the late Teens and early Twenties Ford sold over 50,000 chassis annually to thousands of domestic coachbuilders.

During 1915 Model T ambulance production (listed separately from chassis production) exceeded 20,000 units, with most of the production sent to Europe prior to the US's involvement in WWI. This statistic alone makes the Model T the world's most famous professional car chassis, ever.

Not to be confused with the Columbia Wagon and Body/Columbia Body Corporation of Columbia, Pennsylvania who also built suburban bodies for Model T's.

Columbia was a major manufacturer of Model T commercial bodies starting from at least 1914. Columbia's delivery bodies were one of the more popular Model T delivery van bodies and were available with (swell-side vestibule body) or without (open-front panel body) a closed cab. Columbia also manufactured light express bodies with a choice of open or closed cabs. Light express bodies were a predecessor to today's pick-up trucks. Express bodies were offered with and without roofs and could be fitted with screen or canvas sides, depending on the application. They were also built in different length and were often used in conjunction with aftermarket frame extension/truck conversion kits offered by dozens of manufacturers through the 1930s. Popular brands were the Smith Form-A-Truck, Union-Ford, Longford, Perfect Car (Convertible Equipment Co.),etc

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Slip-Over Bodies - Body builders also offered "slip-over" bodies for the Model T. These lightweight delivery van bodies could be placed over existing roadsters without having to remove the roadster body. The C-cab slip-over body was attached to the frame just behind the roadster seat and could be quickly removed for weekend pleasure cruising.

Other volume Model T professional cars builders include:

Milspaugh & Irish - Indianapolis, IN

Kunkel Carriage Works - Galion, Ohio

Hornthal & Co - New York, NY

Pfeiffer Auto & Carriage Works - Omaha, NE

John Marston Carriage Works - Birmingham, England

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This 1925 Model T is longer than standard coupe,shorter than a sedan, with rear mounted door hinges. The body was made by Columbia Body Co. of Detroit

For more information please read:

The Professional Car (Quarterly Journal of the Professional car Society)

Gregg D. Merksamer - Professional Cars: Ambulances, Funeral Cars and Flower Cars

Thomas A. McPherson - American Funeral Cars & Ambulances Since 1900

Carriage Museum of America - Horse-Drawn Funeral Vehicles: 19th Century Funerals

Carriage Museum of America - Horse Drawn - Military, Civilian, Veterinary - Ambulances

Gunter-Michael Koch - Bestattungswagen im Wandel der Zeit

Walt McCall & Tom McPherson - Classic American Ambulances 1900-1979: Photo Archive

Walt McCall & Tom McPherson - Classic American Funeral Vehicles 1900-1980 Photo Archive

Walter M. P. McCall - The American Ambulance 1900-2002

Walter M.P. McCall - American Funeral Vehicles 1883-2003

Michael L. Bromley & Tom Mazza - Stretching It: The Story of the Limousine