HomePick of the DayPick of the Day: 1937 Ford 4WD truck known as Little Big...

Pick of the Day: 1937 Ford 4WD truck known as Little Big Foot

The 2-ton truck was a military prototype built by the Marmon-Herrington company

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(Note:  This vehicle was sold shortly before this article published.)

The Pick of the Day is a piece of 4-wheel-drive history, a 1937 Ford 2-ton pickup truck known as Little Big Foot, which served as a Marmon-Herrington 4WD prototype for a US military vehicle.

“The Jeep brand boasts its long history of producing all-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles,” notes the Conroe, Texas, dealer advertising the truck on ClassicCars.com. “What most everyone has forgotten is that Ford offered a V8-powered 4×4 wagon more than a decade earlier than the trend-setting 1949 Jeep, produced in conjunction with Marmon-Herrington.”

The company was founded in 1931 by Walter C. Marmon and Colonel Arthur W. Herrington, the ad says.

“They two took over the old Indianapolis Duesenberg assembly plant after it shut down and began building 4×4 and 6×6 trucks for the Army,” the seller continues. “Their first civilian vehicles were converted Ford 1-ton chassis, in 1935. The first light-duty vehicles came in 1937, and by 1939 there were some 56 different models of Marmon-Herrington Ford conversions.

“They were offered not only as pickups and station wagons, but also in chassis, stake truck, panel truck, coupe sedan, and sedan delivery form, with 85 hp V8 engines.”

truck

This truck is built on a 2-ton chassis and powered by its original flathead V8 and 4-speed manual transmission, and wears a set of Goodyear military tires. It earned the name Little Big Foot as a prototype that the conversion company displayed to show what it could produce for the US Army, the seller says.

“Offered today is the one-and-only ‘Little Big Foot’ from the former collection of Don Chew,” the seller says. “If that name doesn’t ring a bell, a quick search will provide details of Don’s extensive knowledge of Marmon-Herrington vehicles. In fact, he was widely known as the foremost authority and avid historian of these before his unfortunate passing.”

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 Chew acquired and restored Little Big Foot, and the truck “was said to be the prize of his collection,” the ad says. 

“This restoration was competed a few years back but still presents very extremely. The owners have taken care and great pride in preserving this piece of automotive history. It has only seen 175 miles of asphalt since completion and has always been garage kept.”

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The asking price for this intriguing off-road truck is $59,900.

To view this vehicle on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.

Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen is a longtime automotive writer and editor, focusing on new vehicles, collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. He is the former automotive writer and editor for The Arizona Republic and SPEED.com, the website for the SPEED motorsports channel. He has written free-lance articles for a number of publications, including Autoweek, The New York Times and Barrett-Jackson auction catalogs. A collector car enthusiast with a wide range of knowledge about the old cars that we all love and desire, Bob enjoys tinkering with archaic machinery. His current obsession is a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe.

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