did they make a

[evilone]

as the title says

did they ever make a real 55 cameo ice cream truck?

if so can you post pics of them?

[Jairus]

No Kevin, most likely they did not. The reason is that the 55 Cameo was actually a step side truck bed with fiberglass panels. The truck was rushed into production after Chevrolet officials saw Dodge's new "swept-side" trucks and believed that they needed one too. It was not until '57 that retooling provided Chevrolet with an all metal smooth side pickup bed.

'55 and '56 trucks remain upper-scale and therefore too expensive as a basis for a small Ice-cream truck builder to purchase and install the refrigeration box, bells and paint.

Any company doing the retrofitting would have chosen as inexpensive a base as possible.

[Scott H.]

Back when I was doing the car show thing, once in a while I would see a real 50's or 60's Good Humor Ice Cream Truck that had been restored or modified and usually I would go find the owner since it was something "odd" in the sea of street rods and customs that I had seen a million and one times.

Actually, I did that with anything that was standing out to me as something other than what was "normally" brought out to those shows. You wouldn't believe how quickly you can become bored at a show once you've seen the same cars over and over, time after time!

What I have found out from talking to the owners is that they were mostly either just Cab & Chassis or Step Side trucks that were delivered to a coach builder (an early conversion company of sorts) and finished into what the company wanted. It's similar to what happened with the ambulances and hearses that you are used to dealing with and doing the research on.

Also, there were a few small companies out there that built their own trucks "in house" in their service shops or the trucks were built in a garage or back yard by a private owner. Those trucks never looked the same from one build to another as they had no real pattern to follow and were usually built from what they had available to them at that time. 9 times out of 10 they also used the cheapest models out there to keep the cost down.

Hope this helps answer your question,

-Scott H.