1930 Package truck ID?

[Chris Haynes]

I got a call about a Package Truck with the number 30MC3737. I know 30 is the year and M is the designation for a Package Truck. What is the C?

[Tommo]

It means the sidevan body was supplied with a cover
MO and the box was supplied without a cover.

[Chris Haynes]

Thanks Tommo

[Sargehere]

Chris,
Look at your own Season Order Blanks online: http://vintageamericanmotorcycles.co...blank.jpg.html
I'm looking at 1938:
38M - Package Truck with Cover
38MO - Package Truck without Cover
38MC - Package Truck Chassis for M and MO
38MWC - Package Truck Chassis 57½" tread ("Wide")

[Chris Haynes]

AS we all know Sarge, a letter can have different meanings in different years. In looking in the sidecar section of the 1930-1933 parts book there was no mention of the letter C. Those listed were LT, LS, M, QT, and MW. The MW and OT are the wide track models is this book. Tommo's wide knowledge of the pocket valve bikes is always appreciated. If Tommo says C is for covered in 1930 I will take that as gospel.
Funny thing about this 1933 Spare Parts book. It shows all the sidecar frames and connectors, Wheels and fenders. But no bodies.

[Sargehere]

There's no listing of my bare-frame LEC in 1937, either. A very low volume special-order device, apparently, for customers with a taste for custom bodywork. "QT" are 2-passenger sidecars like the one Matt Walksler picked up recently, not listed in the parts books after 1933.

[Sargehere]

1936 Sidecars on the Season Order Blank:
SIDECARS AND PACKAGE TRUCKS
36-K -- Sport Sidecar for 74" & 80" Twins (VLs)
36-LE -- Sport Sidecar for 61" Twin (the new EL)
36-LS -- Sidecar for 45" Twin (the Goulding Litecar)
36-M -- Package Truck with cover
36-MO -- Package Truck without cover
CHASSIS AND BODIES
36-KC -- Chassis for K sidecar body
36-LEC -- Chassis for LE sidecar body
36-LSC -- Chassis for LS sidecar body
36-MC -- Chassis for M and MO Package Trucks
36-MWC -- Chassis, 56" Tread, for Truck Bodies
36-K -- Body only
36-LE -- Body only
36-M -- Body only
36-MO -- Body only
________________________________________

Also, these same letters have the same meanings: "C" for "bare chassis," and "O" for "Package Truck without cover," back to at least the 1934 Season Order Blank. It would be a remarkable reversal, even for the MoCo, if it happened that they had the opposite meanings in 1930.

[Rubone]

My '40 MW also does not appear in any factory sales, order, or parts listing for '40. But it is sitting right here in my yard with the wide track and the extra heavy springs!
And I believe Sarge is right with his reply.
Robbie

[Chris Haynes]

Does anybody have a 1930 Spare Parts book?

[Fiskis]

I have a Swedish 1930 edition and a 1931 US regular edition. There are no sidecar bodies included in either of the books.

[Sargehere]

And the frames, which are all that would be separately listed, were no different between a sidecar sold in an assembly with or without a body, once built by the factory into a sidecar, so a parts catalog won't help (only a frame part number). I noticed that in the later parts catalogs I have.

Perhaps an illustrated 1930 sales brochure, that shows all the models in the Harley lineup that model year, would name the sidecars by their model designations; or maybe not. Too bad that we don't have a 1930 Season Order Blank to look at.

[Tommo]

Sticking with Chris's 30 MC**** we need to break down what the letters signify

M = a sidevan/box body with a cover/lid for a 49 3/4 inch wheelbase chassis.
C = chassis
So to fully answer Chris he has a 1930 49 3/4 inch wheelbase sidecar chassis that left the factory with a sidevan/box body that was fitted with a cover/lid

[Sargehere]

Sticking with Chris's 30 MC**** we need to break down what the letters signify

M = a sidevan/box body with a cover/lid for a 49 3/4 inch wheelbase chassis.
C = chassis
So to fully answer Chris he has a 1930 49 3/4 inch wheelbase sidecar chassis that left the factory with a sidevan/box body that was fitted with a cover/lid

"And NO body," right? Sorry, You just stated two opposite things, Tommo. Frames stamped with the "C" after "LE" or "M" were sold by the factory as a bare chassis, at least as stated on the 1934-later Season Order Blanks, and in "conventional wisdom." We're talking about the numbers stamped on the frames designating the model of the Package Truck assemblies.

On them, also, the "O" appears to have stood for "open," or lidless-boxed Package trucks. Chris's original question was, "What was the original configuration of a '30MC' Package Truck?" I say if it had a box with a lid it would just have an "M." We've been waiting all day on this side of the planet for you to come back to explain what you meant, Tommo.

[Tommo]

Gerry
I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear enough
M= the body style
C= the chassis
So MC is a chassis for a M Body style.
Is that better

[Sargehere]

...M = a sidevan/box body with a cover/lid for a 49 3/4 inch wheelbase chassis.
C = chassis
So to fully answer Chris he has a 1930 49 3/4 inch wheelbase sidecar chassis that left the factory with a sidevan/box body that was fitted with a cover/lid

Thanks Tommo. The model was M, for all of the "heavy duty commercial sidecars," or Package Trucks, and no designation of the type of body, except that with NO further letter, just "30M" stamped on the frame, it would have been the base model, and designated that the Package Truck originally left the factory with a box with a lid.

However, the "C" means it left the factory with NO BODY AT ALL. Do you agree? Your "to fully answer..." sentence, up above, simply contradicted that. I'm sorry for trying to nail this thing down. Chris respects your statements as "the Gospel," but if I tell him the sky is blue, he wants a second opinion.