Above: Two of the original Lo-Silhouette service bodies by Douglass. Still today many people use 'Lo-Silhouette' and 'Douglass' in the same breath.

Another of the most popular uses was for recreation. Fishermen and campers found that a regular pickup bed just couldn't store as much as a Douglass.

A small fleet of bodies getting ready for transcontinental travel. These may be headed to anywhere from the middle east to Japan.

The History of Douglass Truck Bodies

Clinton Douglass Sr. started a small business in Bakersfield, CA in 1922. He built canvas tops for touring cars and eventually moved on to selling cars until the United States was brought into World War II.

Shortly after his return as a pilot in Europe, Clinton Douglass Jr., took over the business in 1946. He began to buy and sell used cars and trucks. In the early 1950's Mr. Douglass (Clinton Jr.) started buying old trucks from the telephone company that had the beds removed. This required that he find used beds for these units. According to Mr. Douglass, "(I) had bought all of the used beds I could find. At this point, I decided to try my hand at building a pickup truck body. Wanting something different than the average pickup bed, we decided to integrate side-locking compartments while retaining the normal pickup bed height."

Mr. Douglass, got his first national fleet account with Gulf Oil in 1958 and by 1962 he had acquired patents in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan.

The bodies that were shipped to Japan were exhibited in a Tokyo dealership show and later were featured in traveling trade shows throughout Japan.

With the main plant located at the same address since 1922 the Douglass product has changed and developed in to the service bodies that are used by oil companies, farmers, contractors, fire and rescue and even recreation enthusiasts. With sites on the future Douglass Truck Bodies, Incorporated will be in operation for many more years to come.

On the left is a press break. On the right is a shear, Both are still in use today.
Some of those telephone bodies were quite involved and the one above is no exception.
Most of the beds that were manufactured were similar to these. Here you can even see the latest thing in truck cranes.

Wish to learn more about Douglass Truck Bodies? Why not take the Shop Tour?