At first glance, it looks like another Ford V-8 woody from the early Thirties, not that there’s anything wrong with such an item. You looked it over, though, and realized it was different. RM Auctions, debuting its Auctions America sale last weekend in Auburn, Indiana, was offering this custom woody, with three rows of seats, built on a 1934 one-ton V-8 truck chassis. Its first owner was a musician from Cincinnati by the name of Leonard Slye.
Slye bought this truck to take his Western swing band, the O-Bar-O Cowboys, on tour throughout the Southwest, having earlier moved from Ohio to Los Angeles. That led to radio dates and Slye then fronted a new band, the Sons of the Pioneers, which probably used this very Ford. Within a year, Slye was appearing in films as a singing cowboy. He soon adopted the stage name that made him a music icon, Roy Rogers. This Ford, offered without reserve, sold for $27,500.