Rare Pick up from Argentina inspired by the 1937 Ford: Rastrojero

Old vintage cars and rare cars made in Argentina: Rare Pick up from Argentina inspired by the 1937 Ford: Rastrojero .... in the early 50s, right after the Second World War, Argentina’s international trade was regulated and handled by the IAPI, an institute in charge of furthering Argentina’s international commercial bonds. The Rastrojero was born as a result of one of the IAPI’s purchases to the United States. Back then the government had bought from an American firm a lot of Empire tractors, these were integrally made with Jeep mechanic parts (all of which was leftover parts of a military firm that had over production once the war was over). However, those tractors were never used in the Argentine field… Due to a design miss-plan, the tractors turned under heavy traction, and hence they had to be taken out of the market and stored in a public warehouse.

It was IAME industry’s president the mastermind behind the plan of recycling those useless vehicles. San Martin, Luterau, Gomez and Cassasola gathered together a specialized team in order to re-invent a useful vehicle. The outcome surpassed the expectations by far, for two vehicles were conceived based on the Empire structure: a pickup truck christened Rastrojero and a rural truck christened Gauchita.

The front part of the chassis was inspired by the 1937 Ford pickup, while the back part suspension had to be redesigned in order to be suitable for the Argentine rocky and muddy roads.

Since the origin of these vehicles was a faux pass in the purchase, there was a strong imperative for creating an inexpensive, useful and durable rural vehicle. May be in the convection of all these imperatives we find the inspiration for the wooden back box to the pickup, it was cheap and easy to build and useful.

In May 1952 the prototypes of the Gauchita and Rastrojero were formally presented to the public at the YPF showroom of Buenos Aires. What had begun as an inventive way of dealing with over 2,500 useless tractors would soon turn into a wonderful and clever plan. Once the tractors were reconverted into useful vehicles, the public’s demand did not decrease; hence the government began to produce larger and larger quantities of these vehicles. The public loved it for it’s versatility and low costs, and while several times the different governments tried to take it off the market –due to political reasons, for it was a trade mark of the banned Peronism in the government-, these attempts were unsuccessful, and the Rastrojero was produced all the way until the 1980s.

Some alterations were done to the original model… for example a new chassis design with a Porsche type suspension; the use of Diesel motor was implemented –Borgward was the trade mark for the motors as well as the ZF velocity gear and differentials. We can also point out an evolution in terms of power, from the initial 42HP gas motor to the 68HP Diesel version. These 500 kg cargo trucks were made by the State Automobile Company IAME until May 22nd 1980.

More information, email me: bob@frassinetti.com.ar
Best wishes, Bob Frassinetti. Buenos Aires Argentina