The International Harvester Metro step van has had its praises sung here already, in an article by Paul hailing it as the first and greatest step van, and another by Jim Grey about an auction find. Seeing one live and in action is a special treat, though, especially when it sells frozen treats in the middle of the summer. In Washington, DC, this vehicle stands out among the fleet of trendy food trucks for both its nostalgic style and what it sells.
Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats began in 2012 selling gourmet frozen custard, sundaes, shakes, and other frozen and baked goodies from a colorful 1952 International Harvester Metro. Dubbed “Gigi,” the van is as much a part of their business as the food that they sell. With almost every food truck in the city being a boxy Chevrolet or Grumman Olson step van, Goodies’ streamlined Metro gives them a distinctive identity that is clearly visible even without seeing their logo. It has become a stylish and colorful presence at popular food truck spots around the city, shown here only two blocks away from the Capitol Building, selling frozen treats to tourists and Congressional staffers.
This Metro probably was significantly more expensive to purchase than a newer generic step van and must be more expensive to maintain and repair as well, so the people behind Goodies deserve commendation for staking their business on a classic. It remains unique as far as I know, the lone classic food truck in the city, certain to bring a smile to your face on a summer day both for what it is and what it sells.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to keep up. Old Cornbinders were built heavy and the engines were under-stressed. To give an example, my 1950 L-100 half-ton pickup had a ten-quart oil sump. If this Metro has that same engine, given the kind of short-haul service the truck is in, the owner had better be changing oil based on time rather than mileage, so maybe that large capacity isn’t seen as an advantage given what people want for oil these days. If that Metro has been in that kind of service all its life it may not have a great many miles on it.
Good luck finding aftermarket support, though.
Everything is available for these mechanically. You can go to your local Napa and they can have the brake parts in a day. Same for common engine items like plugs, points, cap, rotor, valve cover gaskets ect. If you need to get deeper into the engine like rings or pistons they are still available too.
For things like door handles many of those pieces are still in use, or were well into the 90’s, unchanged since they were designed for these. Some parts have had slight changes but the current stuff usually bolts right on.
Starters, generators, and distributors are Delco items so you can have them rebuilt just about anywhere.
The only thing that is hard to find are wheels, since the 120 and heavier series used the “wide six” bolt pattern. They are still made new by places like Stockton wheel but they aren’t set up to take the factory hub caps.
Sweet. Love seeing this one earning it’s keep.
I always loved these Metros. In LA we had the Helms Bakery trucks. These were more like rolling bakery cases designed, I think, to appeal to kids. The candy necklaces were like crack.
Justified and Ancient, and they drive an Ice Cream Van.
Yeah, I went there….
+1. The 12″ series from The White Room – a great moment in time. KLF is gonna rock ya.
Beautiful lines on this working truck. Makes a Transit or Sprinter look like crap by comparison.
Mmmmm – I’ll take a 2 scoop vanilla on a waffle cone, please. 🙂
As a kid in the 60s, I remember ice cream trucks as a newer version of an International van, and even some re-purposed Studebaker Zip Vans.
What a darling little good truck! It brings back such fond memories of my childhood when that kind of truck was one of the most welcome sightings on a long, jot summer day. Ahhh, such nostalgia!
I’d like to know why so many Metros that have been put into modern food truck service are always done in this exact same color scheme? Seriously there are at least two others that sell ice cream with this exact same combo. Ok one of them was built as a ice cream truck but wasn’t ever put into service.
As far as it being more expensive than a modern step van one of the reasons that the person I know who sells cupcakes out of hers chose it was for the low entry cost. The interior build out and health dept certification is going to cost about the same if both start off as empty boxes. Good running step vans, that aren’t seriously cosmetically challenged, still bring $5k around here and at that price the will still likely need some attention mechanically. So the $1K you can get a running driving Metro for can be a relative bargain.
Very cool; love to see old iron like this getting a new lease on life. And everybody loves a good ice cream truck!
Amongst all the boxy food trucks in Durham, NC, there was a cupcake/dessert business that used a repurposed Airstream trailer instead. It similarly stood out, though this one is even more attention-getting.
FG Austin kerbfinders were a favourite icecream truck here but I havent seen an old original in years now the icecream setup is mounted on Jap imports with little to attract me to them.
When I was in business one of my neighbors in the business park restored furniture. He had an orange 59 model with all sorts of stuff painted on the side. Said it was the best advertisement he had.
He sold it one day which made two of us immediately sorry. I would have been happy to hang my sign on it.
Delicious Robert. I love the cab shapes of old vans.
Looking good, especially the front end and the whitewalls. Wonder if it has a more modern drivetrain for ease of repair?
Nothing hard about repairing the factory drive train in these. A number of parts are in stock at any parts store in the US and other things are just a day away at Napa or you can get them online at places like rockauto if you don’t mind waiting. However the power trains in these are built for commercial service and will go a very long time before needing attention. You would wear out two small block Chevys in this kind of application before you would need to rebuild one of the Diamond series engines.
Awesome! Someone with the company is a gearhead and felt that it was worthwile to use an actual vintage vehicle as a company trademark. Nice.
It would be interesting to know if they updated or just restored the mechanical parts. If it were me and I were going to have other, non mechanical folks running this thing all day in the middle of a large downtown metropolis it would have some type of modern fuel injected six cylinder and an automatic. The original flathead, carburated motor and non synchro manual trans would not be a good combo for actualy daily use in a big city and it wouldn’t cost much to retrofit it with an used engine trans combo. I would also do the cooling and electrical systems and modern power brakes.