When I was a teenager (mid 2000s), there was a gentleman who showed up at the Syracuse Nationals with a custom Divco dairy delivery van. It was the coolest thing - a historic antique commercial truck modified into a hot rod. It was basically a life-sized Hot Wheels toy unlike anything else at the show. It stuck with me, since antique commercial vehicles don’t show up very often. If you have been looking for just that sort of project but want something even more unique, we now have exactly what you need: a 1957 Lyncoach Airvan, the all-aluminum purpose-built step van made right here in upstate New York, and it comes with a strange history.
1957 Lyncoach Step Van serial number 7A331, photographed on 2022.06.04
Lyncoach serial number #7A331 was built at the Lyncoach & Truck Co. manufacturing facility that operated out of Oneonta, N.Y. from approximately 1954-1972, although earlier iterations of the company date back to 1916. The varying Linn Manufacturing companies (originally spelled to match the name of the founder, Holman Harry Linn) built tractors and other heavy equipment for agricultural applications and U.S. armed forces contracts. Military contracts helped many manufacturers survive financial crises and global conflicts through early and mid-century periods. The Linn company evolved under new ownership in 1954 (who couldn't retain the rights to the Linn name) into the newly-renamed Lyncoach, and continued building a variety of commercial/industrial vehicles in the postwar era [01].
Lyncoach & Truck Co., INC serial number plate located on the pass. side of the dashboard above the motor
When my friend J reached out to me for assistance in trying to assess the value of Lyncoach #7A331, I had never heard of Lyncoach. As it happens, Lyncoach is in fact still in business today, however the company is presently operating out of Troy, Alabama. The Oneonta, New York regional operations were shut down half a century ago [02]. When I finally made my way a few hours east to inspect/assess the tired van, I was pleasantly surprised at how complete it was, and also that enough clues were left behind as to where it had been in order to piece together a relatively complete history.
Driver-side rear swinging door with partially visible text reading "SCON... FIRE..." - the passenger side door is no longer legible, but would have read "...ONDOA...DEPT"
The fading red paint on the rear compartment door still has the vague outline of hand-painted lettering reading SCON, in a very fire-department-like font. The antique label-gun directions in various places inside the cabin filled in the blank where the too-faded other rear door failed us: right below the dark green label instructing the driver to "LEAVE TRUCK IN NEUTRAL" was a cryptic matching label that read "KEB 52 SCONONDOA TESTING ON 539." I had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it did tell me that the other half of SCON - was - ONDOA. The back of the van used to read SCONONDOA in an arc across the top right above where it used to say FIRE DEPT. In only a few minutes, we figured out the first 30-40 years of this truck’s life: it was a personnel and equipment carrier van supporting a local fire station, and it might even have been built just a few miles away by some of the same people who volunteered for the very fire department it later served.
Antique label-gun instructions that referenced the full name SCONONDOA, located on the dashboard directly to the top right of the gauge cluster and steering wheel
A quick Google search would tell anyone that there is no such thing as the Sconondoa Fire Department today, but I had a hunch, so I reached out to Fire Chief Dennis Fields of the Oneida Fire Department. The Oneida FD is the current regional emergency firefighting entity in the same general area. I asked Chief Fields if perhaps an earlier regional fire department had been swallowed up by a growing emergency services program as the population in the area increased. Chief Fields confirmed: The Sconondoa Fire Department was situated on the border between the City of Oneida and the Town of Verona, N.Y. Some time in the 1990s, the expanding Verona Fire Department absorbed the Sconondoa Fire Department, and the station that this 1957 Lyncoach van used to serve became Verona Fire Department Station 2 [03].
Rear passenger-side view, where a bulk of the faded paint has been sanded down to expose the bare aluminum body
Ultimately, the changing Sconondoa Fire Department retired Lyncoach #7A331 from service. The aging step van was sold to a local farmer who used it to sell potatoes on the side of the road, presumably still wearing its red fire department paint and gold lettering, since the parts of the body that haven’t been stripped yet still sport FD regalia. When the potato farmer either lost interest or decided to update his potato stand, the van changed hands again and ended up in the care of a scrap metal hauler, who reportedly planned to salvage as much as possible before the van’s heart gave out, and then he would scrap the entire vehicle itself. At some point during the scrap hauler’s brief ownership, he encountered my friend J who insisted that it must not go to the junkyard. J’s goal was to preserve this rare and unique piece of commercial-scale automobilia. He purchased it in 2020, dragged it to the driveway beside his home, and began stripping the fading and flaking paint.
Driver's window sticker identifying this van as Madison County Landfill #6789, confirming the metal-scrap-hauling period of the story as relayed by the previous owner
Lyncoach #7A331 measures 17’-0” long (plus a 14.5” diamond-plate step extending off the rear), 6’-6” wide, and approximately 8’-10” high. Lyncoach aluminum step vans were built over a variety of chassis types, but this van sits over a light commercial Ford chassis with a straight-six engine between the seats (believed to be the Ford 223ci I6 engine affectionately nicknamed the “mileage maker”) and a 4-speed manual transmission.
Gearshift knob, interior driver's quarters configuration, and FORD valve cover
The box interior, which measures 70.25” wide and 10’-3” deep from the rear doors to the crossbar behind the driver's seat, features a dramatically curved ceiling which is 5’-11” at the sides but arcs up to 6’-6” in the center. The rear swinging doors are 37” W x 72” H, and the side sliding door is 33” W x 72” high.
Interior of the box, and view of rear swinging doors
One of the only missing components on the entire van is one of the curved glass windows which was broken many years ago and replaced with a curved piece of acrylic in its place. 5 extra wheels are piled up in the back of the box for a future owner - probably best used to mock up a dually set up (two rear wheels on each side), which might be the only thing that would make this van even cooler.
Passenger side curved acrylic front window and metal strip locking it in place
Unfortunately, J ran into even bigger obstacles than lack of funds: a neighbor has unkindly reported the poor van to local authorities since it did not have plates on it, and he was forced to decide between selling it or scrapping it if it had not been removed by September 30th, 2022. He reached out to me, and I offered to publish this piece to hopefully connect this cool piece of local history with a new owner who plans to restore it – J’s only hope was that it retain it's original body and that it not be not cut up into something like a food truck. The van does not currently have a registration (the previous owner passed away). When nobody came forward, I purchased and relocated it myself, with plans to slowly clean it up and continue to try to find an ambitious new owner to transformer it into something cool - maybe a diesel-powered dually chassis under it would be a nice future...
Steering wheel center cap detail, a lighting bolt through a gear, presumably referencing the electrical and mechanical component manufacturing history of the Lyncoach brand.
The asking price is $3,500 or best offer (based on the values of similar vehicles in similar condition), and any hopeful buyers should be prepared to remove it with a rollback truck and winch (or at least something with smooth ramps - an equipment trailer is not likely to work out well, as two separate and unsuccessful nights in the pouring rain taught us). It was running as recently as 3-4 years ago, and two of the four wheels are currently stuck - but we started with four stuck wheels, so it's been loosened up on two occasions. If you have any questions, please reach out (mlempert@buffalo.edu), we are happy to discuss, and delivery to your location might be possible within a reasonable radius from Rochester, NY.
Machines don’t die – but sometimes they need a special person to see their potential beyond the corrosion and dust. Please help us find this van a new home, and give it a new future.
Michael Lempert | The Anachronist
Rochester, NY
2022.09.18
Updated 2023.01.11
PS.: Additional photos in gallery below:
Resources and additional information:
All photographs are taken by and property of the author, except where noted otherwise. Please ask permission before using any images, either directly from the author or by others where applicable.
[03]: Email correspondence w/ Fire Chief Dennis Fields on 2022.06.07: "You are correct in your assumption. The Sconondoa Fire Department bordered the City of Oneida and was in the Town of Verona, NY. [...] in the 1990’s Sconondoa Fire Department was absorbed/merged with Verona Fire Department, and is now Verona Fire Department Station 2. Verona Fire Department is 100% Volunteer service and covers a very large geographical area..."
For more historical background on the Lyncoach & Truck company: