Mobile Lab: 1973 Grumman Olson Kurbmaster


I love almost anything stainless steel. It's such a interesting texture, and it looks good in many applications.

Take this delivery truck, for example. Ordinarily something not very interesting, (although old trucks are rarer). But in stainless steel, it sticks out like a sore thumb, gleaming from the rows of ebay listings like a diamond to my eyes. I'm suddenly plunged into a dark nighttime underworld of Deloreans, secret meetings in mall parking lots, black market chemicals, neon light in rain. I love how the ad says "want attention?", and yet I've just come up with the most illicit possible uses for it.

It also looks like one of the vehicles the Terminator would hijack, then smash through a wall and drive off a bridge or something.


The seller, thankfully, imagines it being used in just about every other nature: ice cream truck, motorhome, storage hauler. They say the previous owner told them the 3-speed automatic transmission was rebuilt. Under the hood is a 304 International 8-cylinder engine.

Mechanically, they say it runs and drives great. They list the mileage as 82,380.

Cosmetically, they say the seats have tears and it has normal wear expected for a work truck.

They do say the stainless steel exterior is factory-built, however, and have never been painted.


This could be really cool as a show van for a hi-tech company or as a transporter for a Delorean (if it can fit in the back). Or as a command center for the apocalypse.

Find this cool beast here on ebay in Battle Ground, Washington with a buy it now of $10,000.

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