Vintage Panel Truck Brings Charm to the Idea of “Roadside Assistance”

Nowadays, the idea of “roadside assistance” brings to mind massive flatbed haulers, loads of flashing lights, and generally unpleasant situations. But that wasn’t always the case.

Or at least, it wasn’t if this adorable little panel truck had anything to say. Look at this lil’ fella! This 1953 Mochet CM 125Y Panel Truck will cross the block at Mecum’s Dallas 2024 sale in a few weeks. It’s one of several lots offered with no reserve, so one way or another, somebody is going home with this charming thing.

What exactly are they getting? Let’s start with a quick history lesson. Mochet was a French brand named after its founder, Charles Mochet. The brand cut its teeth building pedal cars and recumbent bicycles. It did not begin to tinker with gasoline-powered creations until Charles’ son, Georges, took the reins in late 1934.

Georges steered Mochet through the turbulence of World War II, where his pedal cars proved quite popular in German-occupied, petrol-scarce France. Following the war, Mochet began experimenting with internal combustion-powered vehicles, using motorcycle engines. After a couple of product iterations throughout the early- to mid-fifties, production ended in 1958.

So this little fella is quite rare—in fact, Mecum says this is one of only three known to exist in the United States. Power comes from a rear-mounted Zuzcher 125cc two-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycle engine paired with a floor-mounted three-speed manual transmission. Peep the way the shift lever slots nicely into a cutout in the bench seat; that’s an intelligent layout! (Or infuriating, depending on how you look at it.)

The Mochet’s steel bodywork and solid disc wheels look rather utilitarian in the best way. Soft covers for the top of the cabin and the rear of the cargo area can open to allow a little air movement—we’re just going to guess that something like this didn’t come with air conditioning. That “Classic Tire” livery looks fantastic, as does the vintage race car painted on the side, which strikes us as something that would take the green flag at a contemporary running of the Indianapolis 500.

While it may have some trouble hauling the associated tool arsenals that seem to be required to keep modern cars on the road, we’re still totally smitten with the idea of this little oddball trundling our way down a deserted farm road to help us figure out why our classic is now belching smoke from unerhood. For the right collection full of European oddities, this feels like a total no-brainer.