[Sledge]

It's not quite a hybrid since I see no reference to storage. It's more like a modern locomotive powertrain.
http://greenmesh.com/2006/09/

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Thorne was a company that made generators so they were familiar with electronics of the 1930s. It was more of a truck built around a creatively simple drive system. A generator bolted to the flywheel of a gasoline engine made electricity that drove an electric motor bolted to a differential. A hallmark of the drive system was simple operation and low maintenance. Crist’s 36’ Thorne model C-1 (concept truck), that was used by Rutter’s for 18 years, was never mass produced; however, the drive system lived on in other trucks made by Thorne and lives on today in large diesel locomotives.

Video: http://w2.ydr.com/mmedia/wmv/805/

 

[Dawg Dee-Lux]

Re: 1936 Thorne hybrid electric delivery truck (Sledge)

Interesting, it seems very similar in concept to the Lohner-Porsche carriage.

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In 1898 Ferdinand Porsche designed the Lohner-Porsche carriage, a series-hybrid vehicle that broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. Over 300 Lohner-Porsche carriages were sold to the public. As a series-hybrid, a gasoline engine powered a generator, which powered electric wheel motors. A large and heavy battery pack acted as an intermediate load-leveling device.