1949 Dodge Sampan, Hilo Taxi Company

https://www.facebook.com/stationwagonmania/photos/a.422511374769881/907906946230319/?type=3&permPage=1&ifg=1

Sampan, because when you're in the Hawaiian paradise, you don't call a jitney a jitney

Jitneys started in about 1914, and the Sampan in 1922.

Truth is the same no matter where you find it, and in 1922, the cost of a taxi was obviously too much, and a Hilo taxi driver by the name of Fukumatsu Kusumoto wanted to provide lower, cost-effect means of public transportation for Big Island residents and visitors, mainly Hilo wharf and it’s surrounding areas.

He hit up several of his taxi driving friends, but no one was interested in his idea. Single handed, he was able to obtain enough funding and constructed the first sampan converting a Ford Model T into a multi-passenger jitney back in 1922.

Vehicle modifications started just behind the drivers seat, the back was rebuilt with wooden seats along both sides on an extended frame. Mr. Kusumoto’s single venture brought instant success as the owner of the Hilo Sampan Company. the Sampan Bus became a big hit with sugar plantation workers and their families.

In the 1930s and 1940s there were over 200 Sampans running routes around the Big Island of Hawaii, most casually cruising to pick up riders, and just like Uber or Lyft, delivering them where they wanted to go, picking up other riders along the way

There is one in San Diego that I've ran across through the years, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/09/this-might-be-only-vehicle-ive-posted-3.html

http://alohavalley.com/hilo-sampan-bus/

a very rare photo, one that caught a sampan by coincidence at Mooheau Park, Hilo Bay, on Oahu, during WW2

1st vintage photo I think I've ever seen of a Hawaiian sampan, photo taken in the '40s by a soldier

http://www.vintag.es/2015/12/wonderful-color-photos-of-hawaii-taken.html

This might be the only vehicle I've posted 3 times... but it's gotten better over the years... and the OB Hotel has bought it now and fixed it up a little

For the Wavecrest 2008 look at it, and the Primer Nats 2010 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/wavecrest-2008-had-desoto-woodies-and.html  and   http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/09/dasoto-sampan-if-this-gets-you-in-mood.html

African safari sampan

Its so incredibly rare to see a photo of a sampan...

This one found on that source of the unusual and cool: https://www.facebook.com/groups/yachtclubdesavionsdelaroute/?fref=nf

modern Sampan in the movie "Hot Pursuit" with John Cusack

I found a Sampan at the GNRS... it's rare to run across one!

the only other Sampan I've come across was a DeSoto that comes to Wavecrest: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/09/dasoto-sampan-if-this-gets-you-in-mood.html

"DaSoto" sampan.. if this gets you in the mood for surf and woodys you're in luck, Wavecrest is a day away

The above is from Tere's gallery: http://justakargal.blogspot.com/

Wavecrest 2008 had DeSoto woodies... and one was a sampan bus from Hilo Hawaii !

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/1996/09/09/story7.html

Hilo Sampan is staffed with six drivers and an operations manager, Donna Dupree. This week a 1950 DeSoto will join the 1949 Plymouth and the 1942 Chevrolet that are already on the road.
According to Dupree, sampans are created from existing vehicles. A reconstruction permit is required for each one, just as they are for modern cars refitted with non-factory parts.
"You take a torch and you cut it where the driver's seat is, then build on all the back part," Dupree said. "There is a lot of wood working, and it's part sheet metal, so it is quite a lengthy process to build one of these."
Dupree said it costs about $10,000 to turn an old-time auto into a sampan.

The first sampan was created in 1922 by a Mr. Kusumoto, a taxi driver who felt the fares were too expensive for residents.
New sampans imitate the first, and seat eight people in three benches along the perimeter of the interior, with the front seat bench for the driver and another passenger. Modernization includes automatic steering and power brakes.
During the 1930s and 1940s, there were more than 200 sampans in existence, serving as taxis for residents and visitors all over the Big Island. They were affectionately referred to as "banana boats." The average fare ran from a nickel to a dime.

Also a good story: http://hahaha.hamakuasprings.com/2007/03/chef_peter_merr.html