A panel truck is somewhat of a hard vehicle to identify it's style but here it's almost it's full history.
Buckboards[]
In the 1910s a buckboard was a vehicle that was based in the chassis of a small van, it was likely a precursor to what we call a minibus. However, that vehicle had problems so in 1930 Chevrolet started putting station wagons on the chassis of their light trucks, that vehicle was called the Chevrolet Carryall Suburban and was used mainly as a minibus.
A 1935 Chevrolet Suburban.
Ford panel truck from the 1930s probably.
Release Of The Suburban[]
The Suburban was released to the public mostly in 1935, it was mostly a 1930 Chevrolet truck with a station wagon-like body giving it the feel of a minibus. Ford also started getting in the segment and made special versions of their pickup trucks with a fully enclosed bed cap giving it a van-like appearance. Many other manufacturers put bed caps in their pickup trucks and offered them as panel trucks. Except for Chevrolet almost no other manufacturer offered panel trucks with windows.
Panel truck from the 1940s in a rat rod style.
The 1940s[]
In their 1940s panel trucks were still in production with Chevrolet continuing to create making panel trucks in their pickup trucks. Other manufacturers made canopy express versions of their panel trucks which were primarily used by farmers. The second-generation Chevrolet Suburban was also released.
The 1950s to early 1990s[]
Panel trucks were still released with Chevrolet releasing the Chevrolet Advance Design panel truck which also had been derived by its pickup truck counterpart, Ford also released the Ford-F Series panel truck which like the Chevy panel truck was also derived from its pickup truck counterpart. In 1968 Chevrolet had released panel truck versions of the Chevrolet C/K. As panel trucks were just pickup trucks with a fully enclosed bed cap they had cargo problems and unibody chassis vans were made taking almost all the popularity from panel trucks, making manufacturers stop making panel trucks.
The Legacy[]
While the last panel trucks were the C/K panel trucks, if a pickup truck has a bed cap it is theoretically a panel truck. The origin of SUVs and Crossovers can be theoretically traced back to panel trucks as panel trucks were van-like versions of pickup trucks. The style of the PT Cruiser and HHR was inspired by the old panel trucks. In Africa along with some European Countries Mid-size to Full-size SUVs which use body-on frame construction that are used for any type of commerical or utilitarian purpose are classified as panel trucks, however in other countries that category was taken out after the 1970s.