Raymond Loewy-Designed Truck on Display at Luchador Brewing, Cathedral City

The International Harvester Metro that serves as the food pickup point at Luchador Brewing Company in Cathedral City has a little-known connection to a Palm Springs architectural wonder — the Raymond Loewy House in Little Tuscany Estates.

Raymond Loewy and Associates, of New York, brought streamlining to the fore in American industrial design, creating the shapes of everything from the Sears Coldspot refrigerator to sleek railroad locomotives.

International Harvester Company, the producer of farm equipment, hired Loewy to conceive the Farmall tractor in 1936, then turned him loose on their growing portfolio of light trucks. The Metro, intended for multipoint delivery service, debuted in 1938 and stayed in production until 1975. Metros varied in length and carrying capacity. The Luchador truck is from Series A, an update released in 1957. It’s a heavy-duty model that received a custom lowrider makeover for the downtown brewery, where it’s located inside and used as a service counter.

Amid all his design work, Loewy became a winter resident of Palm Springs. He commissioned architect Albert Frey to draw up his 1946 house at 600 W. Panorama Road, where the swimming pool famously swept under the plate glass into the living room.

How fitting that his truck and house continue to thrive about 9 miles apart from each other.