(* Probably)
There’s only a handful of American truck manufacturers left, but once upon a time, it was very different. I’ve compiled 150 vintage ads and press articles of defunct American truck manufacturers, but there may well have been more. Most are from the pre-WW2 era, although some are more recent, and a few are still going, like FWD and Oshkosh, having found successful niches in the industry.
Why so many? Automobiles (cars and trucks) were the high-tech industry in the early part of the 20th century, and lots of entrepreneurs wanted in. Cars were the really hot thing, and Wikipedia has a list of defunct car manufacturers that I believe tops 1300, although I didn’t count them all. So 150 truck makers is small change compared to that.
Some of these early truck builders were local wagon builders, and saw their business under threat, so they started building trucks too, most of them looking like horseless wagons. Others thought they had some clever new invention or technology to give them a leg up on the competition, although their success rate seems rather low, with a few exceptions, like FWD with its Four Wheel Drive trucks. Probably the biggest group falls into the small-medium sized firms that simply bought the great majority of their key mechanical components and assembled trucks with their own frames and such, to appeal to specific local market demands or such.
The barriers to entry were quite low, in that model. But eventually the better-capitalized large firms could invest in evermore productive technology and such, and increasingly made it difficult for these small regional firms. Those that survived the good years of the 1920s were almost invariably wiped out during the Depression, although a decent number managed to survive into the 1950s.
I can’t comment on each of these, although I did stumble into one or two histories and found them quite fascinating. maybe we’ll pick one or two out sometime and profile them.
Currently there’s a somewhat similar phenomena going on with EVs and EV trucks: there’s dozens of startups, including numerous in the truck/delivery/van sphere. Obviously not all of them are going to make it, but once agin, it’s the early days of a new market.
I can see only one BAD idea: the Pull-More, placing a loose joint right in the middle of the frame. No advantage over a fifth wheel or just pulling a trailer.
Wow – what a treasure-trove of neat stuff. I’ll be browsing through this all for quite a while.
Here’s one below that stuck out for a few reasons… it’s for a “Pierce Fleet Arrow”. I knew that Piece-Arrow marketed a Fleet Arrow truck in the 1920s, but I had no idea that the name was resurrected much later (looks like the 70s/80s). I wonder who actually made this truck?
Second, I find this photo amusing because I’ve rarely seen a promotional photo with such an odd matchup between the vehicle and the background. This looks like the standard backdrop (of a pillared colonial house) for Cadillac ads from that period… not commercial trucks.
I answered my own question quickly enough — this was made by the company that currently manufactures Pierce fire engines. They’re still in business:
https://www.piercemfg.com/
The company has been around since 1913, and prior to the 1970s had made exclusively custom truck and fire apparatus bodies. The Fleet Arrow was their first in-house chassis. From what I can tell, the truck company’s name was always Pierce, but the owners realized at some point the the original Pierce-Arrow trademark had lapsed, so they started using “Arrow” on their own models.
Here’s another one to add, Reiland & Bree. The only reason I know about them was Peter Reiland lived down the road from us in the 60s, at that time he was a wealthy old man. He sold out to International Harvester around 1929 and then had an IH franchise for a long time. Invested most of his proceeds into farm land in Illinois, he did not trust paper currency as he migrated from Germany after WWI.
I believe that the Grabowsky and the Rapid trucks were the companies that eventually became GMC trucks. The Linn tractor with its rear tracks was clearly inspired by the Lombard Log Hauler. They did it with tracks first. They ran on steam and later versions were gasoline. Built in Waterville, Maine.
My paternal grandfather, having been in the cavalry in WWI, came back from duty in France and joined Teamsters Local 807. After the industry switched from carts drawn by *teams* of horses (hence the Teamsters’ name and logo), he probably drove several of these trucks.
This is quite a collection, Paul—-and nearly all of them new to me. It was nice to be reminded in the very first ad (“Hawkeye”) that a whole lot of early auto & truck manufacture was using component parts from specialty firms, etc.
“Divco” I had heard of—perhaps even learned of that firm here on CC. And Fageol known to me only because I lived in Kent, OH for a while, back in pre-internet days.
Interesting to see that there are still niche markets being served by these independent firms….thanks again!
A lot to absorb and enjoy here. Thanks Paul! I particularly like the Dearborn trucks, “Clean, flowing lines, without a freakish feature”. By the way, Oshkosh is still in the truck business and using that brand name as well as Pierce.
A few of these I’ve certainly heard of – Buick, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Peerless. I didn’t expect the Daimler here to be related to either the British or German company of that name, but I looked it up and it is related to the German company as well as to the Steinway piano guys. Oshkosh I think is the same or related company that bid on postal truck and HMMWV replacements.
The Hug Company sounds more like a ’60s sunshine-pop band than a truck manufacturer…
Washington Trucks were made just blocks from where I used to work in southwest DC. It’s a residential area now; wouldn’t have guessed a truck factory (or even their office) was ever there.
Best name: Available Trucks
If the Hug Company were to merge with Available Trucks, would the resulting company be called Huggable Trucks?
Available Hugs Inc.
Here’s a photo of the Washington Motor Vehicle Co. building on L St. SW:
…and here’s another ad of theirs from 1910. You know it’s an old ad when the trucks are compared to horse-drawn vehicles.
From what I can tell, the company went out of business in 1912.
They were way ahead of the curve, selling EVs way back in the 1910s.
I wonder what advantage the optional Edison batteries had over the “regular” batteries.
Edison batteries are nickel-iron. Wikipedia has a good article on their advantages/disadvantages.
Great collection, Paul, and thanks a lot for this. I’ll be browsing it carefully as there are lots of weird, interesting machines. Of note is the Daimler….”non-explosive”. A great advertisement gimmick.
That Daimler dates to 1902, so it was one of the earliest trucks ever. Which explains the line you mentioned and “Not an experiment”.
Thanks for all info Paul, probably take weeks to go thru in my spare time.
I have seen a few of the brands on the list and actually worked on one. The local Brink’s Armored car shop had a tandem axle Hendrickson Armored car, aptly known a “Henry”.
Car/truck porn of the highest standard. Hours of fun tracking these down ahead of me. Problem is trying to explain to the wife what I’m doing staring at the ‘freakish free” Dearborn.
Wow — a tour de force!
“The trucks/lorries that time forgot” 🙂
As an old (literally) truck guy, this is great stuff. I have heard of a number of them but not most of them. Thanks. I love the claims.
Epic post. I was familiar with three or four. The Available was featured on curbsideclassic.com or maybe I’m mistaken and was hemmings.
Oshkosh is still known for heavy duty snow plow trucks. They also have contacts to produce heavy duty trucks for the military.
Interesting how some names work wherever you are…..Commer and Standard were both UK brands but entirely separate from these US companies.
And Sterling….well, we never had that as a brand but as a model.
Some were familiar but not as trucks – Packard, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pierce Arrow for example.
Then: Maccar. Now: Paccar.
Lemoon: …nope, too easy.
What a great post. One question, when did Hayes-Anderson just become Hayes? My employer still runs a sizable fleet of HDXs in the logging field here on Vancouver Island but they seem to date from the ’70’s.
So much going on here, but my main obsession is with why the Ottawa was marketed to a US that was missing both Oklahoma and South Carolina!?
I was surprised at how many I have heard of and one or two brands Ive actually seen at Transport world Invercargill and other places, Sterling frinstance Im driving one for money right now Great array of not well known brands though.