Lloyd Van Horn wandered through the old quonset hut that once was a turkey farm here and pointed to his pride and joy–a gleaming Little Giant.
Elsewhere in the hut and in some adjacent barns are a Master, Old Reliable, All-American and Dearborn.
These are all turkeys, albeit valuable ones, but not the feathered kind.
As a sideline to his auto parts business north of here, Van Horn runs probably the only public museum in Middle America devoted to antique trucks.
A sizable portion of his collection comprises trucks built in Chicago, which, for the first half of the century, was a center for the manufacture of commercial vehicles–everything from buses to dump trucks.
Since 1899, the year after the first American truck appeared (a Winton from Cleveland), at least 88 companies in Chicago and its environs have gone into the business of building trucks. As many as 26 companies were operating in 1919.
“Chicago was quite a truck town,” reminisced Paul R. Gordon, 91, retired sales manager for Diamond T Motor Car Co., a Chicago truck builder until the company was merged out of existence in 1958.
Only a handful of truckmakers survive.
The biggest is Navistar International Corp., which for most of this century was known as International Harvester Corp. and which built trucks under the International and IHC names.
“We built our first truck in 1907, and 91 years later we’re still doing it,” said John R. Horne, Navistar’s chairman and chief executive.
Diamond T was Chicago’s No. 2 truck builder, but its vehicles now exist mainly in the antiques collections of men such as Van Horn; George Schaaf, of south suburban Frankfort; and Bill Schutt, of Western Springs. Schutt is a former refuse company executive who heads the Windy City Chapter of the American Truck Historical Society and owns seven Diamond Ts.
The family-owned Hendrickson Motor Truck Co. was a major builder of specialty trucks until it was sold in 1978 to John Boler of Boler Industries, who then sold the truck operation to a Michigan company that makes HME trucks.
Specialty truckmakers also survive. Federal Signal Corp., in Oak Brook, builds Emergency One fire trucks and Elgin street sweepers. W.S. Darley & Co., in suburban Melrose Park, makes fire trucks.
“In the early part of the century, trucking was largely regional, and, as a result, so was truck building,” said Donald F. Wood, professor of transportation at San Francisco State University’s College of Business and author of 10 books on trucks.
The earliest trucks were primarily delivery vehicles that shuttled goods around big cities in competition with horse-drawn wagons in the first two decades of the century. Railroads were the dominant form of transportation and there was no national highway system. Rural areas had dirt roads that became impassable in bad weather, but cities had paved streets that could handle heavy trucks. So local markets for trucks developed in the cities.
Rural areas didn’t have paved roads until the 1920s, and the big intercity truck–the tractor-trailer or semi-trailer–didn’t come into widespread use until World War II though it had been developed earlier, Wood said.
No less than 29 companies started building trucks in Chicago in the first decade of this century, and they were joined by another 40 from 1911 through 1920.
But the mortality rate was high; 49 companies failed or were bought out by the end of 1920.
Short-lived trucks such as Acorn, Webster, Condor, Dearborn, Fargo and Gumprice have been largely forgotten except by antique-truck collectors. A moving company that built its own trucks called Harders. Le Moons, Lumbs, Moguls, Wonders and a truck called Rex also lumbered over Chicago streets.
The trucks of some of those short-lived companies are worth big bucks as collectors’ items. A fully restored All-American, which sold for $1,595 at the end of World War I, can fetch 10 times that from a collector–or more.
Restoration of an antique truck can cost 10 times its selling price.
“When I got started (about 30 years ago), the really rare trucks were in such bad shape that it cost a fortune to restore them. Now they’re almost prohibitively costly,” said Van Horn.
That’s why he maintains what he calls his “boneyard” behind the museum–for parts. It consists of a pile of rusting hulks atop which sits the skeleton of a Chicago-built Old Reliable.
Old Reliable was typical of Chicago’s early truck builders. The Henry Lee Power Co. in 1911 decided to build a 3-ton motor truck and named it Old Reliable.
Old Reliable’s Model B is as good an example as any of an average truck for its time. It had a 28.9-horsepower engine that provided power to the axles via a double chain and could carry up to 2 1/2 tons of cargo. Top speed was usually no more than 20 m.p.h., which produced a bone-jarring ride on solid rubber tires. In most trucks of that time, the cargo was considered more important than the driver, who often rode in an open cab. The Model B carried a price tag of $3,500.
These days, a deluxe over-the-road tractor-trailer weighs 40 tons and can carry more than seven loaded Old Reliables. It has a 600 horsepower engine that enables it to roar over interstate highways at 70 m.p.h. on up to 18 pneumatic tires. The driver sits in air-conditioned or heated comfort in a cab that includes a mini-apartment with beds, microwave and refrigerator in back. The tractor alone costs $120,000, and the average trailer costs more than $18,000, according to industry officials.
In its day, the Old Reliable was a formidable competitor for the horse-drawn dray. A study completed in 1911, the year Old Reliable was introduced, indicated a motor truck could do the work of two horse-drawn wagons and would pay for itself in a year. Another study that year indicated an International motor wagon cost $128.45 a month to operate and two horse-drawn wagons cost $171, including crew wages.
The economic advantages of the motor truck were so compelling all sorts of companies stampeded to build them. The Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co. introduced its Little Giant in 1912 but the venture lasted only six years.
C. Cretors & Co., a popcorn machine maker, in 1915 built nine self-propelled popcorn wagons.
There also were some ventures that can be described as transportation curiosities: George T.S. Glover in 1911 built some five-wheeled vehicles for cold climates. His steam-powered trucks drew their traction from a hollow fifth wheel that was steam heated to melt ice and snow. The business lasted about two years.
A few specialty manufacturers did well. One of the most successful was Magnus Hendrickson, a self-taught Swedish engineer and bicycle builder who wound up in Chicago in 1900. A year later he became enamored with horseless carriages and built his own car. Jacob Lauth & Co., a tannery, hired him in 1903 to build some vehicles, and Hendrickson designed hollow-spoked wheels and three-speed transmissions.
“He was interested in all kinds of things,” said Wayne Hendrickson, his grandson. “He had a summer home in Michigan and built his own power plant to supply it with electricity. He built his own golf course. He loved music and played several instruments.”
The elder Hendrickson also wanted to build his own firm. In 1913 he left Lauth-Juergens Motor Co., as it was called, to start Hendrickson Motor Truck Co.
In the next 65 years, the family-owned company at 35th Street and Wabash Avenue built 7,456 specially engineered trucks and 4,100 crane carriers before being sold. Magnus Hendrickson designed a truck-mounted stone hoist for heavy lifting and a tandem axle suspension system. Both devices are still in use in the industry.
Those devices helped the company survive the Depression.
International took a different route to the top. The company founded by Cyrus McCormick in 1831 to build his mechanical grain reaper by 1907 produced a motor-driven farm truck and within six years was mass producing trucks under the name International.
International Harvester also owned the Weber Wagon Co., which in its advertising showed broken-down trucks on rural roads to stress the reliability of its horse-drawn vehicles.
“We were looking at the farm market all along, but without a national distribution system, we never would have been anything more than a local truck builder,” said Horne.
Its national farm machinery distribution and dealer system enabled IHC by the end of WWI to capture 4 percent of the U.S. large truck market, and by 1929 it was building 50,000 trucks a year. Ford Motor Co. dominated the small-truck market with its pickups.
Even a giant such as Harvester had problems. The company sold its declining farm-equipment business to Tenneco Inc. in 1985. The next year, it changed its name to Navistar International and remains one of the nation’s largest truckmakers.
Diamond T Motor Car Co. was the other of Chicago’s big three. While Hendrickson used engineering expertise and Harvester distribution, Diamond T stressed quality: The Diamond stood for quality and the T for the last name of owner Charles A. Tilt.
“Tilt was a stickler for quality,” said Gordon. “International underpriced us, but we’d tell customers if they wanted a cheap truck don’t waste our time.”
Tilt also put a lot of auto styling in his trucks, which is why Diamond T’s are so popular among collectors, Wood said.
In the 58 years the Diamond T logo appeared on trucks, the company and its successors built an estimated 250,000 vehicles.
After Tilt died in 1957, his company was sold to White Motor Co., which merged it with Ransom E. Olds’ Reo Motor Truck Co. in Lansing, Mich. The Diamond T factory at 4509 W. 26th St. in Chicago closed in 1963. The last truck bearing the Diamond T name was built by Reo in Lansing in 1966.
Less well known was the Available Truck Co., which built 2,500 specialized trucks for 47 years until it was acquired by Crane Carrier Corp. in 1957 and the nameplate disappeared. A company with the bizarre name of Pak-Age Car Corp. built more than 3,500 delivery vans under several corporate owners until the line was discontinued in 1941.
Except in small specialty markets, such as fire trucks, Chicago is unlikely to see any new truck manufacturers crop up. The industry has been consolidating since the 1970s, and the cost of entry is too high.
ABOUT TRUCKS
1898–Winton builds the first U.S. truck in Cleveland.
1899–Patton Motor Vehicle Co. builds an 8-ton truck powered by a gasoline engine that ran a dynamo that supplied electricity to motors mounted on the rear wheels. Only one was built.
1907–International Harvester (now Navistar International) builds its first motorized wagon.
1908–Ten companies formed in Chicago to build trucks, including Diamond T.
1914–Charles Jeffery in Kenosha builds a four-wheel-drive Army truck called the Quad.
1919–Twenty-six companies building trucks in Chicago.
1925–U.S. truck registrations hit 2.5 million.
1929–International sells 50,000 trucks.
1931–Diesel engines introduced.
1939–Depression takes its toll. 10 truckmakers survive in Chicago.
1950–Tractor-trailer (semitrailer) begins to catch on and trucks capture 16 percent (as measured in ton miles) of intercity freight market.
1958–Diamond T bought by White.
1978–Descendants of Magnus Hendrickson sell the family-owned truck manufacturing company, leaving International the sole survivor in Chicago.
1996–Trucks capture 29.7 percent of intercity freight market. There are 1.678 million heavy trucks, 2.3 million medium trucks and 4.3 million commercial truck trailers registered in the U.S.
1997–Typical over-the-road truck weighs 40 tons–including 8.5 tons for the tractor, 2.5 tons for the trailer and 29 tons for the cargo.
1998–Truck manufacturers expected to sell 230,000 new heavy and 120,000 new medium trucks.
CHICAGO TRUCKMAKERS
Here are Chicago-based truckmakers and their vehicles. Chicago auto manufacturers that also offered a few lines of trucks are excluded.
– Acorn Motor Truck Co. 1925-1931. Built conventional 1- to 5-ton trucks.
– All-American Super Truck. 1918-1925. Made trucks under A.A. name for sale overseas and All-Americans for the U.S.
– Available Truck Co. 1910-1957. Assembled 2,500 trucks before being acquired by Crane Carrier Corp.
– Aurora Motor Works. 1908. Produced one three-quarter-ton truck in Aurora before being sold.
– Biddle-Murray Motor Truck Co. 1905-1907. Built a 3-ton truck in Oak Park.
– Birch Motor College. 1918-1923. Students assembled trucks sold by mail order.
– Borland-Grannis Co. 1910-1916. Manufactured electric trucks as the Ideal Electric Car Co.; changed name in 1912.
– Chicago Coach and Carriage Co. 1908-1910. Began building carriages in 1898, but switched to light trucks under the Webster name in 1908.
– Chicago Commercial Car Co. 1910-1911. Sold a three-quarter-ton, 16-horsepower model for $1,500.
– Chicago Motor Truck Co. 1919-1932. An obscure company that built trucks as large as 12 tons.
– Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co.. 1910-1918. Made trucks under the Little Giant, Chicago, C.P.T. and Duntley names.
– Chicago Motor Wagon Co. 1910-1912. Built one model–a 1-ton open express body that sold for $1,000.
– A.C. Clark Co. 1910-1914. Another wagonmaker that converted to light delivery trucks.
– Clark 1919-1929. Made a three-wheel vehicle called a Tructractor for use in factories.
– Commercial Automobile Co. 1908. Built limited number of light delivery vans under the Hennegin name.
– Condor Motors Inc. 1932-1941. Specialized in overseas markets with engines designed to run on poor grade fuel; put out of business by World War II.
– Continental Motor Truck Co. 1915-1917. Built a few light trucks after evolving from a car company of the same name.
– C. Cretors & Co. 1914-1915. This popcorn machine-maker assembled nine self-propelled popcorn wagons.
– Danielson Engine Works. 1912-1914. Built 1-ton trucks.
– W.S. Darley & Co. 1908 to date. Specializes in fire trucks.
– Dearborn Motor Truck Co. 1919-1924. Briefly produced a line of light trucks after World War I.
– Diamond T Motor Car Co. 1908-1958. Charles A. Tilt’s company built 250,000 trucks before being bought by White; the name continued for nearly a decade as Diamond Reo.
– Double Drive Truck Co. 1919-1930. Made trucks in Chicago before moving to Benton Harbor, Mich., and disappearing.
– Economy Motor Car Co. 1909-1912. Joliet company built light trucks.
– Fargo Motor Car Co. 1913-1921. Built light vans but succumbed to postwar recession.
– Federal Signal Corp. 1974 to date. Oak Brook company builds Emergency One fire trucks and Elgin street sweepers.
– Gary Motor Truck Co. 1916-1927. Built a variety of trucks in its namesake city.
– George T.S. Glover. 1911-1912. Specialized in steam-powered trucks for cold climates that got their traction from a heated fifth wheel.
– Gifford-Pettit Manufacturing Co. 1907-1908. Organized to build cars but decided on trucks.
– Great Western Transportation Co. 1911-1912. Briefly sold a 5-ton, gasoline-electric truck.
– Gumprice Motor Truck Co. 1912-1913. Founded to make trucks; uncertain whether the company ever produced one.
– Harder Fire Proof Storage and Van Co. 1910-1913. Built own fire engines and moving vans and offered some for sale.
– Harvey Motor Truck Works 1911-1932. South suburban company survived long enough to build truck tractors before succumbing to the Depression.
– Hendrickson Motor Truck Co. 1913-1978. Family firm built 7,456 trucks and 4,100 crane carriers before being sold.
– Highway Motors Co. 1919-1921. Sold heavy-duty trucks under the Highway-Knight name.
– Navistar International Corp. (International Harvester Co.). 1907 to date. Began producing and trucks in 1907 and is still one of the industry biggies.
– Thomas B. Jeffery Co. (later Nash). 1913-1917. The company started in Chicago but moved to Kenosha before being sold to Charles Nash.
– Joliet Auto Truck Co. 1912. Built a few quarter-ton electric trucks in Joliet.
– King-Zeitler. 1919-1929. Offered a full range of trucks (three-quarter to 5 ton) and some buses.
– Lamson Truck and Tractor Co. 1911-1919. Built 1- to 5-ton trucks. Also known as Zeitler and Lamson.
– William Landschaft & Sons. 1911-1920. Made light trucks before becoming a victim of the postwar recession.
– Lauth-Juergens Motor Co. 1907-1915. Tannery started making trucks in 1907 before moving to Fremont, Ohio.
– Lincoln Motor Works. 1912-1913. Formed after obtaining rights to make Sears’ obsolete highwheeler trucks.
– Lumb Motor Truck and Tractor Co. 1918. Built a single model in Aurora before being bought out by an auto builder.
– Manly Motor Corp. 1917-1920. Made three models before becoming O’Connell Manly Motor Corp. in 1918.
– Master Truck Inc. 1917-1929. Made trucks and buses.
– Maxfer Truck and Tractor Co. 1917-1919. Began by building rear-axle kits to transform Ford Model T cars into 1-ton trucks and later fabricated its own trucks.
– Mercury Manufacturing Co. 1910-1917. Built half-ton motorized buggies called highwheelers
– Mogul Motor Truck Co. 1911-1916. Built three models 2 to 6 tons for the lumber industry.
– Monitor Automobile Works. 1910-1916. Started with cars but switched to trucks in 1911 and moved to Janesville, Wis.
– Nelson-LeMoon (later LeMoon). 1910-1939. Made an estimated 3,000 vehicles before owner A.R. LeMoon decided to become a dealer for Federal Motor Truck Co.
– O’Connell Motor Truck Co. 1919-1936. Built in Waukegan the Super Truck famed for a pivoting driver’s seat to permit operation in either direction.
– Ogden Motor & Supply (Later Ogden Truck Co.). 1919-1929. Offered a variety of trucks.
– Old Reliable Motor Truck Co. 1911-1927. Began as the Henry Lee Power Co. and built trucks as big as 7 tons.
– Pak-Age Car Corp. 1926-1941. Built 3,500 boxy delivery vans under several owners, including Stutz and Auburn.
– Patton Motor Vehicle Co. 1899. Built a single 8-ton gas-electric truck.
– Pietsch Auto and Marine Co. 1908-1910. Manufactured a closed delivery van.
– Pioneer Truck Co. 1920-1924. Built 2-ton trucks but couldn’t sell many.
– Royal Rex Motors Co. 1921-1923. Made six sizes of trucks under the Rex name and a swastika logo long before the Nazis came to power in Germany.
– Sandow Motor Truck Co. 1914-1928. Made delivery vans.
– Schmidt Brothers Co. 1909-1911. Built a 1-ton truck using the F.C.S. nameplate
– Thorne Motor Corp. 1929-1938. Sold gas-electric delivery vans.
– United Four Wheel Drive Co. 1917-1920. Obscure company offered a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
– H.F. Van Wambeke & Sons. 1908-1909. Elgin family made a light delivery and express van under the Van name.
– Victor Motor Truck and Trailer Co. 1918-1920. Built a variety of light trucks on a common chassis.
– Voltz Brothers Co. 1915-1918. Started as a carriage builder but converted to trucks in 1915.
– Walker Vehicle Co. 1906-1942. Began building electric vehicles under the name of Walker Balance Gear; changed company name to Walker in 1912.
– Weeks Commercial Vehicle Co. 1907-1908. Built a half-ton closed van.
– Western Truck Manufacturing Co. 1917-1923. Offered a 7-ton truck and after 1919 some smaller vehicles.
– Whiting Foundry Equipment Co. 1904-1905. This Harvey company built one of nation’s largest trucks at that time–a 15-ton flatbed that lumbered at 10 m.p.h.
– Winslow Boiler and Engineering Co. 1919. Built a 5-ton, steam-powered truck called Steamobile–after steamers had gone out of fashion.
– Winther Motor Truck Corp. 1917-1927. Started building trucks in Winthrop Harbor; moved to Kenosha in 1918.
– Wonder Motor Truck Co. 1917. Made two models of truck but didn’t sell many.
