The American Delivery Truck: An Illustrated History

Even when motorized vehicles replaced the horse, not everyone owned a vehicle to drive, much less to haul with. Rural residents relied heavily on vendors to bring the goods directly to them or their nearest town, and vendors relied on delivery trucks to deliver their food items or services. The idea took on a life of it?s own and in 1915 Reo created an entire class of vehicles called ?Speed Wagons? that provided the basis for a new generation of delivery vehicles dubbed in Commercial Car Journal as ?Speed Trucks.? The Speed Truck chassis could provide for a whole range of special delivery-type vehicles to satisfy a growing need for reliability, speed, convenience, and a level of style that would create the right impression for the user to haul goods to its customers. Other manufacturers created specialized chassis and mechanical configurations for delivery vehicles and in addition, companies such as Boyertown Body created bodies to suit the needs of the customer, including vans, panel trucks, and even pick-up trucks. Color, paint schemes, and lettering were crucial to creating a positive image. Some of the major Marques featured in this illustrated history include Reo, Federal, Diamond T, Sterlilng, Divco, International, Fargo, Dodge Chevrolet, Ford, Graham, Pak-Age-Car (Stutz and Diamond T), to name a few.