Traveling Billboards & Diamond T Trucks 1911-1966 2 Book Set

There is no billboard more dynamic or memorable than an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer rolling down the American highway at 70 miles an hour! Since the early days of the motor truck industry, companies have plastered the sides of their trucks and trailers with free advertising for products. This practice has beautified the landscape for more than a century, and there is no end to the graphic creativity.

Organized chronologically, Traveling Billboards: Tractor-Trailers as Rolling Advertisements 1900–2010 features brands from giants in the transportation field including Freightliner, Kenworth, Mack, White-Freightliner, Brockway, Peterbilt, Diamond T, and more. Captions are complete with detailed information about the tractors, trailers, and companies promoting their services. If you or someone you know is interested in the history of big truck advertising and its evolution, Traveling Billboards is a must-buy!

Diamond T Trucks 1911-1966 Photo Archive

The Diamond T Motor Car Company manufactured automobiles until 1911 when the first truck led to exclusive truck production and soon gained legendary status as style leaders. While "The Handsomest Truck in America" became a long-standing slogan, Diamond T also emphasized its engineering leadership. Builders of more than 1500 Class B "Liberty" trucks in World War I, Diamond T produced nearly 50,000 thousand prime movers, half-tracks, army wreckers, tank tractors, and tank movers in World War II. The late 1940s were years of peak production, but as the 1950s progressed, Diamond T found independent status problematic. 

The White Motor Company purchased Diamond T in 1958; moving production from Chicago to Reos manufacturing facilities in Lansing, Michigan, in 1960, creating the Lansing Division to produce Diamond T and Reo trucks. Both Diamond T and Reo ceased to be separate trucks starting in 1967 when Whites new Diamond Reo Division began producing Diamond Reo trucks.