In the early days of the motor-truck industry men bought the finished vehicle, but later on the practice of selling chassis only became popular, and while today some manufacturers cater to the body trade, a large percentage of trucks are sold to the purchaser without the body, this being built by a local builder, the truck manufacturer furnishing a body builder’s blue-print.
As in everything else, it has taken time to overcome the faults of the early trucks. Most all trucks above 1,500 pounds capacity are equipped with solid rubber tires, and while the solid rubber tires and the springs on the trucks give a great deal of resiliency, it was discovered that the steady pounding over all kinds of pavements soon racked a truck to pieces and that pleasure-car practice could not be followed successively in building motor trucks.
5-Ton Truck—1913-14
In the earlier days truck buyers made many mistakes in selecting the size or capacity of trucks. Some made the mistake of buying trucks too light for their work. Others selected trucks large enough to provide for exceptional or emergency loads, and would, for example, buy a truck of 31⁄2-tons capacity when 90 per cent of their hauling was loads not exceeding 11⁄2 or 2 tons. Thus they not only had a greater investment than necessary in the truck itself, but were paying an exclusive charge in the way of operating costs and depreciation.
Latest 3⁄4-Ton Model
