Black Swamp Chapter ATHS

03/03/2026

Pacific Truck & Trailer built its first truck in 1947. Which industry put it to work? Drop your answer below. 👇 Check back later today for the reveal.

03/03/2026

Our friends beautiful Ford Trucks Louisville Aeromax Bigfoot hauler in the new ATHS Wheels of Time Magazine! Great article inside by another friend on Road Rangers too.All American Truck Historical Society members receive these in the mail or online, but you can buy them at a few retailers too. Come find the ATHS booth at the Mid-America Trucking Show in a few weeks to learn more, I'll be in there a lot, Thanks.🇺🇸💪🙏

11/19/2025

Newsletters are getting to members, please RSVP for the Christmas party. Thanks. American Truck Historical Society

11/19/2025

: In the fall of 1942, two U.S. Army soldiers made one of the earliest documented truck trips over what was then little more than a pioneer road. Corporal Ottawa Gronke of Chicago and Private Robert Bowe of Minneapolis pulled out of Mile 0 at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, on September 22 in a Dodge ½-ton weapons carrier.

The Alaska (ALCAN) Highway was still raw—cut through muskeg, permafrost, and dense spruce forests earlier that year by engineer regiments working at wartime speed. Sections relied on corduroy road, with logs laid crosswise to span bogs. Many grades were steep, curves were tight, and bridges were temporary timber structures thrown in ahead of winter. Dust, mud, cold, breakdowns, and isolation were part of the landscape.

Five days after leaving Dawson Creek—on September 27—Gronke and Bowe reached Whitehorse, Yukon. Their truck carried a hand-painted sign: “First truck, Dawson Creek to Whitehorse. Driving time 71 hours.”

Two months later, on November 20, 1942, the same pair led the first official military convoy from Whitehorse to Fairbanks after a ribbon-cutting at Soldier Summit, as the new highway shifted from construction to operation under the Northwest Service Command.

A landmark moment on a road carved in only eight months across some of the toughest terrain in North America.

09/03/2025

Two postwar heavyweights roll into the ring for a head-to-head battle, trading steel, gears, and raw diesel power.

On the left, the Autocar DC-100 — purpose-built for the toughest jobs of the late ’40s. With massive GVW ratings, rugged frames, and early adoption of Cummins diesels, the DC-100 carved its name in heavy haul, construction, and logging. When brute strength was the order, Autocar delivered.

On the right, the Mack L-Series — versatile, reliable, and available in everything from linehaul to heavy vocational trim. Backed by Mack’s legendary Duplex, Triplex, and Quadruplex transmissions and a nationwide service network, the L-Series gave fleets flexibility and uptime few could rival.

Both were Class 8 contenders of their day, built for big loads and hard miles. The question is — in a straight head-to-head, which classic takes your vote?

09/03/2025

09/03/2025

🚛 : Gar Wood’s Hydraulic Breakthrough

In 1911, Garfield “Gar” Wood, a former electrical engineer, Ford car salesman, and automotive engineering teacher, watched a Detroit truck driver spend nearly 30 minutes hand-cranking a coal load from a dump body. Remembering the hydraulic cylinder on his father’s ferry boat, Wood thought: If hydraulics can move an engine, why not a truck bed?

Working with a local Pierce-Arrow dealer, Wood fitted his first hoist to a Pierce-Arrow dump truck. The demonstration was so effective it threw a dozen onlookers right out of the body. By 1912 he had filed U.S. Patent 1,165,825 (granted 1915), and soon his Wood Hydraulic Hoist Company was outfitting Pierce-Arrow and Packard trucks for Allied armies in World War I.

From a larger Detroit plant, Wood expanded rapidly — setting up installation centers nationwide. Beyond the original vertical hoist, he introduced underbody hoists for longer chassis, plus dump, refuse, and asphalt bodies. A special gravity-operated dump body for 1-ton Fords followed, and the line grew to include wreckers, tankers, and even buses.

By the 1920s, ads claimed 90 percent of American truckmakers listed Wood equipment as standard. And throughout, Gar Wood kept refining, patenting, and pushing his products forward.

From coal yards to construction sites, Gar Wood’s idea truly gave trucking a lift.

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Help preserve trucking history. Become an American Truck Historical Society member today @ ATHS.org

09/03/2025

In 1973, the Diamond Reo Apollo 92 came standard with which hood arrangement?
A) Steel butterfly hood
B) 90° fiberglass tilt hood
C) One-piece aluminum tilt hood
D) Steel tilt hood with forward hinge at the bumper

✅ Correct Answer: B) 90° fiberglass tilt hood
The Apollo 92 was delivered standard with a 90° fiberglass tilt hood. According to the 1973 sales brochure, this design provided mechanics with full access to the engine and frame by tilting completely at the cowl. The hood was fiberglass reinforced with steel framing to handle vibration and heavy-road use.

❌ Why the others are incorrect:
A) Steel butterfly hood → Available, but not standard.
C) One-piece aluminum tilt hood → Never offered on the Apollo 92.
D) Steel tilt hood with forward hinge at the bumper → A design used by Kenworth and Peterbilt, but not Diamond Reo.

09/03/2025

: Heil’s Aluminum Advantage

History is what’s behind us — and in trucking, few fit that line better than the Heil Company of Milwaukee.

Founder Julius P. Heil, a German-born tinsmith, opened his shop in 1901 turning out sheetmetal tanks and fittings. By the 1910s, as motor trucks began replacing wagons, Heil was already building fuel and water tanks fitted to early chassis.

In the 1930s, Heil took a step that set the name apart: the first all-aluminum tank trailers. At a time when steel ruled the road, aluminum construction cut hundreds of pounds without giving up strength. But the change wasn’t easy. Many haulers doubted whether a “light metal” could stand up to rough roads and heavy petroleum loads. Heil answered by pounding the tanks over test routes with full payloads, deliberately stressing them beyond normal service. They also filled the tanks with water and pressurized them to check for cracks and leaks. When both trials held, the skeptics had little left to argue.

Once in service, the payoff was clear. Aluminum meant more payload per trip, less fuel burned, and less wear on tractors. The design gave petroleum distributors a sharp edge, and Heil’s reputation as an innovator spread fast.

World War II shifted the company into military production. Heil built 750- and 1,000-gallon fuel and water tank trailers for the Army and Navy, proving its designs in service across Europe and the Pacific. When the war ended, Heil applied those lessons to its civilian line, adding stainless-steel tankers for chemicals and food-grade loads, as well as semi-trailers that expanded hauling capacity for bulk liquids.

The postwar years also saw Heil enter the refuse market with hydraulic packer bodies and transfer trailers that helped modernize city fleets. By the 1950s and ’60s, Heil products were a common sight on both highways and municipal streets — from petroleum haulers rolling cross-country to garbage trucks working neighborhoods.

More than a century after Julius Heil opened his doors, the company name still rides the highways. A Heil trailer behind the truck is more than equipment — it’s a reminder of how one tinsmith’s shop helped move the industry forward.

Discover rare photos, manuals, and records that tell the story of trucking history. Explore more at aths.org/archives.

08/09/2025