Divco Trucks History

Divco

Nice blunt truck with a marvelous name Divco on our illustrations first came to light in 1937 - and since then has remained practically unchanged in appearance : no need. This passenger cars ought to be renewed every year, so that the public bought them . And those cars that work , work , play with the " planned obsolescence " to anything - is required of them so that they are easy to use but not often needed repair , that's all . Here is a case where it determines the shape of the function and not vice versa . Transport of small loads in the " door to door " means that the driver - at least for reasons of cost loading area body - will have to perform both functions of the freight forwarder , and, consequently , often out of the car and sit back behind the wheel . Hence , it is necessary first of all possible to facilitate him in and out of the car , hence the sliding side door and from here - high seat , which can be , and not so comfortable to sit on , but which is very convenient to get up. Like, say, a combine harvester .

George Bacon, chief engineer of the Detroit Electric Vehicle Co., Its first retail delivery van was designed in 1921 twenties. His firm , as the name implies , engaged in production of electric vehicles under the brand name Detroit Electric. - , These were mainly cars ' ladies' crews ' , silent , smooth running, simple to manage, devoid of the unpleasant smell of exhaust fumes - and , as a rule , very comfortable . Its development , Mr. Bacon had in mind to expand the range of models offered by the "commercial" machines , his project involved , that elektrofurgonom can be controlled not only from within, from the driver's seat , but outside - standing on any of the running boards . On the boards, among other things, the car is very comfortable to drive in reverse. The experimental sample was diverse tests , during which it became clear that the car is too fast salitsya battery , which in passenger models worked quite reliably , 'Bring on the share of the " ladies' crew ' of Detroit Electric has never dropped out of such loads , which had to withstand a delivery van . It's one thing to, say, go to the dressmaker or a confection for a new hat and return back , quite another - with a full load to wander all day long in the city and surrounding area , then stopping, then again moving from the spot ... there is no battery is not enough. Mr. Bacon has attached to the sample instead of a standard electric motor driving a small internal combustion firm LeRoi, - bylakogda something such - was a dramatic improvement in performance ... and a scolding from his superiors : we say, doing electrical crews , we have it in the title of the company spelled out , and what do you do , my dear ? ..

Meanwhile, Detroit dairies very closely followed the work of Bacon. They are something , end-users , this machine was desperately needed , and what it will be set in motion , - steam, electricity or gasoline - they were interested in the least : though rubber motors , if only went and did not break . In early 1924, at the Bacon came representatives of the largest in the city of Detroit Creamery dairy and asked him to finance the production of the initial batch of machines of its construction of twenty-five pieces, - he agreed , knowing that with the direct supervision not get anywhere . Vans have proven themselves with the best hand , and Bacon , leaving Detroit Electric, organized his own company for the production of such machines : Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company, abbreviated DIVCO. Newborn company soon took under his wing Engine Plant Continental, she supplied the engines .

An alliance with a major engine builders turned out to be more useful , it was concluded that in 1932, at the height of the infamous Great Depression - alone small and highly specialized enterprise could hardly survive the hardships of this magnitude. Around the same time Continental attached to itself and the company Twin Coach, kotorayavoobsche -that specialized in wagon- buses , but also produced a "commercial " line is more or less the same class as the machines Divco. In the second half of the thirties and these cars were offered under the trade name Divco-Twin, while during the war Twin Coach name was abolished and the machines did not return the old mark.

The car does not alter the appearance from before the war - a phenomenon for the United States is exceptional. Even taxis Checker for all their utilitarian from time to time still have revised design ( and sometimes quite successfully) , even post-war trucks stopped by the mid -fifties to resemble the pre-war model - as milk vans were there as they are twenty or thirty years ago. They have become a familiar part in the landscape towns ' one-story of America, " where they were driving up in the morning on a bottle or two of milk to every doorstep in the big cities they serve equally hardworking small food convenience stores and shopping malls that have taken part in its gastronomical section ; grown old and a failed or fallen into a car accident just replaced new , knowing that it will be exactly the same. A copy of our pages received in the course of restoration is not only nostalgic (quite correct from a historical point of view) coloring , but also as a nostalgic "cargo " - from glass bottles, long since out-of- hand , placed on as old packing crates and carefully filled with white synthetic foam, quite convincingly simulates milk. In addition, the restorer of the added " burden " and other pieces of food , once a truck delivers Divco: egg packaging , containers of orange juice , a pack of " butter " - he swore that the only one that got him in the entourage of more than four thousands of dollars. It is possible that this amount is not exaggerated at all - cranks extant specimens of old milk bottles and old oil wrappers , in any case much less than the weirdos who collect vintage commercials vans . Both, of course , very little in the world, because they adorn the world and they are few - or they did not decorate it, and clutter - but the car is still not as quickly discarded after use as wrappers yes upakovkiiz pod food , you see, so some will survive in an abandoned barn or in the backyard.

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In 1957 Divco formed a single group with another supplier of cars 'commercial' t use , by Wayne, - acquiring all of its assets . Newly formed association has incorporated a number of companies producing car bodies and complete cars highly specialized purpose - including the company Meteor, AJMiller and Cotner-Bevington ( former Comet), which have been the subject of hearses machine "first aid" and other " commercial "variations on the elongated passenger chassis of different brands . Subsequently, the company spun off from Divco this concern and tried to continue their activities autonomously , but it was enough for a short time - only until 1986. However, and concern itself only survived her by six years: it eliminated in ninety-two .