TRUCKS FROM THEN UNTIL NOW

I’ve said before, my driving an 18-wheeler was totally accidental. Becoming a truck driver was never anything I considered a potential career when I graduated from high school in 1962. But, at the tender age of 45, I did earn my Class A and here I am. I drove for 15-years beginning with meet and turn, moving to 7-western states, and finally cross-country. Because, I am a curious person, once I start down a road, ‘why’ seems to pop up often and I ask questions. I am fascinated by people with the capacity to improve on things like the trucks I drove. I qualified for my Class A CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) in September of 1990. The following pictures are a peek at some of the facts concerning the major changes made in trucks over the years. Beginning in 1915 to present day.

One of the most interesting early trucks I saw at an antique truck show was the Fagoel, founded by four brothers Rollie, William, Frank, and Claude Fagoel. There’s a great deal more info about this vehicle than I’ve noted here. The Fagoel shown is a 1927. The original company was taken over by Peterbilt in 1923. As you can see, functionality was more important than comfort, which didn’t seem to be high on the list.

These next two trucks are Kenworth’s separated by 75-years, actually more than that because the source for the picture was 1997 or thereabouts. This post is being written in July 2020 and the newer of these trucks looks much the same. A bit of math makes the older truck a 1922 Kenworth. And, as you can see, other than size and appearance there is a big difference in the vehicles. There have been huge improvements between these two Kenworths. Certainly, the 1922 Kenworth  wasn’t equipped with power-steering or air ride suspension and the gear shift for it was most likely a two-stick. (don’t ask, the best I can say is that’s called a Browning and I’ve never driven one. I’ll try to explain in a later blog) I tip my hat to Lillian Drennan, the first woman to hold a Commercial license in 1929. And, the handful of other women who drove a truck for a living before 1990 when I qualified for my CDL. I say this because most women I spoke with thought the task more daunting than it was. Yes, it’s a very big vehicle, currently, about 72 feet nose to toes, and weighs, on the average with a fully loaded trailer, 80,000 lbs. but I had power brakes and steering, air ride suspension, and air ride seats. All of this made driving a modern truck infinitely easier than any of the earlier trucks.

Here’s another old-timer, a chain driven Mack. When I first began training, the other drivers told me about driving a chain driven truck and how they could walk up the hill next to them because they went so slow. They also tried to explain how difficult it was to fix a broken chain. I still don’t know if the first statement is true or not, but I can’t imagine fixing what is essentially, a very large bike chain, by the side of a road. Anyhow, the pictures show what a chain-driven truck actually looks like.

The first ‘big rig’ I drove in 1990, was a late 80s freightliner day cab, not the black one below. Although those trucks (the day cab ones) sometimes didn’t have power steering, that’s the most difficult thing I dealt with. These trucks from the teens and twenties offered many more challenges, not the least of which is a smooth ride.

The picture below is my truck and shows the huge difference in what I drove and what those old-timers had to drive. My truck had all the bells and whistles. A double bunk and space for a refrigerator and microwave, as well as a small TV. It also had a standup sleeper, which is exactly what it sounds like. That’s a huge upgrade from the trucks where you had to squeeze between the seats and crouch to get back into the sleeper. At no point was an average sized driver able to fully stand up.