The first trucks, or 'Delivery Cars,' were a flop
But they answered a need for a car that could haul cargo
This last week I was researching what kinds of cars would have been on the streets of El Paso in 1906 for my new novel about cowgirl spies, and I discovered the history of cargo-hauling vehicles. I found the Delivery Car, which may have been as radical in its time as the Cybertruck is today.
The first Merchandise Delivery car was electric. It was manufactured by the Waverley Company, which produced electric cars in Indianapolis from 1898 to 1916. The company’s delivery car looked a lot like their passenger cars: a box on wheels.
The Merchandise Delivery car was described as “very powerful and entirely practical. It could travel at a speed from eight to 12 miles per hour” and could “do the work of three horses.” It sold for $1,600.
Next came Henry Ford’s first attempt at manufacturing a delivery car. His first company, the Detroit Automobile Company, produced a delivery truck in January of 1900. It looked a lot like the Waverly vehicle. Ford’s truck was heavy, hard to handle, difficult to manufacture, and ultimately unreliable. And, it was expensive. It was a flop, and after producing only 20 vehicles the Detroit Automobile Company dissolved.
After a number of setbacks, Ford and 12 investors incorporated the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903. The company began manufacturing cars with alphabetic names, starting with the Model A in 1903, through the Model S, which was Ford’s last right-hand steering model in 1907, to the Model T which was introduced in 1908. By 1920, just 17 years after the company was founded, production exceeded one million cars a year.
But what car would have been on the road in the southwest in 1906?
First I came across the Model E (Delivery Car). This car was based on the Model C chassis, and it was described as a “Delivery Car.” Fewer than a dozen were built. It didn’t last long; the first sale was on March 4, 1905, and the last sale was November 4, 1905. So seeing one of them on the street in El Paso in 1906 would have been highly unlikely.
Then there was the Model C Delivery Car, based on the longer-lasting Model C passenger car. The first customers took delivery of the Model C Delivery Car in March of 1906. The Model C Delivery Car was advertised as having a 1,000-pound payload and a maximum speed of about 20 miles per hour.
This was the car that I ultimately decided would play a part in my book, even though it also had a very short history. Its price tag of $950 was pretty steep back then, and not many were built before production ceased. But since I’m writing fiction, I decided that one of these new-fangled Delivery Cars could have been plying the streets of El Paso in 1906.
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Cowboy/Cowgirl Lingo of the Day:
Droger – Lumber droger, cotton droger, etc. A vessel built solely for burden, for transporting cotton, lumber, and other heavy articles.