EAGLE TRUCK

Eagle Motor Truck Corp. (1920-1930)

St. Louis, Missouri

This is an Eagle truck hood side emblem (c1928)     cbc
Size: 308mm wide 80mm high

Joseph P. Reis had set up the Reis Auto Repair Company in St Louis in 1914 and saw an opportunity to enter the truck manufacturing business. He established the Eagle Motor Truck Corporation in 1919 and production of the Eagle began in 1920.

The Eagle was a conventional assembled truck built in limited numbers in sizes ranging from 1-1/2-ton to 5-tons capacity. Eagle trucks were powered by Buda engines, except for the last year of production in 1930 when a variety of engines were offered.

The first Eagle truck sold in 1920 was a 2-ton capacity model, which continued in production throughout the life of the Eagle truck. A 3-ton model was introduced in 1925 and a 5-ton model appeared in 1928. The Eagle was also sold overseas and a surge in new truck orders led Eagle to plan for a new and larger manufacturing plant. However, this plan did not proceed and, along with many other small sized truck manufacturers, Eagle suffered in the Depression and production ceased in 1930.

Emblems

All Eagle trucks seem to carry a distinctive bronze open winged eagle mascot mounted on the radiator cap, see original period photos and illustrations shown later below.

The Eagle 2-ton delivery truck shown below appears to be a light-duty model, as it has a conventional, probably plated brass radiator shell. The Eagle radiator emblem appears to be a large, rectangular metal nameplate.

Eagle 2-ton Delivery Truck (date uncertain)   oldcarsweekly

Close up showing Eagle truck radiator emblem & mascot

If you have better details of this Eagle radiator emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post. An original Eagle truck radiator emblem of this design would be extremely rare.

Most other original period photos and illustrations of Eagle trucks that I have seen show heavy duty truck models using cast iron radiators with ribbed radiator tank tops. 

The following original Eagle 2-ton capacity Model 100 truck brochure cover illustration and factory illustration show a small "Eagle" emblem possibly cast into the radiator tank top:

Eagle Model 100 truck brochure cover  cbc

Factory illustration of Eagle Model 100 radiator cbc

The 2-ton Model 100 and 1-ton to 1-1/2-ton capacity Model 101 Eagle trucks also displayed the "Eagle" name on a plain rectangular hood side nameplate, see factory illustration shown below. Original Eagle hood side nameplates with this design would be extremely rare:

Factory illustration of Eagle Model 100 truck showing hood side nameplate cbc

If you have a photo and details of this rectangular "Eagle" hood side nameplate, please let me know, in order to update this post.

The following photo shows the radiator of what is described as a "first generation" 3-ton Eagle truck  chassis. The radiator emblem appears to be either embossed into or soldered onto the cast iron radiator tank top. If this is a separate "Eagle" radiator emblem it would be extremely rare. 

Eagle 3-ton truck radiator showing radiator emblem and mascot (c1925)    oldcarsweekly

The following original period photo shows a line of Eagle Model 90 "Contractor's Special" dump trucks, which carry a large painted radiator emblem similar in size to the emblem shown above together with hood side nameplates displaying the open winged eagle motive used on the radiator mascot:

Eagle Model 90 2-ton "Contractor's Special" dump trucks 

These trucks also display the "Eagle" name on body side nameplates just below the floor of the driver's cab, see close up shown below:

Close up showing body side nameplates

The eagle hood side name plate can be more clearly seen on the following original period photo of an Eagle Model 105 3-ton garage service truck operated by the Reis Auto Repair Company:

Eagle Model 105 3-ton garage service truck (c1925)  oldcarsweekly

Close up showing eagle hood side nameplate

The same hood side nameplate is seen on the following factory illustration of the hood side of a Model 104 Eagle truck offered in 2-1/2-tons and 3-tons capacity sizes:

Eagle Model 104 Truck showing hood side nameplate (c1925)  cbc

This is the painted cast aluminum Eagle hood side nameplate shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Eagle hood side nameplate is extremely rare.

This is an Eagle hood side nameplate (c1925-1930)  cbc
Size: 308mm wide 80mm high

The rather crudely made Eagle truck hood side emblem shown above is in contrast to the more finely detailed, bronze Eagle Motor Truck maker's/serial plate, see example below. This Eagle truck plate is extremely rare.

This is an Eagle truck maker's/serial plate (c1920)    mjs
Size; 89mm wide 50mm high