NAPOLEON TRUCK

Napoleon Motors Co. (1919-1923)
Traverse City, Michigan

This is a Napoleon truck radiator emblem (c1920)  dkc
Size: 260mm wide 50mm high

The Napoleon began in 1916 as the Napoleon Motor Car Company in Napoleon, Ohio but, after an offer of $75,000 in working capital and a factory with free rent for three years, the company moved its passenger car manufacturing business to Traverse City, Michigan in 1917 named as the Traverse City Motor Car Company.

 In the summer of 1917, the Reya Motor Company was organized in Napoleon, Ohio to take over the truck building business of the Napoleon Motor Car Company (see Reya) and Reya trucks continued into 1918.

In the summer of 1918, the Traverse City Motor Car Company was reorganized as the Napoleon Motors Company with plans to build commercial vehicles as well as passenger cars in Traverse City. The first 1-ton and 1-1/2-ton capacity Napoleon trucks powered by four-cylinder engines appeared in early 1919 and were little changed over the life of the Napoleon truck. The Napoleon truck business was so successful that, by the end of 1919, the company announced that trucks would henceforth be their only product.

The Napoleon truck plant in Traverse City was expanded as orders for new trucks grew. By 1920, the Napoleon truck business was booming both at home and overseas with the entire year's planned output reported as already sold by January 1920. A lightweight 3/4-ton to 1-ton capacity Napoleon Speed-Wagon was introduced in October 1920 and 1921 started positively with production expected to increase further. However, by mid-1921, the post war recession had struck and, combined with an abundance of trucks on the market after the war, money began to run out and the company was in serious trouble. The company was in receivership by September 1922 and the Traverse City factory was sold in late 1923.

Emblems

The Napoleon trucks had a heavily ribbed, cast radiator tank top with the "NAPOLEON" name sometimes cast into the radiator tank top but more often displayed on a cast metal emblem mounted on the front of the cast radiator tank top, see examples shown below:

Napoleon truck on display in Amsterdam with cast in radiator emblem (c1920)   wiki

Napoleon truck with cast in rad emblem & body side nameplate (1919) hagerty

Close up showing cast in radiator emblem (1919)  hagerty

There are several Napoleon truck advertisements from 1919 and 1920 with illustrations or photos of Napoleon trucks showing the radiator and a separate emblem, see example shown below:

Napoleon truck ad (1920)  americanikons

Detail showing separate cast radiator emblem (1920) 

The following original photo from 1920 of a Napoleon Speed-Wagon also appears to show a separate cast radiator emblem:

Napoleon Speed-Wagon (1920)    wheelswaterengines

The following photo shows an original Napoleon truck radiator with a separate painted cast "NAPOLEON" emblem:

Napoleon radiator & emblem (c1920)  dkc

This is the Napoleon truck radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. Original Napoleon truck radiator emblems are very rare.

This is a Napoleon truck radiator emblem (c1920)   dkc
Size: 260mm wide 50mm high

Emblem collectors should beware as there are reproduction Napoleon radiator emblems.

Interestingly, the following Napoleon trucks advertisement includes a photo of a 1-ton Napoleon chassis, which shows a radiator with no radiator emblem. Possibly this was a photo of an early chassis built before production of the Napoleon truck commenced but used by AMCO for this advertisement:

Napoleon truck ad with truck chassis (1920) hagerty

Napoleon one-ton chassis without a radiator emblem (date uncertain)

Several Napoleon truck advertisements, such as the ad shown above, include a Napoleon trademark or logo, see example below:

Napoleon Motors Trademark (c1920)  moroz

However, I can find no evidence that this Napoleon Motors trademark was ever used as an emblem on Napoleon motor trucks.

Napoleon truck photos and illustrations mostly do not show any body or hood side nameplates, see example shown below:

Napoleon truck without side nameplates (c1919-1920)  ebay

However, the following photo of a Napoleon truck does show a Napoleon nameplate mounted on the door to the driver's cab:

Napoleon truck showing body side nameplate (c1920) worthpoint

A similar Napoleon truck nameplate is seen mounted on the body side near the driver's seat on the restored surviving Napoleon truck shown earlier above. Original Napoleon body side nameplates are very rare.