RELIANCE (1)

Reliance Automobile Manufacturing Co. (1903)
Reliance Motor Car Co. (1904-1908)
Detroit, Michigan

Reliance Motor Truck Co. (1909-1911)

Owosso, Michigan (1909-1912)

Pontiac, Michigan (1912-1914)

Reliance truck nameplate style (1906-1910)   ms

The Reliance Automobile Manufacturing Company was organized in Detroit in late 1903 with the first passenger cars appearing in 1904. The Reliance was a good quality two-cylinder motor car initially powered by a 15 hp engine and offered as a side-entrance tonneau. The company was undercapitalized and was reorganized to become the Reliance Motor Car Company in 1904. In 1906 a commercial was added to the line, and in February 1907 the company announced that it would thereafter build trucks only.

Reliance trucks were offered for freight and passenger uses in a wide range of cab-over models up to 5-ton capacity all using chain drive.

The Reliance Motor Truck Company was acquired by General Motors in 1909, along with the Randolph and Rapid Motor Truck companies (see GMC), and Reliance became the heavy duty model of GMC. Reliance was moved to Owosso in 1909 and continued truck production there until 1912, when production was transferred to Pontiac. The last Reliance units leaving the Owosso plant in 1912 carried the GMC emblem and, although some trucks built in Pontiac still carried the Reliance name in 1913, heavy duty trucks were called GMC-Reliance trucks using GMC emblems. In the fall of 1914, the Reliance Cab-Over model and the "Reliance" name were dropped completely. 

Emblems

The Reliance Motor Car Company logo is seen on the cover of the 1905 Reliance brochure:

Reliance brochure cover showing logo (1905)  shiawasseehistory 

The Reliance passenger car did not carry a radiator emblem but would have displayed the "Reliance" name on a small maker's nameplate/serial plate attached to the rear of the car or under the driver's seat. 

The following original period photo of a Reliance car displays a "Reliance Detroit" side nameplate but this appears to have been made especially for the photo:

Reliance passenger car showing temporary side nameplate (1906)   dpl

The first Reliance trucks also appear not to have carried a radiator emblem, see original 1906 Reliance truck photo shown below:

Reliance truck ad showing no radiator or body side nameplates (1906)  shiawasseehistory

Whereas, other original period photos of Reliance trucks did display the Reliance name on the body sides by the driver's seat and/or on the main chassis frame member, see rather poor quality original period photos shown below. These Reliance nameplates may have been painted using stencils or by using decals.

Reliance truck showing "Reliance Detroit" chassis frame member nameplate (1906)    shiawasseehistory 

Reliance truck showing "Reliance" body side nameplate (1907)   shiawassseehistory

These "Reliance" nameplates sometimes display "Reliance Detroit", as shown in the Reliance company logo shown earlier, and sometimes simply "Reliance" only in the same style as the company logo. The precise location and style of these Reliance nameplates seen on original period photos appears somewhat arbitrary, as noted in the photos shown above and below. 

The following original Reliance truck photo used in a 1908 Reliance truck advertisement shows no Reliance nameplates on the radiator or the body sides:

Reliance truck advertisement showing no Reliance nameplates (1908)   eBay

However, the following photo of a Reliance truck from a 1908 Reliance catalog displays a "Reliance Detroit" body side nameplate:

Reliance truck showing body side nameplate (1908)    shiawasseehistory

Other Reliance truck photos in a later 1908 catalog also show nameplates inscribed "Reliance Detroit" on the top of the radiator and on the body side:

Reliance Model C truck showing radiator emblem (1908)
shiawasseehistory

Reliance Model K truck with body side nameplate (1908)
shiawasseehistory

However, the following original photo of a Reliance Model G3 2-ton truck, labelled 1908, shows "Reliance" only nameplates at the bottom of the radiator and in a different location on the body side by the driver's seat. It is not clear if the radiator nameplate is a decal or impressed in the radiator shell.

Reliance Model G3 2-ton truck showing radiator and body side nameplates (1908)   khc

The following original photo showing a Reliance truck built in Owosso displays the "Reliance" only nameplates on the body side and on the main chassis frame:

Reliance truck built in Owosso showing body side and frame nameplates (c1909)   

However, the following original photo of a Reliance truck dated 1910 still displays the "Reliance Detroit" nameplate but has no radiator mounted nameplate:

Reliance truck with body side "Reliance Detroit" nameplate (1910)
shiawasseehistory

Close up showing body side nameplate

I can find no original period photos of Reliance trucks after 1910 with the "Reliance Detroit" nameplate.

The following original photo of a 1911 Reliance coal dump truck displays a "Reliance" only body side nameplate:

Reliance coal dump truck showing body side nameplate (1911)     shiawasseehistory

It seems reasonable to expect "Reliance Detroit" nameplates to have been used before the move to Owosso and the "Reliance" only nameplates to be used thereafter. A possible explanation may be that the nameplates were indeed decals and there was a surplus of "Reliance Detroit" decals, which continued to be used after the move to Owosso. 

The following illustration from 1912 shows the standard Reliance truck chassis displaying GMC emblems on the body side and main chassis frame member:

GMC-Reliance standard truck chassis (1912)   shiawasseehistory

The surviving 1910 Reliance truck shown below displays the "Reliance" name cast in the bottom radiator frame in a completely different style but this truck has been restored and the nameplate may not be original :

Reliance truck radiator nameplate (1910)  trombinoscar