PARKER

Parker Motor Truck Co. (1918-1924)
Parker Truck Co., Inc. (1924-c1933)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This is a Parker truck emblem (1918-1933)    mjs
Size: 254mm wide 51mm high

The Parker was an assembled conventional truck, initially made in 2-ton, 3-1/2-ton and 5-ton capacity sizes. The Parker truck, it was claimed, used passenger car track dimensions to allow the truck to follow the ruts of a country road. The Parker truck used solid rubber tires as standard but pneumatic tires were optional.

The Parker truck survived the postwar recession but, in 1924, a new ownership changed the company name to the Parker Truck Company. A 1-ton capacity model was introduced and the 5-ton capacity truck model was discontinued. After 1924, only 1-ton to 3-1/2-ton capacity trucks were offered, as the company gradually faded away. Parker trucks appear to have ceased production altogether by 1933.

Emblem

The following photo shows an early Parker 3-1/2-ton chassis with a heavy ribbed radiator, which carries a painted metal radiator emblem:

Parker 3-1/2-ton truck chassis with the radiator emblem (1919) mroz

Parker truck advertisements for 1920 show a heavy duty Parker truck model with a more steeply pointed ribbed radiator tank top with no emblem displayed but the advertisement does include a "Parker Trucks" logo, see example shown below:

Parker truck ad showing logo (1920)  ebay

Detail showing radiator & logo (1920)

It is likely that the Parker truck from 1920 did have a radiator emblem possibly cast in the radiator tank top as was common at that time, but I cannot confirm this.

The same 1920 radiator is apparent in the following blue print drawing of a Parker Model J-9 3-1/2-ton truck:

Parker Model J-9 3-1/2-ton truck drawing (c1920)   fandom

This Parker truck engineering drawing shows "Parker" nameplates mounted on the step plates to the driver's cab and a "Parker" hood side nameplate, which appears similar to the painted Parker nameplate shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Parker hood side nameplate is very rare.

This is a Parker nameplate (1918-1933)   mjs
Size: 254mm wide 51mm high