COLLIER

Collier Motor Truck Co.
Painesville, Ohio (1916-1917)
Sandusky, Ohio (1917)
Bellevue, Ohio (1918-1922)

This is a Collier heavy duty truck radiator emblem (1920)  hatm

The Collier truck was designed by William H. Collier, who had previously designed the Marathon motor car. The Collier Motor Truck Company was established in 1916 with a sales office in Cleveland, Ohio but the manufacturing plant was initially located in Painesville, Ohio. 

Most American truck references report that the first Collier trucks were 1/2-ton capacity units based on a standard passenger car design, although a Collier 3/4-ton Light Delivery truck advertisement in 1917 says "It is ALL Truck" and "It is not a cross between a touring car and a truck" and another Collier truck advertisement in 1918 makes a point of declaring that it was "not a pleasure car chassis with a freight body but a genuine truck through and through". I can find no evidence of a half ton Collier truck but early Collier trucks were certainly light weight. The Commercial Vehicle magazine announced in January 1917, that the four-cylinder 3/4-ton capacity Collier truck introduced in 1916 would be continued in 1917. 

The Collier moved from Painesville and spent several months in Sandusky before moving to a new plant in Bellevue, Ohio in 1918, when it was announced that the 3/4-ton Collier truck could be had with any of three body styles. In  March 1919, a 1-1/4-ton capacity Collier speed truck was announced and by 1920, Collier offered 1-ton, 1-1/2-ton and 2-ton capacity trucks. The Collier suffered problems in the post First World War recession and by March 1922, the Collier range had been reduced to a 3/4-ton to 1-1/2-ton capacity speed truck. 

The Collier Motor Truck Company was in receivership by July 1922 and the Krebs Motor Truck Company announced that it was to take over production of the Collier but the truck was renamed the Krebs.

Emblems

I can find no photos clearly showing the front of the radiator of the Collier 3/4-ton Light Delivery truck and there appear to be no surviving examples. However, Collier truck articles and advertisements include photos and illustrations of the 3/4-ton truck, which indicate that these trucks had conventional radiators with sheet metal shells, see Collier 1500 lb truck photo from a Commercial Vehicle magazine article shown below.

Collier 1500 lb truck showing conventional radiator (1916) tcv

The conventional radiator is also seen in the following Collier 3/4-ton truck advertisement shown below:

Collier 3/4-ton truck ad (1918)   newspapers

It is possible that the "Collier" name was stamped into the radiator top of early light duty Collier trucks but I cannot confirm this. 

However, the 1918 Collier truck advertisement shown above includes what appears to be a "Collier" trucks logo and, although it is far from clear, the following illustration, from an advertisement for Collier 1-1/4-ton and 1-1/2-ton trucks, seems to show this "Collier" logo on the front of the radiator tank top:

Collier truck ad illustration showing possible Collins logo radiator emblem (c1919)    bwc

From about 1919, heavier duty Collier trucks had a cast iron radiator with a ribbed radiator tank top with the "Collier" name cast into the top of the radiator, see original Collier truck photo shown below:

Collier truck showing rad & emblem (1919)  bwc

This cast in "Collier" radiator emblem is seen more clearly on the following two surviving Collier 2-ton models:

Collier 2-ton truck radiator (1919)  bwc

Collier 2-ton truck showing radiator (1920)    hatm

The Collier heavy duty truck cast-in radiator emblem is shown more clearly above at the top of this post and again below:

Collier heavy duty truck radiator emblem (1920)   hatm

The "Collier" logo style name was displayed on cast iron Collier nameplates mounted on the sides of the main chassis frame members on these heavy duty Collier trucks. The surviving 1919 Collier 2-ton truck shown earlier above still retained damaged cast iron nameplates, see photo below:

Collier 2-ton truck chassis side nameplate (1919)  bwc

The following reproduction Collier chassis side nameplate was copied from the original, damaged cast iron nameplates from 1919 shown above:

Reproduction Collier chassis side nameplate (c1919-1922)  bwc

A photo of the final Collier speed truck appearing in a Commercial Car Journal article in March 1922, shows the same cast iron ribbed top radiator shown earlier but with a different cast radiator emblem. The photo is not very clear but the radiator emblem appears to be similar to the "Collier" trucks logo shown earlier and the truck is also seen to carry the "Collier" logo style chassis side nameplate shown above, see below:

Collier Speed truck article (1922) ccj

Collier Speed Truck showing radiator emblem & chassis side nameplate (1922)    ccj

Collier Speed Truck radiator showing emblem (1922)  moroz