WILCOX

H. E. Wilcox Motor Car Co. (1909-unknown)
H. E. Wilcox Motor Co. (unknown-1920)
Wilcox Trux, Inc. (1921-1927)
Minneapolis, Minnesota

This is a Wilcox Trux nameplate (late 1920s)   lktec
Size: 493mm wide 78mm high

The H. E. Wilcox Motor Car Company was established in Minneapolis in late 1906 by the brothers H. E. and John F. Wilcox and Maurice Wolfe initially to produce the four-cylinder Wolfe motor car. In 1909 the name of the car was changed to Wilcox. 

The Wilcox was a 30/40 hp four-cylinder water-cooled motor car offered in touring, tonneau and roadster body styles in 1909 and 1910 and was advertised as "The Only Real Automobile with a 16-inch Clearance". Wilcox also produced some motor trucks and by the end of 1910, after building 306 motor cars, Wilcox production was turned over to motor trucks only. The Wilcox truck logo was "Wilcox-Trux".

In 1910, Wilcox commercial vehicles included 1-ton, 1-1/2-ton and 3-ton capacity trucks, a 15-passenger bus and a hotel bus. The larger capacity trucks were cab-over-engine models. By 1918, the Wilcox truck range had increased to six models, from 3/4-ton to 5-tons capacity. 

From 1922, Wilcox also produced purpose-built bus chassis. Wilcox buses had Eckland bodies for up to 29-passengers and were powered by six-cylinder engines. Motor truck production continued but buses became the main part of Wilcox production and in March 1927 the Wilcox business was sold to Motor Transit Corporation, a holding company for bus lines operated under the Greyhound name. These buses became known as Will buses.

Emblems

There are very few original period photos of Wilcox passenger cars clearly showing the radiator and non appear to show an emblem. However, it is possible that some 1909-1910 Wicox motor cars did display the Wilcox name using a brass radiator script but I cannot confirm this. 

Most original period photos of Wilcox trucks showing the radiator also do not display a radiator emblem or radiator script, see examples shown below from a 1910 Wilcox catalog:

Wilcox Model I one-ton truck (1910) 
minnesota digital library 

Wilcox Model H one & half-ton truck (1910)
minnesota digital library

(Note that what might seem to be a radiator emblem at the top of the radiator on the Wolcox Model H truck shown above is,in fact, the radiator filler cap).

All Wilcox automobiles and trucks would have displayed the Wilcox name on small nameplates or serial plates attached to the body, see example below with maker's nameplate shown attached to the body by the driver's cab:

Wilcox Model I one-ton truck showing body side nameplate (1910)
minnesota digital library

Some early Wilcox trucks did display the "Wilcox" name using a small brass script mounted on the radiator core, see example below of a 1910 Wilcox Model G 3-ton truck with a "Wilcox" radiator script, although the detailed design is unclear:

Wilcox Model G 3-ton truck (1910) 
minnesota digital library

Wilcox Model G 3-ton truck with radiator script (1910)

The vehicles illustrated above are taken from a Wilcox catalog for 1910 models, which were presumably built in late 1909 before the decision to concentrate production on commercial vehicles only and, although the detailed design of the radiator script on the Wilcox Model G truck is unclear, it appears to be the "Wilcox" name rather than the "Wilcox-Trux" logo that was introduced in 1910, see the Wilcox truck advertisement below:

Wilcox truck ad with the Wilcox-Trux logo (1910) 
everybody's magazine

It is reasonable to assume that any radiator scripts, emblems and nameplates used from 1910 used the "Wilcox-Trux" logo design, although most original period photos or illustrations of Wilcox trucks even after 1910 do not show any emblems or nameplates. However, the Wilcox truck illustration shown below from a 1911 Wilcox truck advertisement is an exception in that is shows the "Wilcox" name rather than the "Wilcox-Trux" logo on a roof panel over the driver's cab. 

Wilcox truck ad with roof nameplate (1911)
worthpoint

Detail showing roof nameplate (1911)

The earliest original period photo I can find showing the "Wilcox-Trux" logo is the following photo of a 1913 Wilcox 2-ton truck, which has the "Wilcox-Trux" logo on a front bumper nameplate. The same nameplate may have been displayed at the rear of the truck.

Wilcox-Trux 2-ton truck with bumper nameplate (1913)
Society of Automotive Historians in Britain

The following restored 1916 Wilcox Model R truck displays the "Wilcox-Trux" logo on body side nameplates mounted on the sides of the driver's cab, on the front bumper and at the rear of the truck:

Wilcox Model R with side and bumper nameplates (1916) barnfinds

Wilcox Model R showing rear nameplate (1916) barnfinds

The "Wilcox-Trux" logo is also seen on the foot rest panel in the driver's cab, see below:

Detail showing foot rest logo (1916)  barnfinds

The following blue print drawing of a 1920 Wilcox Model W 5-ton truck also shows the driver's foot rest logo:

Wilcox Model W truck drawing showing foot rest logo (1920)  fandom

The following heavy duty Wilcox truck chassis from 1919 has a ribbed, probably cast iron radiator with a "Wilcox-Trux" radiator emblem:

Heavy duty Wilcox truck chassis with rad emblem (1919)  hatm

The following poor quality photo show a 1922 Wilcox 29-passenger bus, which had a cast aluminum radiator and an emblem on the radiator tank top, which is likely also to be a "Wilcox-Trux" radiator emblem, although the design detail cannot be seen in this photo:

Wilcox bus showing radiator emblem (1922) 
motor bus society philadelphia

The restored Wilcox-Trux Model H6 1-1/2-ton truck shown below has a heavy brass radiator, which carries a cast brass "Wilcox-Trux" radiator emblem. The same emblem is mounted on the hood sides and there is a painted cast metal "Wilcox-Trux" nameplate at the rear of the truck.

Wilcox Md HS 1-1/2-ton truck with rad & hood side emblems (1925) 
thevaultms

Wilcox-Trux Model H6 truck radiator (1925)  thevaultms

This is a Wilcox truck radiator emblem (1925)  thevaultms
Size: Unknown   MM: Unknown

This cast brass Wilcox radiator emblem is extremely rare.

Wilcox-Trux Model H6 rear nameplate (1925)  thevaultms

Wilcox-Trux Model H6 maker's nameplate (1925)  thevaultms

The painted metal Wilcox-Trux nameplate shown above at the top of this post and again below is believed to be a body side or rear mounted nameplate from the late 1920s and is very rare:

This is a Wilcox-Trux nameplate (late 1920s)   lktec
Size: 493mm wide 78mm high