DENBY

Denby Motor Truck Co. (1913-1923)
Denby Motor Truck Corp. (1923-1930)
Detroit, Michigan 

This is a Denby nameplate (dates uncertain)     mjs
Size: 263mm wide 70mm high

The Denby Motor Truck Company began truck production in 1913 for the 1914 model year and achieved some success following World War I. However, the Denby Motor Truck Company did not capitalize on its early success and remained a small truck company, which was unable to survive the Depression.

The Denby was a conventional assembled truck. Initially, Denby trucks were offered in the 3/4-ton to 2-ton capacity range. The 3/4-ton model had a low express body and solid rubber tires on wooden spoke wheels. Panel body, lighting system and pneumatic tires were available at extra cost. A 3-ton and a 7-ton model were also offered from 1918 to 1922 and a 30-passenger bus chassis was made from 1926 to 1930. Later Denby truck models featured disc wheels. 

Emblems

There are very few original period photos of early Denby trucks clearly showing the radiator and even fewer surviving Denby trucks, which in any event, may not show the original emblems. This makes a confirmed analysis of Denby emblems rather difficult.

The following 1913 advertisement showing a Denby truck for the 1914 model year does not show a radiator emblem:

Denby truck ad (1913)    ebay

Of particular interest in this advertisement, however, is the Denby trademark shown in the corners of the advertisement. This Denby trademark was filed in October 1914 with first use claimed in July 1913, so it may have been used as a nameplate or as the radiator emblem on at least some early Denby trucks, see detail shown below:

Possible Denby nameplate/radiator emblem (c1913-c1917) 
Size: Unknown

If an original Denby truck radiator emblem could be found with this design, it would be extremely rare.

This emblem design is also seen in the following detail from a 1916 Denby truck advertisement:

Detail showing Denby truck & emblem design (1916)  ebay

The following detail from another 1916 Denby truck advertisement shows a photo of a Denby truck and confirms the existence of a radiator emblem, although the detailed design is unclear:

Denby truck ad showing rad emblem (1916)  ebay

However, the following Denby truck advertisement from 1919 shows a Denby truck with a radiator emblem and a body side nameplate mounted on a panel below the driver's seat both using the Denby trademark design:

Denby truck advertisement (1919)   atj

Denby truck showing rad emblem & body side nameplate (1919) 

The following illustration taken from another 1919 Denby truck advertisement clearly shows that the body side nameplate has the same design as the trademark shown earlier:

Denby truck showing body side nameplate with trademark design (1919)   americanicons

1919 was clearly a busy year for Denby in marketing their trucks, the following advertisement shows a heavy duty Denby logging truck with the "DENBY" name cast into the top of the radiator:

Denby adv (1919) ebay

Detail showing Denby radiator emblem

The following original photo from about 1922, shows a heavy duty Denby truck with a cast iron radiator and what appears to be a cast-in metal radiator emblem and a flat rectangular, probably painted brass Denby name plate can just be seen mounted on the main chassis side frame just under the driver's cab:

Denby truck showing radiator emblem and chassis frame nameplate (c1922)   lktec

Close up showing the radiator emblem (c1922)

The same cast in Denby radiator emblem and chassis frame nameplate is seen on the following illustration of a Denby Model 41 truck chassis taken from a 1925 Denby truck advertisement:

Denby Model 41 truck showing the radiator emblem (1925)   tad burness

The cast in Denby radiator emblem is seen on the surviving Denby radiator shown below:

Denby radiator and cast in emblem (c1922-1928)  brc

The following surviving Denby truck photo shows a Denby nameplate mounted on the top of the radiator:

Denby truck (1920)   aumannauctions

Close up showing the radiator emblem(1920) 

This Denby radiator emblem appears to be a painted brass nameplate. This may be a Denby body side or chassis frame nameplate wrongly attached to the radiator at the time of restoration, although I cannot confirm this. 

The Denby nameplate shown above at the top of this post and again below is similar to the nameplate shown above, although it has the color area reversed. This Denby nameplate is rare.

This is a Denby nameplate (dates uncertain)    mjs
Size:  263mm wide 70mm high

The following is another surviving Denby truck on display at the Clio Transport Museum. This Denby truck carries an unusual radiator emblem in the form of a cast "DENBY" plate, which may have been specially made for the truck during restoration but I cannot confirm this. 

This is a Denby truck (c1919)    clio museum

Close up showing the radiator emblem 

If you have further or better details of any Denby truck emblems or nameplates, please let me know, in order to update this post.