WALTER TRUCK

Walter Auto Truck Manufacturing Co. (1909-1911)
New York, New York
Walter Motor Truck Co.
New York, New York (1911-1923)
Long Island City, New York (1923-1935)
Ridgewood, New York (1935-1957)
Voorheesville, New York (1957-1980)
Walter Equipment Co. (1980-c1982)
Guilderland, New York

This is a Walter truck radiator emblem (c1930-1939)   moroz

William Walter was a successful manufacturer of confectionary-making machinery in New York who built high-quality automobiles called Walter from 1902 to 1909 (see Walter). Walter began to build trucks in 1909 and in 1911 the first four-wheel drive Walter trucks appeared. Four-wheel drive trucks became the main product of the Walter Motor Truck Company and were initially based on the French Latil truck and built in a range of sizes from 1-1/2-ton to 7-ton capacity. Conventional rear wheel drive and front wheel drive Walter trucks were also built.

By the mid-1920's, Walter trucks had developed a characteristic appearance with the engine projecting ahead of the front axle to improve weight distribution. In 1929, the first Walter Snow Fighter snow plow model appeared. Walter also built special highway tractors of 7-ton, 10-ton and 15-ton capacity. In the 1930's, Walter began to build fire trucks. By the end of the 1930's, Walter were making six four-wheel drive models from 3-ton to 12-ton capacity and were using six-cylinder and diesel engines.

During the Second World War, Walter built artillery tractors and snow removal trucks for the military. After the war four-wheel drive truck production continued and Walter also began to make airfield crash tenders, as well as refuse collection trucks and snowplows. From the 1950's Walter concentrated on airport fire engines, including vehicles for export markets in the 1970's.

In 1980 there was a financial crisis for the Walter Motor Truck Company and a new company called Walter Equipment Company was formed as a subsidiary of the Canadian Walter Truck Company and was relocated to Guilderland, New York. Walter continued to produce four-wheel drive trucks, airport fire engines and other special purpose vehicles but the company was eventually bought by the Kovatch organization and Walter production ceased around 1982.

Emblems

The following original photo of a conventional Walter truck from 1911 appears to show some kind of emblem on the upper part of the radiator core but the detail is unclear.

Walter 3-1/2-ton truck (1911)    facebook

The January 4, 1913 edition of Automobile Topics contains an article about the "new" Latil type Walter trucks and includes the following photo of a 2-1/2-ton front drive Walter truck with the "Walter" name displayed on a large nameplate mounted on the side of the truck: 

Walter Latil type 2-1/2-ton truck showing body side nameplate (1913)   automobile topics

There is no evidence of a Walter emblem on the Renault style radiator and hood, and other Walter Latil type photos do not show the body side nameplate either, see example shown below:

Walter Latil type truck (c1914)    facebook

After the First World War, Walter trucks had a conventional hood and radiator, see the following 1921 Walter truck advertisement showing a 5-ton Walter truck chassis with a heavy ribbed radiator with a likely cast in radiator emblem:

Walter truck ad showing radiator & emblem (1921)  justoldtrucks

The following original photo shows a Walter truck from 1925 with the engine ahead of the front axle. The radiator emblem cannot be seen but the "Walter" name is displayed on the side of the driver's cab:

Walter truck with body side nameplate (1925)   forums.aths 

The following photo shows a surviving 1929 Walter Snow Fighter snow plow with a radiator emblem cast into the ribbed radiator tank top and with a large "Walter Snow Fighter" hood side nameplate:

Walter Snow Fighter showing radiator emblem & hood side nameplate (1929)    facebook

 

This is a Walter Snow Fighter hood side nameplate (c1929)  facebook
Size: Unknown

The following original photo shows a 1930 Walter fire engine tractor with an aluminum radiator and cast in radiator emblem and a hood side nameplate:

Walter fire engine tractor showing radiator emblem & hood side nameplate (1930)   jack lerch

The following photo gives a closer view of the aluminum radiator and cast in emblem:

Walter cast in radiator emblem (c1935)  facebook

This is the cast aluminum radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below:

This is a Walter radiator emblem (c1930-1939)  moroz

The following show examples of Walter truck hood side nameplates. These Walter hood side nameplates are rare.

This is a Walter hood side nameplate (c1930)    mjs
Size: 305mm wide 117mm high

This is a Walter hood side nameplate (c1930)    mjs
Size: 390mm wide 142mm high

Some possibly later Walter Snow Fighter models used a separate painted thin metal radiator emblem, see example shown below:

Walter Snow Fighter with separate radiator painted metal emblem (1930s)   facebook

There were also Walter truck models with steel radiator shells, which displayed the "Walter" name on a small Walter nameplate in the same style as the larger hood side nameplates but mounted on the top of the radiator, see close up example shown below:

This shows a Walter rad nameplate (poss 1940s)  ryan e pedone 

This is the black painted metal Walter radiator nameplate shown below. This Walter radiator nameplate is rare.

This is a Walter radiator nameplate (c1940s)    mjs
Size: 153mm wide 51mm high