WITT-WILL

W. W. Griffith Co. (1911-1914) 
Witt-Will Co., Inc. (1914-1931)
Washington DC

Witt-Will heavy duty radiator tank top & emblem (c1920) moroz

W. W. Griffith had a coal and ice sales business based in Washington DC and decided to start an automobile and truck manufacturing business. There is no evidence that any automobiles were made, but in August 1911, a three-ton capacity motor truck was built and tested in heavy duty service, presumably for the W. W. Griffith company. This trial was so successful that a five-ton capacity model was also built and put into service. It was then decided to establish the Witt-Will Company for the manufacture of Witt-Will motor trucks. The first four thousand square feet sized truck manufacturing plant was constructed by May 1912 and motor truck production began. The Witt-Will was a conventional assembled truck using Continental engines, Brown-Lipe transmissions and Timken worm or bevel axles. 

The business was formalized in 1914, by when the business was reported to be producing five completed motor trucks each month with a size range from one-ton capacity upward. The company also maintained a service department and a complete repair shop together with a body building and paint shop. 

By 1924, the Witt-Will plant occupied about 27,000 square feet and was manufacturing motor trucks of 1.5-ton, 2-ton, 2.5-ton. 3-ton and 5-ton capacity. Witt-Will trucks were mostly built for federal agencies and local companies in and around Washington DC but sales now extended into New York and included a special refrigerated body for the ice-cream business. 

As with many other small sized truck manufacturing companies, the Witt-Will was hit by the Depression and production ended in 1931.

Emblems

There are few confirmed original period photos of Witt-Will trucks clearly showing the radiator and emblem.

The following illustration, possibly from a newspaper article, is reported to show a 1914 Model E-13 open panel Witt-Will truck:

Witt-Will Model E-13 open panel truck (1914)  tad burness

This illustration appears to show a small emblem on the front of the dash panel but the detail is unclear.

The following original photo shows a c1915 Witt-Will truck with a conventional light duty radiator outside the Witt-Will service garage:

Witt-Will truck at the Witt-Will service garage facility (c1915)     shorpy

The radiator carries what appears to be a "WITT-WILL TRUCK" emblem, see close up view below:

Close up showing "WITT_WILL" radiator emblem (c1915)

The following original photo dated c1920 shows a heavy duty Witt-Will truck with a "WITT-WILL" emblem cast into the radiator tank top:

Witt-Will heavy duty truck (c1920)  national photo co

The cast in Witt-Will radiator emblem is more clearly seen in the following close up photo of the radiator:

Close up showing Witt-Will radiator & emblem (c1920) moroz

Interestingly, the following illustration shows a Witt-Will truck dated as c1921. This Witt-Will has a ribbed radiator tank top suggesting medium to heavy duty service and carries a shield shaped radiator emblem, possibly cast into the radiator tank top, although the detailed design is unclear.

Witt-Will truck showing radiator emblem (c1921)  tad burness

The following original photo, dated c1928, is labelled as a Witt-Will truck. The truck carries a conventional radiator and carries a shield shaped radiator emblem with a quite different design compared with the c1921 radiator emblem shown above.

Witt-Will truck showing radiator emblem (c1928)      shorpy

Witt-Will radiator and emblem (c1928)   moroz

  

Close-up showing Witt-Will radiator emblem (c1928) 

If you have any further details or photos of Witt-Will truck radiator emblems or hood side nameplates, please let me know, in order to update this post.

The Witt-Will name was also displayed on the truck serial plate, see example below:

This is a Witt-Will Model P truck serial plate (1920s)  mjs
Size: 153mm wide 102mm high