DOUGLAS TRUCK

Douglas Motors Corp. (1918-1923)
Nebraska Auto & Truck Mfg. Co. (c1923) 
Douglas Truck Mfg. Co. (1923-1935)
Omaha, Nebraska

This is a Douglas heavy duty truck radiator emblem (1918-1935) moroz

Douglas Motors Corporation began operations in early 1918 in the plant previously used to build the Drummond motor car. The company started by building an 8-cylinder passenger car (see Douglas), as well as commercial vehicles, but the Douglas passenger car was unsuccessful and production ceased in 1919.

Douglas trucks were built to suit the particular requirements of the US Midwest and South-west. Regional weight restrictions resulted in an interest in rigid six-wheeler trucks, and these became a special market for Douglas to exploit before the larger truck companies took an interest in the same market.

The first Douglas trucks were conventional assembled 1-ton, 1-1/2-ton, 2-1/2-ton and 3-ton capacity models powered by four-cylinder Buda or Weidely engines. The company was in receivership in 1923 but managed to recover and production continued. By 1927, the Douglas range included four-cylinder 1-1/2-ton capacity trucks and six-cylinder 2-ton and 3-ton capacity express truck models, as well as a six-cylinder street car bus. In 1928, Douglas introduced the F66 six-wheeler 6-ton capacity truck intended for long-distance transportation.

Douglas sales suffered from the Great Depression and Douglas could not compete with the larger truck manufacturing companies. Very few Douglas trucks were built in the 1930's and Douglas truck production ceased completely in 1935.

Emblems

The light duty 1-ton and 1-1/2-ton four-cylinder Douglas trucks had a conventional sheet metal radiator shell, see the early Douglas truck photo in the 1919 advertisement shown below:

Douglas truck ad (1919)
Evening World Herald

Douglas light duty truck showing radiator (1919)

Unfortunately, the radiator emblem cannot be identified in this grainy photo.

I can find no photos of light duty Douglas trucks showing a radiator emblem. It is possible that the earliest light duty Douglas trucks built in the 1918-1923 period may have carried a radiator emblem similar to one of the examples shown below, but I cannot confirm this:

Possible light duty Douglas truck rad emblem (c1918-1923) tcc
Size: 63mm wide 61mm high    MM: None

Possible light duty Douglas truck rad emblem (c1918-1923) sam
Size: 56mm diameter   MM: Unknown

Possible light duty Douglas truck rad emblem (c1918-1923) sam
Size: 56mm diameter    MM: Unknown

Another candidate for the light duty Douglas truck radiator emblem is the rectangular "Douglas" emblem finished in black seen in the rather poor quality photo shown below:

This is a Douglas radiator emblem (dates unknown)     pwc
Size: Unknown   MM: Unknown 

This particular Douglas radiator emblem may have been used for later light duty Douglas trucks built after 1923 but, again, I cannot confirm this. 

All the candidate emblems for possible use as Douglas light duty radiator emblems shown above are extremely rare. 

If you have better information about any emblems used for light duty Douglas trucks, please let me know, in order to update this post.

The following photo shows a surviving light duty Douglas truck from 1932 with a conventional radiator and a rectangular hood side "Douglas" nameplate. The radiator emblem, if one existed, is not visible.

Douglas light duty truck with hood side nameplate (1932)
Durham Museum Omaha

Douglas light duty truck hood side nameplate

Original Douglas truck hood side nameplates are very rare.

Heavy duty Douglas trucks had a cast iron radiator with the "Douglas" name cast into the ribbed radiator tank top, probably painted white, see original 1919 Douglas side-dump truck photo shown below:

Douglas dump truck showing radiator emblem (1919) northomahahistory

Close up showing Douglas truck radiator & emblem (1919) 

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

This is a Douglas heavy duty truck radiator emblem (1918-1935) moroz

From 1920, Douglas trucks used the following logo in advertisements but I have no evidence that this logo was used on any emblems:

Douglas trucks logo (from 1920)

The following Douglas trucks advertisement from 1920 shows that the "Douglas" name was also displayed above the driver's cab:

Douglas trucks ad (1920)    americanicons

Douglas truck showing nameplate displayed above driver's cab (1920)

The following surviving Douglas truck from 1920 on display in Lincoln, Nebraska also shows the driver's cab roof frame nameplate and the cast-in radiator emblem:

Douglas heavy duty truck showing nameplate and radiator emblem (1920)  americancarhistorian

The following Douglas truck advertisement also from 1920 shows an illustration of an oil tanker model with a different, oval shaped "Douglas" nameplate in the roof frame above the driver's cab:

Douglas trucks advert (1920)

Douglas oil tanker with roof frame nameplate (1920)

If they could be found, Douglas truck cab roof frame and hood side nameplates would be very rare.

The Douglas oil tanker roof frame nameplate shown above may possibly be similar to the oval shaped front bumper nameplate shown in the following illustration of a heavy duty Douglas truck. The same illustration is found in Douglas truck advertisements from 1927.

Douglas truck ad showing bumper & hood side nameplates (1929)
Omaha World Herald

Douglas heavy duty truck showing emblem & nameplates 

It is interesting to see this note in the Douglas truck advertisement shown above at the time of the February 1929 Omaha Auto Show:

Douglas Trucks Notice (Feb 17 1929)

Unfortunately, I cannot find any reference to this new Douglas Trucks emblem introduced at the February 1929 Omaha Auto Show. If you have any further details, please let me know, in order to update this post.

PATRIOT

Hebb Motors Co. (1918-1920)
Patriot Motors Co. (1920-1922)
Lincoln, Nebraska
Patriot Manufacturing Co. (1922-1926)
Havelock, Nebraska

This is a Patriot truck radiator emblem (1919-1920)   mjs
Size: 140mm wide 40mm high   MM: Unknown

Arthur G. Hebbs was engaged in a variety of business enterprises around Lincoln , Nebraska, including dealerships for Ford, Mitchell and Chase trucks. By 1916, Hebbs was producing bodies for independent truck manufacturers and light delivery bodies for conversions of Ford passenger cars. Hebbs had some prototype trucks built from assembled parts in 1917 before he established Hebbs Motors Company in early 1918  to build Patriot trucks in Havelock.  

The first Patriot trucks were the 1-1/2-ton Lincoln and 2-1/2-ton Washington models with heavy ribbed cast iron radiators, which appeared later in 1918. The first full year of production of the Patriot was 1919, when 750 trucks were built, including 200 new Revere 3/4-ton speed trucks with conventional radiator shells and equipped with pneumatic tires. As a result and in view of increasing orders, the Hebbs Motors Company expected a large increase in production for 1920. The company was reorganized as the Patriot Motor Company, additional components were ordered and action taken to increase factory capacity. Unfortunately, the company was now overextended and was unable to deal with the severe recession in the latter part of 1920. and receivership followed in November 1920.

A consortium of creditors and shareholders took over in July 1921, reorganized the company as the Patriotic Manufacturing Company and resumed production of the Patriot, which remained largely unchanged until 1924. Production numbers never reached the originally predicted output.  

Mark and George Woods bought the company in January 1924 and continued production of the Patriot in 1-ton, 2-ton and 3-ton capacity sizes with minor changes in appearance, apart from a new radiator design to replace the the ribbed cast iron radiator and pneumatic tires replacing the solid rubber tires on the heavier duty models. The trucks were renamed as Woods in early 1927 and continued in low volume production until 1932.

Emblems

The first Patriot trucks from 1918 had heavy ribbed, cast iron radiators with the "Patriot" name and groups of five stars at each side of the name cast into the radiator tank top, see illustration and example shown below:

Patriot radiator (1920)  cmcc 

Patriot truck with cast emblem (1919)  nebraskahistory 

Close-up showing cast radiator emblem (1919) 

Patriot trucks also displayed the "Patriot" name on decals on the sides of the body below the driver's seat, see illustration shown below from a Patriot farm trucks advertisement. These decals had "Patriot Trucks" within the outline of an eagle.

This shows a Patriot truck with body side decals (1918-1919)   ccj

From 1919. Patriot trucks displayed the "Patriot" name on rectangular Patriot nameplates mounted on the sides of the upper hood panels and on the rear chassis frame cross member, see examples shown below:

Patriot truck illustration showing hood side nameplate (1919-1924)   ccj

Patriot truck hood side nameplate (c1920)    cmcc

Patriot Revere speed trucks introduced in 1919 had a conventional radiator shell and carried a rectangular radiator emblem. This is the blue and white enamel Patriot radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Patriot radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Patriot radiator emblem (1919-1920)   mjs
Size: 140mm wide 40mm high    MM: Unknown

The company was reorganized as Patriot Motors Company in 1920. However, I have never seen a Patriot radiator emblem marked Patriot Motors Company, and it is possible that the same Patriot radiator emblem, as shown above, continued in use until 1924.

From 1924 to 1926, Patriot trucks had new radiator designs with slightly domed alloy tank tops instead of the previous ribbed radiator tank tops with cast radiator emblems, see original photo from 1925 shown below:

Patriot truck with domed radiator tank top (1925)   cmcc

Close-up showing domed radiator & emblem (1925) 

This close-up shows a different Patriot hood side nameplate and a radiator emblem following the curvature of the domed radiator indicating a new Patriot radiator emblem design. However, the detail of the radiator emblem is unclear. 

The following Patriot truck advertisement from March 1926 includes an illustration of a Patriot tanker truck with a ribbed top radiator showing a round radiator emblem. The detail of the emblem is unclear.

Patriot ad (1926) nebraska state journal

Close-up showing round radiator emblem (March 1926)

The following Patriot truck advertisement from November 1926 includes a photo of a Model 35 two-ton truck with a domed radiator and a round or oval shaped radiator emblem. 

Patriot advertisement (Nov 1926)  lincoln journal star

Patriot Model 35 truck close-up showing a curved radiator emblem (1926)    

It is evident that there was a different Patriot radiator emblem, and possibly more than one, in the period after the take over of the company by the Woods Brothers in 1924. However, the currently available photographs and illustrations are not clear enough to see the detailed design of the emblem. 

If you have a clearer photo of Patriot truck emblems or of the front of this truck in the 1924-1926 period, please let me know, in order to update this post.

FREEMAN

Freeman Motor Car Co. (1920)

Omaha, Nebraska

Cleveland, Ohio

This is a Freeman Six radiator emblem (1920)     sam
Size: 53mm diameter     MM: Unknown (poss Robbins)

F.L.Freeman was the General Manager of the Freeman Motor Car Company of Omaha. The company announced in early 1920 that it had a plant in Cleveland, where it planned to produce cars and trucks. The Standard Catalog reports that a prototype Freeman car appears to have been built but this did not proceed to production.

Emblem

The green and white enamel Freeman Six radiator emblem shown above was presumably made for the proposed production and may have been used on the prototype Freeman car. This Freeman Six radiator emblem is extremely rare.

A blue enamel version of this Freeman Six emblem is also known to exist, see photo shown below. It is possible that alternative color sample emblems were made before the decision not to proceed with production of the Freeman. This Freeman radiator emblem is also extremely rare.

This is a Freeman Six radiator emblem (1920)  hvdm
Size: 53mm diameter    MM: Unknown

FULLER (1)

Angus Automobile Co. (1908-1910)

Angus, Nebraska

This is a Fuller maker's nameplate (c1908)     mjs
Size: 93mm wide 47mm high

The Fuller brothers were makers of wagons and buggies. They made their first automobile when they bought a single-cylinder engine and fitted it to one of their horse drawn carriages. The brothers spent some years getting motor car building experience and then started their own production line in 1908. The Fuller automobiles were mainly four-cylinder cars with a six-cylinder model offered in 1908 only.

Residents in the nearby town of Nelson bought a controlling share of the Angus company and, in 1910, this majority of shareholders decided to relocate the Fuller operation to Nelson, but the car did not survive the move. Total production was about 134 cars.

Emblem

The Fuller displayed the "FULLER" name on a small maker's nameplate attached to the body of the car, see the example shown above at the top of this post. This Fuller nameplate is very rare.

Based on a search of original photos, manufacturer's literature and advertisements, and advice from the Nebraska State Historical Society, I can find no evidence of a radiator emblem or a radiator script having been originally used on the Fuller built in Nebraska.

A restored 1908 Fuller Model A displays a brass "Fuller" script on the radiator core, see photo below, but this script is not original. This is a reproduction script made many years ago when the car was first restored. It is not at all certain that the reproduction script was based on an original Nebraska-built Fuller script. In particular, this Fuller script is most likely to have been copied from a script made for the Fuller car built in Jackson, Michigan (see Fuller (2)).

Reproduction radiator script. which may not be correct for the Nebraska-built Fuller

If you have any confirmed evidence of Fuller emblems or radiator scripts originally made for the Nebraska-built Fuller car, please let me know, in order to update this post. A confirmed "Fuller" radiator script for the Nebraska-built Fuller, if it does exist, would be extremely rare.

DRUMMOND

Drummond Motor Car Co. (1916-1917)

Omaha, Nebraska

This is a Drummond radiator emblem (1916-1917)   sam
Size: 94mm wide    MM: Unknown

The Drummond appeared in 1916 and was initially offered as a four-cylinder model or a six-cylinder model, both available in touring, roadster or sedan styles. The Drummond became a 28 hp V8 model for 1917. But the car was not successful and by early 1918 the Drummond was finished.

Total production of the Drummond was 300 cars.

Emblems

The blue Drummond radiator emblem on a white background with a blue border, as shown above, is very rare.

There is also a green Drummond radiator emblem and a black Drummond radiator emblem both on white backgrounds without borders, as shown below. These may be reproduction emblems but I cannot confirm this.

This may be a reproduction Drummond radiator emblem (1916-1917)    ms
Size 94mm wide   MM: Unknown

This may be a reproduction Drummond radiator emblem (1916-1917)   km
Size: 67mm wide    MM: None