"Well you wanted more on Brockways" says Richard Stanier, "So here you go!" And as ever the 'Brochure King' has done Biglorryblog proud. Starting off with this one. Richard tells me: "Brockway's origins stretch back as far as 1851, but George Brockway built the first truck in Cortland, New York in 1912. I've enclosed a picture of that truck, "with its' 3 cylinder, 2 cycle, air-cooled engine." (looks worryingly like BLB's first company car but I digress....)
"Brockway established themselves as a quality builder of trucks, and even supplied the British Army with lorries in World War Two. They were acquired by Mack in 1956 and over the succeeding years began to use Mack cabs on some models. The trucks always bore the Brockway Huskie logo, in place of the Mack Bulldog, and their strap line was "A living legend of the American highway."
The 358 model was another stalwart of the 1960's and was again available with a wide range of drive train components, including a gasoline engine (pictured above).
Now click through here for some more 'modern' Brockways..and some great brochure shots (as ever) from the RS archives....
Richards continues: "I think Andrew Breedon's great photo is of a 361 model of the late 1960's/early 1970's. I have included a scan of the Huskie 400 Series (above), which was launched in 1963 and featured Mack's F Series cab. The 400 series continued in production until the firm's end and was available with the usual wide choice of engines, gearboxes and axles that you would expect from an American specialist manufacturer."
This one above is BLB's favourite as Richard explains: "The last new design offered by Brockway was the "Huskiteer" low profile cabover, launched in 1971. I've attached a scan of the Huskiteer Five Fifty urban tractor unit of 1974.I have always had a soft spot for this marque, and remember passing a yard full of concrete mixers in a yard in New York one Sunday afternoon in 1990. Most of the trucks were very tidy Mack 6 wheelers, but in pride of place across the front entrance was a beautiful Brockway, in mint condition, and still the flagship of the fleet."
Richard concludes: "The end of the Brockway Company is described very well by the author, Albert Mroz who wrote 'Beset by the full gamut of financial problems and difficulties with the new anti-skid brake-implement legislation, Mack decided to divest in 1977 just when many new sales outlets had been formed out of Diamond Reo dealers when that company went bankrupt and was sold. Local community effort could not save the last major truck manufacturer in New York that year, and Mack decided to shut it down permanently.'
And so another mighty marque set off on that long, one-way trip to Palookaville...Cheers Richard great stuff as ever.
In the meantime, that's all from the old Biglorryblogmeister this weekend---but all Brockway fans can relax as I've got some more great shots of the brand from Martin P which I'll post next week, along with 'trucks climbing steep hills photos from BLB's 'favourite Kiwi''
Enjoy your Sunday, I'm off to get on the outside of a large glass of red wine!
I saw one of those this fall:
http://miq-tak.blogspot.com/2007/11/hershey-recap.html
great site. Grew up in Cortland. I drive a Kenworth W-900 now. Be great to take a husky down the road tho