Peterbuilt origins ...

[BrocLuno]

F A E G O L

The company earned a reputation for building rugged, reliable trucks, but despite that, in 1929, it was forced to file for bankruptcy. In 1932, as the Great Depression deepened, the company went into receivership; Waukesha Motor Co. and the Central Bank of Oakland assumed control of the operation.

Despite its difficulties, the company introduced new models for the next six years, but in November 1938, Sterling Motors acquired the assets and announced production would cease.

A lumber magnate from Tacoma, Wash., named T.A. Peterman came to the company's rescue. He purchased F a g e o l in April 1939 to build a chain-driven logging truck. Two units were built and neither worked, but regular trucks continued to be made and to sell well, and soon, they were renamed 'Peterbilt' Trucks.

Anyone ever drive a pre-Peterbuilt F a g e o l ??

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The chain drive trucks are pretty interesting to look at and see in action.

 

[Chris142]

There's no "U" in peterbilt

 

[BrocLuno]

Well that's true. Was typing faster than proofing. Oh well ... Can't fix it now.

Sheesh I've driven enough of them. The oldest being a 57 Two Story Pete hauling mud from a treatment plant... Owned a 64 narrow nose for a few years (actually a cab kit on 53 Autocar aluminum rails, bought used).

But that does not answer the question...

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
There's no "U" in peterbilt

And it's spelled [censored], not Faegol.

Hey, the censor just censored the correct spelling of that company's name! I understand the prohibition on profanity, but come on.

To correctly spell that name, reverse the G and the E. This will help with searching.

 

[Prune_Juice]

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Chris142
There's no "U" in peterbilt

And it's spelled [censored], not Faegol.

Hey, the censor just censored the correct spelling of that company's name! I understand the prohibition on profanity, but come on.

To correctly spell that name, reverse the G and the E. This will help with searching.


And Peterbilt.

 

[rideahorse]

I think that Kenworth also started out in the west coast logging area.

 

[andyd]

Thanks for the history lesson, BrocLuno. I had heard of [censored] Trucks and never made the connection to Peterbilt. Or Sterling, which made chain drive trucks until 1950.

 

[Lyman]

Best truck I ever drove was a Peterbilt. It was an oddball lease truck that was all optioned out. The company I was working for got a deal on it and I drove it for the whole 5 year term of the lease.

 

[BrocLuno]

The censors are why I misspelled the historic name

The Peterbullet was my spelling error

I've driven Diamond Reo's, Autocars, Sterlings, Pete's, KW's, Whites, GMC, Macks, Freightliners, Western Star, I-H, Fords and even a Big Dodge Diesel. I just never drove F a g e o l... Curious if anyone here had?

 

[Panzerman]

No but we bought a Volvo/White/Autocar/GMC once and that whole four names were on it. Volvo kept acquiring companies, but never dropped them from the trucks for awhile. It was supposed to be a Autocar.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
No but we bought a Volvo/White/Autocar/GMC once and that whole four names were on it. Volvo kept acquiring companies, but never dropped them from the trucks for awhile. It was supposed to be a Autocar.


My father had one of those. It was definitely a Volvo haha. The company he worked for leased a bunch of trucks - they were all the same truck but all had different logos on them. One had all of them, another just had Volvo and a few were White/GMC