1916 Republic Beer Truck Truck

By 1918, the Republic Motor Company of Alma, Michigan was the largest exclusive truck manufacturer in the world, reportedly building one out of every nine trucks on the road in the United States. Their product was known as 'The Yellow Chassis Truck,' after the distinctive color of the frame.

This particular example originally served the Lehigh Valley Brewing Company, of Allentown, PA. It was used for local deliveries until 1939 when it was retired and put into storage. During the scrap drive for World War II, it was literally on the way to the junkyard when it was rescued by an early antique car collector in Pennsylvania. This collector retained the truck until the 1960s when it was sold to a New England collector. In the 1980s, it returned to Pennsylvania in the ownership of J.H. Beers, Inc., of Windgap, Pennsylvania, and was eventually acquired by Mr. Richard Roy in 1991 from Helms Antique Autos, of Milford, Pennsylvania, apparently at Hershey. Mr. Roy displayed the car at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine for several years.

Minor repairs to the woodwork were performed in 1992 by Alan Esenlohr, of Green, New Jersey. The remains of the bodywork are original and wear much of their original paint. It has dual Gray & Davis headlights with their original lenses. It currently is not in running order. The engine is a 220.8 cubic-inch Continental Red Seal L-head four-cylinder unit mated to a three-speed selective sliding-gear manual transmission. Braking is performed by rear-wheel external-contracting brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2015