O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle May 16

Milk trucks & UPS ones.

Thank you both, Richard and Spence.

These delivery vehicles are all beautiful and bring back pleasant memories.
I have a Divco Borden's Dairy step van.

May I ask the year of the U.P.S. trucks?

Thank you,

Ralph

I just did a search of the 'Bay, and found Divcos in several scales, AND found a third

one purported to be in 1/43rd, by DeHanes (pricey!).  I thought all of this maker's efforts were 1/64th (S guage), which I have long found frustrating.  (is Dehanes still making models?) Oddly, I remember the IH Metro being used in my youth, and GM panel trucks by "The Donaldson Man" home bakery delivery, and a potato chip maker,  but don't remember seeing Divcos, although I've long heard of them.  I don't think

they would have been commonly seen in my modeled small town landscape.

Here is my favorite Divco. It was an offering by the LCCA.

RJL; I really don't know the years of the UPS trucks. Found some on Ebay & the rest I purchased as a employee of UPS.

Most of my modest Divco fleet.

I am curious about the mechanicals of the Divco.  These were built by another company than the know automakers, and used Continental four cylinder engines?

They must have been the last user of those?  Also, I was not aware of and had not

seen photos of that later 1970's Divco.

Spence,

What does UPS do with the delivery Package Cars/Trucks when they reach the end of their service life?

Are they destroyed or salvaged for parts?  You never see them on the used market as painter's / plumber's vans, etc.

REA Delivery truck, I custom built from a resin kit.

I used many photos, including the one Richard E posted, but I also used this one from Soph Marty:

to create this

As for the DIVCOS (Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company), I made custom decals of our local (in 1955) dairy company

I have the Borden Divco truck although I will be danged if I know where - I went to take a photo of it now and could not find it.  I know its somewhere.

I had no idea they could be driven standing up. Interesting, but sort dangerous, I would think.

Bob K; 1st of all it takes a long time for them to come off the road. There made of fiberglass & aluminum. They just keep replacing the motors, transmissions, etc. until that time. They are then crushed under the supervision of a UPS manager. Years ago you were able to buy the old tractors but that practice ended.

Wow..did not realize UPS was that reclusive.  REA was not, with old Chevrolet, Ford,

and IH REA trucks in collections.  I have long noticed I could not usually identify the

maker of a UPS vehicle....no problem with REA.

More info about the Divco trucks.  When I was in high school, I worked part time at a local service station.  They had a contract with the local Borden's distributor to wash and change oil/lube several trucks a week.  Their trucks all had the seats but they would swing out of the way to allow driving standing up.

This link gives a good description of how the Divcos operated. 

A link to the History Page of the Divco Club website.

Larry

I wonder what percentage of the time they were driven standing up?  I would think often if they were making several stops close by and would sit down when driving longer distances.  Obviously they didn't have or worry about seat belts in those days.  Now that I think about I didn't have a seat belt in my old Wonder Bread delivery truck either.

Art

The Antique Automobile magazine current issue mentions that DIVCO's were made

from 1926-1986, a production period only exceeded by the VW beetle.  I have a

hard time picturing driving a clutch vehicle standing up, especially in a panic stop

when the reaction is to slam both pedals to the floor.  I guess I'd have to inspect

one.

I remember the Stand Up Drivers and if I remember correctly the clutch and brake pedals were located on the floor for a straight down push.

Casey LV - you are correct.

colorado hirailer & Southwest Hiawatha - see my reply of may 17 above.

Larry

Oops...sorry, L.J.....did not open those links earlier.  Interesting history...especially

the engines used...I wonder if Continental engines are still made, or what was their

last automotive application?  The Wayne schoolbus  plant in Richmond, Ind.  is bare and vacant and has been so for several years, although I remember passing it on I-70

some years ago with bus bodies everywhere.  Seems like there was another schoolbus

plant in Mitchell? Indiana, and a Blue Bird plant in the south that closed, but had O scale models of Motel T Ford schoolbuses.  With all these closed (I think), where the

heck are they building school buses? (I want a 1930's model to build a rail bus)

As I recall, on a Divco the clutch worked backwards to the normal operation.  When you pressed down on the pedal it would engage and the truck would move.  I also believe that there was a brake tie-in to the clutch pedal.  When you removed your foot from the pedal it would disengage the clutch and would hold the brake applied as a kind of parking brake.  As to driving the truck; the idea of standing while driving was only for deliveries.  The milkman would move the truck from one house to the next, sometimes a distance of only 40 or 50 feet.  When he drove from one part of town to another, he would sit down and drive the truck like any other.

Regarding Continental engines:  The company was a Michigan based firm that made industrial engines in four, six and eight cylinder versions.  They were mostly flat head engines and were used in a lot of fork lift vehicles, over the years.  Some of the Continental engines found their way into certain automobiles.  Kaiser's and Frazer's were two of the later users of the Continental engine, which was modified for more power for automotive  applications.

They also had a marine division, Graymarine Engines and many of them powered inboard boats of varying length and size.  After overhead valve engines became the norm for most gas engines and diesels became very popular, Continental went out of business.  Graymarine continued for a number of years afterward, but they began using American Motors V-8's and sixes for marine applications.

Remembering the Divco milk trucks as I do, I have ended up with a half a dozen Divcos on my layout.  When I was a kid, a buddy of mine and I would get up real early in the morning and go out to meet the milk truck.  There was a rack on the back of some of these trucks where the milkman would place empty milk cases.  That rack was a great place to sit and get a free ride around the neighborhood.

Great memories!

Paul Fischer

Paul - That makes a lot of sense about the clutch on the Divco.  It sounds like it was a well thought out  vehicle and perfectly suited for it's task.

Art

Oh, I thought maybe Continental had morphed into another shape or was builiding

aircraft engines like its major competitor in its 1900's to Kaiser/Frazer period,

Lycoming.  While several different auto engine manufacturers came and went from

1900 to the K-F, Continental was deep into auto engines, at least by the 1920's, and it and Lycoming often powered different models of the same make.  Many of these cars were, now defunct, "orphans", such as Jordan, Peerless, Elcar, etc. once sneered at as "assembled" cars because their factories made few components, but contracted out for many of the components of the car.  (these cars are no longer sneered at, due to very recent recognition of many of them by the Classic Car Club of America)  A whole spectrum of makes  powered by Lycoming in that era are also now so recognized.  Auburn and Cord, have long had "classic" status due to E.L. Cord once owning Lycoming and the engine plant, but Lycoming powered Apperson, Elcar, Gardner, Kissel, Locomobile Jr. 8, McFarlan 8, Roamer, and Velie 8 plus a few others, all of which have now gained that recognition.The Continental engines in DIVCO's had

a respected past, and a respected present.  They also powered many other "orphan"

makes of automobiles not recognized as "classics", and both makes of engines were

widely used in another long list of trucks and buses.

Continental Motors Corp. built automotive and industrial engines from 1905 through the 1960s the last Automotive uses were Kaiser Jeeps and Checker taxis. They also built Automobiles in 1933 & 34. Their successor Continental Aircraft Engine Inc still builds aircraft engines

1950 Divco outfitted for dirty laundry duty...

Tom B