Joe Wanchura was a truck driver, but his passion was photographing them. As such, his vast collection of shots from the 1940s and 1950s are pretty much the only ones of their kind, giving an insider’s look at what he saw wherever he went. One of these day, I need to do a compilation of his shots, but as a preview, let’s just savor this fine shot of a Brockway next to three people. Exactly what their relationship is to the Brockway is unknown, but undoubtedly they’re in the business, one way or another.
Check out the size of those rear view mirrors.
Radio antenna?!?
Yes. Dispatching by two-way radio started in the early 30s, and this photo seems to be just after WW2 judging by the Ford. The truck’s license is hard to read but might be 1940.
I guess I had misconceptions about the beginnings of commercial two-way?
I had believed that it just began to get a toehold post-war, and only with very well-moneyed operations.
I think you’re right. There’s no way
that’s a communication antenna.
It’s an AM radio antenna
for listening like you would in a car.
It’s big because they traveled far
away from the cities were radio stations
broadcast from. Extendable radio antennas
were common on all cars until the 70’s.
Two way radios for trucks like these started in the
60’s and would have used longer whip antennas-
8-9 ft long.
If you couldn’t see backward through the 6 inch mirror, you could always look upward through the 6 inch area cleared by the wipers.
That’s a good looking functional truck. The grill work on the front was done with a nice touch.
Were those trailer doors for ice blocks, as a crude form of refrigerated shipping?
Very cool to be able to peek into a world I saw only from the outside.
My brain has already made up a dumb scenario of this being circus cartage, and the left truck being “ELEPHANTS,” but I’m surely wide of the mark.
Okay, about Big Brother and ad targeting.
Is some of it image based?
I just got an irrelevant pop-up, but, a swanky bench in the ad had a remarkable resemblance to the featured truck’s front. lol
OMG Ive driven a couple of 50s/60s Bedfords and Commers with tiny mirrors like those usually they vibrate so much at idling speed you literally cannot see to back up, but what a cool old truck, yes it would be a hot noisy uncomfortable place to sit all day but they grew tougher people back in the day.
That CC effect…
Two days ago, the theme song from this short-lived 1950’s TV series popped into my mind from nowhere.
I love me a good Brockway. This one is one of the prewar models and not the “modern” 260 that was introduced right after the war.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ran that style of Brockway up into the 70’s.