Well, this is more like it. After test-driving examples from the first two decades of trucking, I’m finally dealing with a vehicle that bears many features that modern drivers would find recognizable. There were heavy-duty trucks similar to the International A6 by the mid-1920s. And the International A6 is simply a continuation of the technology laid down by those earlier models. The look still harkens back to the early brass car ear: large, round headlamps mounted on gracefully sweeping front fenders, a slab-faced front radiator, and an up-right, boxy cab. On the other hand, the overall design is light years beyond the 1915 Auto Wagon and much more robust than the Ford Model TT. The truck has a driveshaft – technology that was just beginning to emerge and overtake tried-and-tested chain drive systems. The A6 frame is durable and strong. Indeed, the truck appears to have been deliberately over-built to make sure it could stand up to the rigors of a tough vocational life. Regional delivery operations and trucks were beginning to evolve – but the vast majority of heavy-duty trucks sold in ...

Automotive fans will quickly find themselves in situational overload visiting the Qualls farm. There are so many great trucks sitting around waiting to be cranked up. But the highlight of the collection has to be their 1915 International Auto Wagon and it’s 1917 stable mate. In fact, it was our desire to find and drive a truck from the first decade of the American trucking experience that led us to the Qualls in the first place. The fact that they had two from the Nineteen-teens was just incredible… And never mind the ’22 International flatbed, the ’25 Ford Model TT delivery van and ’41 Mack ED heavy pickup lurking in the back of the barn. We’d get to all of those soon enough. But today, we were in Tennessee to find out what trucking was like for a CCJ reader 100 years ago.

The Tin Lizzie, as the famous Model T was often called, was not Ford’s first successful automotive design. But it was the first automobile built using Ford’s assembly line techniques. As mass production of cars became a reality, vehicle prices dropped dramatically. And it didn’t hurt that the Model T was a tough, versatile car or truck that could be used to make life for Americans in both urban and rural areas much easier.