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As a potential Freightliner driver, you should know how the trucking history has shaped and impacted the trucking companies. We aim to educate you and provide you with all the  knowledge you need about Freightliner trucks.

A century ago, the wheels of commerce turned quite slowly, propelled primarily by the power of horses, not horsepower. Unpaved roads prone to wash outs caused headaches and delays. Deliveries were scheduled by weeks, not days. The initial promise of railroads was reserved mainly for businesses close to the tracks who could afford the railway's monopoly pricing.

The invention of the internal combustion engine in 1886 by Karl Friedrich Benz helped the wheels of progress turn more rapidly. When his company, Daimler-Benz (now DaimlerChrysler, Freightliners current parent company), built the first truck a decade later, they ironically named it the Lastwagen. Although Lastwagen translated means "a car that carries a load", it ironically signaled the end of the horse drawn wagon and the beginning of the mechanical age. With a maximum cargo weight of five tons the Lastwagen was just the first in a long line of industry innovations.

The first U.S. freight truck was rolled out in 1898 by the Winton Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Other companies including Mack, White, Diamond T and International Harvester, sprang up quickly throughout the next decade. 

In fact, the Fruehauf Trailer Company and its creation, the semi-trailer, came into existence at the suggestion of a Portland, Oregon timber merchant. This timber merchant asked August Fruehauf to build him a "thing to hitch to my Model T Ford that will take my boat to the lake".

Truck technology was also spurred by mankind's more serious pursuits. World War I, with its heavy concentrations of troops, ammunition and supplies, brought about then need for a sturdy, reliable truck. American truck companies overwhelmingly answered the call, and between 1916 and 1918 they supplied the U.S. Army with over 100,000 trucks.

After the war, a military convoy led by a young Dwight Eisenhower made its way across the United States to assess the country's strategic readiness. They discovered that stateside road conditions were a hodgepodge of muddy ruts, crater-like pot holes and broken down paths that were all too similar to what they had endured at the European front. 

A plan for a national highway network was developed. Several transcontinental and interstate trucking excursions successfully highlighted the potential of this new mode of transporting. However, the powerful rail companies viewed trucks as a threat to their monopolies. Throughout the 1920's they feverishly lobbied to stall the construction of high-grade interstate roads. Over time, however, their efforts were derailed.

By 1925, a quarter of the national highway network was completed. The depression of the thirties and the resulting New Deal emphasis on public words projects contributed to the completion of the national highway system.

The late 1920's saw truck manufacturing evolving from "heavy-duty" trucks that could survive the mud and dirt of the old highway system to a new fleet of trucks that were lighter, faster and more fuel-efficient. New trucks, powered by 6-cylinder engines with high-gear ratio transmissions, were reaching speeds of 50 mph. Slowing down from such speeds required new braking technologies, such as the invention of pneumatic brakes from Westinghouse and the four-wheel braking system from GMC. An enclosed cab design greatly added to driving comfort.

Still, the trucks available on the market at that time left much to be desired in terms of size and efficiency. State weight and length limits began to appear on interstate road systems. These obstacles would eventually lead one trucker, Leland James, for forge an empire like he had never imagined.

We hope this bit of history was informative and interesting for you. 

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