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San Francisco, 1919. "Grant motor truck at Public Library." Minimally equipped, we'd say. 5x7 glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size.
The logo on the spare cover -
It's a Bear? Bean? Beat? Bead? Beak? Beav(er)?
[Perhaps there's a clue in the title of this post. - Dave]
Why, it's got the optional pneumatic tires and the heavy-duty angle-iron front bumper !
I'm reminded of an aeronautical engineering maxim: "If it's not on board, it doesn't need to be maintained!"
You just wait until the 2016 trucks and autos, with all their one-of-a-kind electronics, get old. 59 years from now, I don't think they will have aged nearly as gracefully as a 1957 Chevy. (Or even a Model A Ford, for that matter.)
In contrast, I have little doubt that if a Grant truck was found in a barn today, it would be restorable to drivability.
Plus it's got a bumper, spare tire and spotlight.
By the (truck) standards of the era, it wasn't Spartan.
My dad told me that when he was a kid the old vets were from the Civil War and THEIR fathers and grandfathers were from the Revolution. Wow -- today I'm a history teacher. Those fellows in the background look like Civil War vets to me. "I remember that one time outside of Vicksburg ... "
C'mon -- four wheels and a motor besides!
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