practical and popular machine for moving products over short distances is the truck, one of the most important, industrial innovations in modern times. The first motor truck was built in 1896 by the German automotive pioneer Gottlieb Daimler. Daimler's truck had a four-horsepower engine and a belt drive with two forward speeds and one reverse. With all of the features we enjoy in today's trucks, it's easy to forget that for most of their existence pickup trucks have been work vehicles. Maybe track weren't considered attractive by the standards of their day. Maybe they weren't as comfortable as cars, but they helped us go where we wanted to go and get the job done.
Man has always looked for easier ways of accomplishing difficult strenuous tasks and one can easily think back to the Stone Age man and the invention of the lever. In those exciting pioneering days it was necessary to sell the trucks. Trade unions saw mechanisation as a threat to their members and some companies were not initially convinced of the benefits.
The world saw its first useful trucks in the 1920s. They could only haul a few thousand pounds, and they were often viewed as a small improvement over horse drawn wagons for getting goods from the railroad stations to off track destinations. Twenty eight horsepower was enough for many trucks of the day. The 1930s saw larger engines, and new designs putting the weight of the engine over the front axel. This improved weight distribution and hauling capacity.
