Podcast: Trucking history in the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum
Cleveland is the city where Alexander Winton built the first semi-tractor to haul his company’s automobiles to early customers, and it's also where White Motor Co. got its start.
For America 250, Cleveland’s Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum is hosting an exhibit called "Keep on Truckin" (a phrase coined by artist R. Crumb, who lived in Cleveland for a time) that showcases several early truck models.
For this episode of The Fleet Lead, Fleet Maintenance's John Hitch visited the museum to discuss trucking’s past and evolution with the museum’s curator of transportation history, Aaron Warkentin.
Timestamps:
- 01:45 — Origins of the semi-truck
- 04:30 — Early truck technology
- 07:10 — Old timey headlights
- 08:10 — Horsepower vs horses
- 10:00 — Motorless truck maintenance
- 11:35 — Truck design evolution
- 14:15 — The Crawford Museum's founding
- 22:50 — White Motor Co.
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About the Author
John Hitch
Editor
John Hitch is the editor-in-chief of Fleet Maintenance, providing maintenance management and technicians with the the latest information on the tools and strategies to keep their fleets' commercial vehicles moving. He is based out of Cleveland, Ohio, and was previously senior editor for FleetOwner. He previously wrote about manufacturing and advanced technology for IndustryWeek and New Equipment Digest.