1951 Diamond T 522 Truck 'Texaco Livery' (RHD)

Description

Founded by Charles A Tilt in Chicago, Illinois in 1905, the Diamond T Motor Car Company initially sold passenger cars but soon earned a reputation for building high quality trucks after an order was received from Wolff Manufacturing for their plumbing business.  Diamond T switched to commercial vehicles exclusively in 1911 and by 1915 had established a dealer network right across the United States, in Latin America and even Europe.  Government contracts during the First World War helped the company expand even further, pioneering sleeping cabs and other creature comforts previously unheard of in trucks, such as streamlined styling, air cushioned pneumatic tyres, chrome decoration and even electric clocks.  Marketed as “The handsomest truck in America”, the Diamond T found a ready market in Australia during the 1930s, transporting livestock and produce from the land to the cities.  American trucks like Diamond T offered levels of carrying capacity, performance and comfort miles ahead of their English counterparts and sold well here as a result.  The Second World War saw in excess of 50,000 heavy duty vehicles of all sizes pressed into service, with major technological advances like four-wheel hydraulic brakes, hydraulic shock absorbers and fully enclosed cabs.  From 1950 the ‘Comfo Vision’ cab supplied by the Chicago Manufacturing Co. became standard equipment on all Diamond T models, with a semi wraparound one-piece windscreen giving better aerodynamics.  The range in the early 1950s consisted of five models, the 222, 322, 422, 522 and 622 series, all powered by Continental six-cylinder engines.  Diamond T eventually became a subsidiary of the White Motor Company and was ultimately merged with Reo to become Diamond Reo Trucks Inc.