FEBRUARY 2008 OLD TIME TRUCKS
CLESSIE CUMMINS’
TRUCK OF CHOICE
By John & Shirley Sponholtz
The Harwood-Barely Manufacturing Company began building Indiana trucks in 1906 in Marion, Indiana. Later, the company moved to Cleveland, Ohio and became known as the Indiana Motor Company. The first trucks were 1-1/2 ton with 3.3 liter 4-cylinder Rutenber engines, 4-speed gearboxes and side chain drive. By 1920, the truck line ranged from 1-1/2 to 5 tons with Rutenber or Waukesha engines (4-cylinder Hercules engines were available by 1924). From 1927 to 1932 the company was controlled by Brockway, who introduced Continental and Wisconsin engines. In 1932, White took control of the company and began using Hercules 6-cylinder engines with 4-speed and 6-speed gearboxes. Clessie Cummins pioneered the diesel engine in America and used an Indiana truck to demonstrate his new engine. Thanks to this relationship, Indiana was able to introduce the first production line of Cummins-powered diesel trucks in 1932 (which was a 5-ton truck with a 125 horsepower Cummins 6-cylinder diesel engine). The yellow and black truck pictured here is a 1933 Model 85A owned by the National Automotive & Truck Museum of the United States, located in Auburn, Indiana. This truck has a JXC 6-cylinder engine, a Brown-Lipe 4-speed transmission and a Timken rear axle. The last Indiana trucks were produced in 1939.