Where to search for a family truck?

[BarracudaBoy]

This probably gets filed under "nothing ventured nothing gained" category. But what the heck.

If you were to start a search for a early truck that bears your family name where would you start the search? Guess I started with Ford barn and google....

[Tiny]

There is an antique truck museum in Woodland California, just north of Sacramento. You may contact them. Who knows what they could know?

[BarracudaBoy]

Thanks Tiny. I would always kick myself if I didn't at least give it a try to see if one still exists!

[racer32]

I'd start in Louisville, KY.

Interesting reads:

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bk...rer+louisville

[P.S.]

I'm a couple hours' drive from Woodland. Had no idea that a truck museum was there. Might be worth a trip. Baracuda- let's coordinate if you need some pictures or info about something in their exhibit.

[1wonton]

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The Hays museum is closed and hopefully will relocate in Reno in a couple of years (I doubt it); the Heidrick family raised their rent so high they had to fold up.

[oliverguy]

I like that truck body. Much more interesting than a standard coal body with dividers in it.

[Steve Wastler]

I think I would try the historical society in the town the family operated in. You could also join newspaper archives and search there, may take some time, but that's how I found the original owner of my fordors obit.

[Steve Wastler]

Also try different search engines than google.

[SkipShift]

I did a little search and found this sand truck from Louisville. Maybe they have heard of Longest Trucks. They appear to still be in business. http://www.nugentsand.com/

Nugent Sand Co. Deliveries began to be made by truck and rail instead of by wagon. Nugent moved to it's present Louisville location at1833 River Road in 1963.

[Bud Tierney]

BB: Still here??...Lost your post on the other site, couldn't get it up on searching, so registered here...
Fascinating history; the usual inconsistencies, of course.
Production, from the portion of ref's I've gone thru, seems to've been more a custom building operation than actual serial production...
Have you found any reliable ref's that any of the trucks were assembled/built with the Knight engines, or if any of the Edwards cars were assembled/built in Louisville??? (Still have batch of ref's to go thru)...
Also interesting about the in-house 5x51/2; everyone and their Uncle (pun intended) was building engines in those days, and they may well've cast a few (assuming they built/had a foundry) altho I'd assume crankshafts and such internals, as well as the named externals, came from a supplier.
One would assume there'd be Longest descendants in Louisville, and the local papers of the period, considering the size of the operation, should have fairly complete coverage, or is your search something you'd prefer to keep under your hat for now??

[BarracudaBoy]

Originally Posted by Bud Tierney

BB: Still here??...Lost your post on the other site, couldn't get it up on searching, so registered here...
Fascinating history; the usual inconsistencies, of course.
Production, from the portion of ref's I've gone thru, seems to've been more a custom building operation than actual serial production...
Have you found any reliable ref's that any of the trucks were assembled/built with the Knight engines, or if any of the Edwards cars were assembled/built in Louisville??? (Still have batch of ref's to go thru)...
Also interesting about the in-house 5x51/2; everyone and their Uncle (pun intended) was building engines in those days, and they may well've cast a few (assuming they built/had a foundry) altho I'd assume crankshafts and such internals, as well as the named externals, came from a supplier.
One would assume there'd be Longest descendants in Louisville, and the local papers of the period, considering the size of the operation, should have fairly complete coverage, or is your search something you'd prefer to keep under your hat for now??

The Longest Bros had no direct descendants. A niece of theirs died recently.

I haven't been able to find much info about whether Edwards and Stoddard followed though on the deal to continue producing Longest Trucks or not. That time period was right when some manufactures (like Ford) really took off and started squeezing a lot of smaller guys out of the market. It would be surprising if a "orphaned" make like the Longest Bros truck made it though the scrap drives of 2 world wars especially with a unusual designed engine like the Knight sleeve valve engine. Heck, I would be awesome to just find a radiator with "Longest Bros" on it! Posted the question on the American Truck Historical Society Forum also. But looks like it is as long a shot as I thought.

http://forums.aths.org/176217/Looking-for-Early-Truck

[figment]

There is a Nugent Sand Co in Muskegon , Michigan It has been there for years!