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Trucks on Display

 

Below is a sampling of the many trucks on display in our Trucking Hall of Fame® Exhibit Hall. Check out our app for more information, photos, and an audio recording for each truck.  Click here to download.

1931 GMC T-110


Engine Type:
616 Cubic Inch 149 Horsepower 6-Cylinder Gasoline with Two Carburetors

Transmission Type:
4-Speed with 3-Speed Auxiliary

Truck Information:
This 1931 GMC T-110, verified as serial number 001, was originally owned by the Thomas Proctor Company of Long Branch, New Jersey. Proctor built most of the jetties, seawalls, and piers along the New Jersey shoreline. Of the 86 trucks the company owned over the years, it's believed that this was the first new truck the Thomas Proctor Company purchased. Proctor owned this truck until 2000 when the company was sold. For 1931, this GMC T-110 was a really big truck. GMC built this model in hopes of selling them to the military. They thought this would be the perfect truck for hauling heavy artillery, but in 1931 the country was in a depression and the government had very little money to spend. Not many of these were ever built. This is the only one of this model known to still exist. In late 1908, GM purchased Randolph Motor Car Company. Over the next two years, Rapid Motor Truck Company and Reliance Motor Truck Company were also welcomed into the GM family. These three companies were absorbed, creating the foundation for General Motor Truck Company. The GMC trademark first started appearing on some, but not all, of the company's truck nameplates in 1911. The GMC truck line was expanded in 1931 to offer 16 models and 56 chassis in the T-Series. Two of the largest truck models offered were models T-110 (36,000 GVW) and T-130 (50,000 GVW). This truck is equipped with very large, heavy-duty 12:00-24 (pronounced twelve hundred and twenty four) tires. It is also a rather wide truck; with a three-man cab made of wood, it weighs 38,000 pounds. It has a GMC-built 616 Timken gas engine with two carburetors. The engine has 149 horsepower, which was a lot for the time. The fifth wheel on it is rather unusual; it is just a pin stubbed up for the trailer to sit on. Turn signals were fairly new in 1931. These arrows in the turn signal lights made it perfectly obvious which way you were turning. This truck has full WABCO air brakes, which is very rare for a truck built in 1931. In fact, it's the earliest truck we've seen with air brakes. WABCO is the acronym for Westinghouse Air Brakes Company. WABCO was founded by George Westinghouse in 1869 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. These air brakes were originally developed for use on trains. Today, WABCO Holdings still manufactures commercial vehicle safety and control systems. The company is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.



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