Moreland Motor Truck Company
The Moreland Motor Truck Company is a retired American commercial vehicle manufacturers.
The company was founded in 1911 by Watt Moreland and settled on the initiative of local entrepreneurs in Burbank ( California). The brand was a pioneer of truck with tandem axles, the lightweight commercial vehicles and diesel.
The first Moreland trucks were available with a total weight of 1 ½, 3, 3 ½ or 5 tons. The power transmission was done at the smaller models with cardan shaft, the larger as usual with drive chains. Moreland bought the motors from external suppliers, especially Hercules and Continental. Transmission usually came from Brown - Lipe, the electrics of Dixie or Car -Lite and Miller carburetor or Dixi.
1924 added a version with 6 tons the offer up and Moreland represented a double-decker bus with double axle for 60 passengers on the wheels. The drive was carried out by a six cylinder engine from Continental on both rear axles. The vehicle had both hydraulic brakes by Lockheed as air brakes of Westinghouse. However, it was too expensive for a profitable bus operations and did not go into production.
With the TX6 the following year appeared a large truck with a Continental Sechszylindel Model 14H and a double axle own design. Moreland was thus practically at the same time with a California competitor, Fageol was the first on the market. Some models were engines of Waukesha. The Ace is a two-axle appeared at 1.7 tons. Also two axes had the distinct Californian heavier with a curb weight of 4 tons and a payload of 3 tons. The favorable power to weight ratio for the period was made possible by its lightweight construction.
Moreland was the late 1920s, the largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the Western U.S.. The best year of the company was in 1929., The company delivered approximately 1000 trucks, buses and trailers, and conversed in California in addition to its headquarters in Burbank, the company has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, Stockton, Oakland, Santa Ana, El Centro, Fresno, Sacramento and San Francisco. Further, there was in Portland (Oregon ), Spokane (Washington), Salt Lake City (Utah ) and Seattle (Washington). The large Moreland Modellle received double axes of their own design; for smaller models such as the Road Runner RR were purchased from Timken. The Road Runner series comprised two-axle vehicle with 2-5 tons and Road Preserver three-axle vehicle with 5-6 tons or 10 tons.
The program for 1929 included:
- Road Runner RR ( two-axle, 2 tons, engine Six Continental Red Seal )
- Road Runner BX ( two-axle, 2-2 ½ tons, engine Six Continental Red Seal )
- Road Runner EXX ( two-axle, 2 ½ -3 ½ tons)
- Road Runner AXX ( two-axle, 3 ½ -5 tons)
- Road Preserver SX ( three-axle, 5-6 tons)
- Road Preserver TX ( three-axle, 10 tons)
Thanks to the dual-axis trucks were a specialty for use in forestry. Example, the Forestry Office of Los Angeles ( "LA Division of Forestry " ) received a 1930 Moreland 3 -ton truck and equipped it himself from a fire truck to fight bushfires. In the following years, the production decreased significantly. Moreland moved increasingly to the trailer and body and developed a refrigerated vehicle. 1931 was negotiated with Fageol about a merger but did not materialize. The company eventually produced more or less on demand. By the outbreak of the 2nd World War it became increasingly difficult to obtain necessary materials. Therefore, the truck production ended in 1941. Moreland In - plant the Vega Aircraft Corporation assembled several thousand fighters and bombers. Moreland himself was as spare parts supplier until 1949.