Coachbult.com - Galion - Peabody-Galion



Galion Buggy Co. - 1870s-1910 - Galion Allsteel Body Co. - Peabody-Galion Corp. - 1900s-present - Galion, Ohio

Peabody Galion Corp. – Galion, Ohio - Winesburg, Ohio & New York, NY –1900s - Peabody Galion Corp. name changed to Peabody International Corp. in 1976 - Dump bodies, The name "GALION" has been associated with quality, durability and innovations in the Dump Body market for close to 100 years. We take pride in the "customer satisfaction" generated by our product, which is attained by using only top grade materials, industry proven manufacturing techniques and documented quality assurance inspections during the production cycle. Galion is now part of the McClain Group McClain Industries Inc. , incorporated in 1968, is one of the nation's leading manufacturers of a diversified line of dump truck bodies, trailers, lift gates and solid waste handling equipment.

Originally Galion Buggy Co. Galion, OH?

Peabody Buggy Co. Fostoria, OH? ----

Gordon-Piatt, Inc. was formed by M. K. (Kern) Gordon and W. R. (Bill) Piatt, both of whom had worked for Sullivan Valve and Engineering Co. of Butte, Montana. In 1949 they decided to go into partnership and move to Kansas to establish a burner business closer to oil and natural gas supplies and a centrally located transportation network. They occupied the old parachute packing building (which structure later housed Mossman guitar factory and burned three months ago). They first manufactured two atmospheric gas burners. The company expanded, incorporated in 1955, and constructed new facilities in 1958. A highly reliable packaged forced draft combination gas-oil burner, trade-named "Turbo-Ring," with stainless steel combustion head, was patented and provided the impetus for further expansion into light and heavy oil systems, industrial register type burners, and newer systems which burn pulverized waste wood and other solid fuel combustible products. Divisions were established in Canada, England, Holland, and Australia, plus regional offices in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Stamford. The company merged in 1971 with Peabody-Galion Corp., headquartered in New York and Galion, Ohio, and the name of Peabody Gordon-Piatt, Inc. was adopted.

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ad in 1953 Silver Book pp96-97

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Galion Buggy Co. 1870s-1910

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Galion made a number of express bodies and some smaller dump bodies that could be easily installed on either stock of converted (heavy-duty suspension & drivetrain) Model T chassis.

The 1922 Galion catalogue show a small metal steel slip on body designed to bolt directly onto Model T roadsters, turning them into the first true pickup truck, which predated Ford's own pickup by a number of years.

Galion and Wood built all of the the dump, coal and garbage bodies offered by Ford on their heavy-duty AA and BB chassis during the 1930s.

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Although some very early Ford trucks were sold with commercial bodies, Ford discontinued the program in 1913.

For over ten years Ford had literally given away their truck body business to independent builders around the country and in 1923 decided to stop being so generous, and implemented a new fully equipped Ford Truck sales program starting with the 1924 model year.

Some of the 1924 Ford brand commercial bodies were built at Ford's Highland Park plant while others were outsourced from various suppliers who included Budd and Simplex Manufacturing. The first body made available was an all-steel express body, a canopy express body became available later in the year in three popular styles; totally open, screen-sided or with roll-up curtains.

The new Ford bodies were stocked by larger dealerships and could be ordered individually through regional Ford distributors by smaller dealers, who couldn't afford to keep them in inventory.

Following closely behind the express bodies was Ford's new enclosed cab which were easily identified by their sloping windshields and half moon openings in the rear quarters. By the middle of 1924 Ford had 8 distinct fully equipped (cab, chassis & body) light trucks available across the nation. Within 5 years many of the small commercial builders found themselves out of business, while larger ones prospered, providing that they were official Ford body suppliers.

In 1925 Ford introduced an optional body for their runabout which attached to the chassis in place of the rear deck. That body was the first production Ford pickup truck, a vehicle that eventually became the most popular motor vehicle in North America, and remains so today. The official name of the vehicle was the "Ford Model T Runabout with Pick-Up Body", and it sold for $281 fob Detroit. It featured four stake pockets and an adjustable tailgate, and required a 9-leaf rear spring.

Ford also introduced an enclosed cab to go along with their open cab in their new truck body program during the same year.

For more information please read:

www.mcclaingroup.com/galion

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Tad Burness - American Truck Spotter's Guide, 1920-1970

Tad Burness - American Truck & Bus Spotter's Guide, 1920-1985

Robert M Roll - American trucking: A seventy-five year odyssey

David Jacobs - American Trucks: A photographic essay of American Trucks and Trucking

David Jacobs - American Trucks: More Colour Photographs of Truck & Trucking

John Gunnell - American Work Trucks: A Pictorial History of Commercial Trucks 1900-1994