In the 1920s, delivery vehicles made by the Detroit Electric Vehicle Company were—as the company’s name suggests—powered by batteries. When George Bacon, the outfit’s chief engineer, suggested using a gasoline engine to overcome all-electric range limitations, his bosses balked. So he left the company to form the Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company (Divco), which became the dominant maker of milk delivery trucks.
1951 Divco dairy truck, a barn find
Today, you can get groceries and meals delivered to your home via smartphone apps such as Doordash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats. Way ahead of its time, the dairy industry for most of the 20th century sent the milkman to deliver fresh milk to your doorstep. The legacy of that simpler time can be remembered by the surviving Divco milk trucks—models available on eBay Motors like this disused 1947 Divco model and this 1951 Divco barn find.
Deliveries of dairy products right to your door were commonplace in mid-century America. Historical photos, like this one from 1953, give a glimpse of that time.
Those surviving models are waiting to take on a new life, as this 1942 truck—a rare product of a collaboration between Divco and General Motors—did when it was restored and put to use promoting a yogurt store. The creative reuse of these cool delivery vehicles will help keep the legacy of Divco and the great American milkman alive. Divco truck parts and accessories are readily available on eBay Motors.
This 1942 van is badged as a Chevrolet. It’s reportedly only one of about five built before General Motors went into wartime production.
The first Divco models were boxy and practical and had vehicle controls—including the throttle and brakes—mounted on the steering column, allowing drivers to stand. In fact, to enable easy deliveries, the early models could also be controlled from the rear of the truck and from the running boards on either side.
Early models used packed ice to keep dairy products cool. Refrigerated models didn’t arrive until 1954 when refrigeration vans were offered as a regular production option.
The design commonly seen in barn-find models is a welded all-steel van body with a snub-nosed hood. That was introduced in the mid-1930s—and survived mostly intact for about a half-century until production of the trucks ended in 1986 and the era of door-to-door milk deliveries came to a close.
