This 1912 C-T electric truck is a heavy-duty four-wheel drive Model A 10 that was produced by the Commercial Truck Company of Philadelphia. Presented in complete, original and un-restored condition, this interesting piece of history was the fourth of 22 used almost daily by the Curtis Publishing Company for more than half a century. According to the seller, 20 trucks worked nearly non-stop in shifts hauling blank paper to the factory and printed magazines to the Post Office and customers, with two reserved for carrying coal to fire the printing plant’s huge steam boilers. Some 45 lead-acid batteries are used to power four 85-volt, 10-amp GE motors for a top speed of 12 MPH empty and two-thirds of that figure laded with a max of ten tons of cargo. Impressively, 15 are believed to remain, and though this one’s certainly a bit scruffy, it still works and looks built well enough to do so for another 106 years. Find it here on Craigslist in Winfield, West Virginia for $39,900. Special thanks to BaT reader The S. and several others for this submission.

In 1912 the Curtis Publishing Company of Philadelphia was faced with a very real economic concern–draft horses were expensive, they needed to eat, they needed to rest periodically, and they needed well trained men to take care of them, but electric trucks required very little in comparison. The extensive ad for this truck covers all of this and more in fascinating, well-written detail, and explains how horse flesh was traded for trucks–it’s definitely worth a read. This period photo shows a truck hauling rolls of blank paper.

All 22 of these trucks were originally open-air with a simple folding top. However, at some point the Charles Wacker Company built and installed the more modern closed cab on 20. Red oak was used for the construction of the cab and it matches the rest of the vehicle. The truck bed however is two sections of 1/4″ thick steel plate over 2″ thick red oak, and it is secured by over 500 bolts–this kind of incredible over-building is likely a large contributor to so many surviving 100+ years later. The yellow area below the bed is the battery compartment, and while pneumatic tires were available, solid rubber items were specced from new here.

Intriguingly, the steering and throttle are both combined on the single vertical shaft seen here. The spokes can be seen, but the rims for both wheels are missing. The top wheel was for steering, and the lower wheel controlled the throttle which handled both forward and reverse. Turning it clockwise accelerated the truck forward, an opposite movement slowed or reversed the truck–a foot brake was also provided.

The (nearly) Edwardian Era gauges are very cool.

Each wheel is backed by one 85-volt, 10-amp General Electric motor. The each produced 16 HP when new, and give the truck true four wheel drive.

In the battery compartment, nine trays were used to hold a 500 pound, five-foot-long lead-acid battery pack that produced 10 volts. Today five modern 12-volt batteries can replace the 45 originals for full power, but according to the seller just one 12-volt will suffice to move it. Interestingly, the seller says each truck could operate for 22 hours (unladen) on a single charge. A full recharge took two hours, battery units could be swapped (technology the Curtis Publishing Company employed), and ten years of service was possible before needing to rebuild the batteries.

Twenty trucks were used from 1912 to 1964 to silently deliver the above listed periodicals to a sleeping city.