Diamond T

His shoemaker father invented the T in a Diamond logo, so it was applied to the first cars C A Tilt made from 1905 in Chicago. In 1911 a customer asked for a truck, beginning a long line of top-quality commercial vehicles. indeed, Diamond T was often called 'the Cadillac of trucks'. They were well-built, stylish and impressive; around 250,000 were produced in over half a century. The Diamond T 980 was a civilian heavy truck bought in quantity by the British Purchasing Commission in 1939 as a tank transporter tractor unit for the British Army, towing a three-axle trailer, and later artic trailers. This vehicle was also later adopted by the US Army as the M20, and it gave decades of postwar civilian service with heavy haulage firms. The Diamond T 969 was another truck which gave useful service as a wrecker. As well as heavy trucks and military vehicles, Diamond T produced a line of stylish pickup trucks, including the classic 201 one-tonner. Production peaked in the late 1940s, and in the 1950s Diamond T used a standard cab made by the Chicago Mfg Co, which was also used by other truck makers including International and Oshkosh. In 1958 the White Motor Co acquired Diamond T, and in 1967 it was merged with Reo (also White-owned) to form Diamond Reo. All trucks were from then on built in the Reo plant in Lansing, and the separate Diamond T badge disappeared.