An antique automobile makes way for a newer convertible in December, 1952, as both are making use of the new drive-up teller window at North Pacific Bank. It appears that its driver is releasing the hand brake in preparation to motor on. Plate attached to vehicle's grill indicates that it belongs to City Motor Co. and South Tacoma Motor Co. Photograph ordered by South Tacoma Motor Co.
Automobiles--Tacoma--1950-1960; Banking--Tacoma--1950-1960; Banks--Tacoma--1950-1960; North Pacific Bank (Tacoma); South Tacoma Motor Co. (Tacoma);
Alan Buchan and his large staff of delivery truck drivers posed outside the Buchan's Baking Company bakery at 3802 Yakima Avenue South on October 11, 1958. The Buchan family had been in the bakery business in western Washington since 1913. The Buchan bakery in Tacoma opened in 1955 when they purchased the Morning Fresh Bakery at the corner of 38th and Yakima Avenue South. The building was originally built in 1919. The patriarch of the Buchan family business became a baker at the age of 14 in his native Scotland. The bakery was known for their "Bonnie Good Bread Baked in Tacoma" which was made of the choicest Northwest wheat and enriched with protein and vitamins. The Tacoma Buchan's was owned and operated by Alan G. Buchan; it closed in 1968 and the building has since been demolished. (Photograph ordered by Buchan's Baking Co.) TPL-9897
Ford Wonder Bread trucks are parked in a vaguely circular shape in the Continental Baking Co.'s vast parking lot on Sprague Ave. They would make deliveries of freshly baked Wonder Bread and other Continental products to local stores. The large number of trucks ensured that there would be no delay in delivering the baked goods in time for the stores' earliest customers. Sepia photograph ordered by Continental Baking Co.
Four new and old GMC trucks parked outside of Turner Towing on June 24, 1961. The tow trucks are ready to assist travelers with their automobile troubles. Each truck is clearly marked with the company's phone number, MA7-0077, and company symbol, a dragon with the words "White Drag-In" written on the truck doors. A large neon sign is attached to the two-story building housing the Turner Towing Co. Photograph ordered by Irwin-Jones Motor Co.
Esther Williams Girls riding down the 900 block of Broadway in sports cars. The automobile in foreground is a Jaguar roadster, an Austin-Healey is farther down the block. The bathing beauties are cruising Tacoma as an opening celebration of Washington Sports Shop being selected as the Tacoma dealer for the "Esther Williams Living Pool." The girls would also be appearing for a week daily in the store's display window on Pacific Avenue. The sports cars were supplied by Imported Motors. (TNT 8/2/1959, pg. A-10)
Sports cars--English; Publicity; Bathing beauties; Esther Williams Girls;
Line puller equipment mounted on a model F600 Ford truck, ordered by Morgan Power Apparatus of Des Moines, WA. This equipment was used for installing power lines.
Ford trucks; Electrical apparatus industry--1950-1960; Electrical apparatus;
Accident scene. Skidmarks are visible at the intersection of Ruston Way and No. 49th on December 17, 1971. Wooden railroad crossing signs warns of two tracks running alongside Ruston Way. Stop sign faces No. 49th, alerting drivers that they must yield to traffic on Ruston Way. Color photograph ordered by Unigard Insurance Co. for case involving insured Steve Liddane. TPL-6873
A Widing truck and trailer is on its way with dam gates in this March 16, 1972, photograph. The Japanese vessel, Shinkai Maru, had unloaded the gates at the Port of Tacoma's Pier 7. Photograph ordered by Coit & Associates, Portland.
New automobile unloading facility. Cars roll down the ramp at the new Milwaukee Road Union Pacific automobile unloading complex in Kent in the fall of 1969. The cars are brought in by rail and then can be easily transported using the Valley Freeway and 277th St. The multi-million dollar project was scheduled for dedication on October 1, 1969. Photograph ordered by the Milwaukee Road. (TNT 10-1-69, A-17)
Colorful row of new automobiles packed in the Vert-A-Pak bulk compact carrier. A unique way of transporting new vehicles was employed at the Kent Auto Marshaling complex run by the Milwaukee Road Union Pacific. The multi-million dollar facility had just opened in October of 1969. Cars would be shipped into the complex in these new vehicle boxcars and then dispersed using the conveniently placed freeway. This demonstration was put into actual practice with cars being transported from Chicago to Kent. Vert-A-Pak could carry 30 cars in a vertical position. Color photograph ordered by the Milwaukee Road. (TNT 8-23-70, A-19)
Automobile and two streetcars collide at 8th and North I Streets. Wreckage of automobile suspended from wrecking truck crane. Small crowd viewing wreck from the lawn below a large house. (T. Times).
ca. 1938. Truck manufactured for Cooney Transfer & Storage by the Highway Truck Co. Man in cab of truck; another man in frame work of flat bed holding machine and tools. Highway Truck Co. manufactured large, heavy duty work trucks. (T. Times 9/30/1938, pg. 8) (filed with Argentum)
ca. 1937. Automobile accident in South Tacoma, circa 1937. Highway lined with vehicles, including an Armour (meat products) truck, and telephone poles. Large group of people standing around wrecked automobile.
ca. 1926. A new 1926 Moon Jubilee 6-60 grinds up the steep So. K Street hill, showing off the strength of the new automobile. The Moon Jubilee was created to celebrate 20 years of automobile manufacturing by the Moon Motor Co. (1905-1929) of St. Louis, Mo. The vehicle, which sold for under $1,000, had European styling with a Continental motor. The local agent for Moon cars was the Bye Thompson Motor Sales Co., 3320 So. G St. The So. K St. hill, heading north from Center St., was often used to test the prowess of new cars. This portion of the road closed around 1960. A residence and the spire of Holy Rosary church can be seen in the background. (filed under Argentum)
ca. 1925. Automobile circa 1925. Sign in the windshield reads "Now count the stars." This sign may refer to the Durant Star Cars, manufactured from 1922- 28 to compete with Ford's Model T. (WSHS- negative A656-0)
ca. 1936. An O. B. King company truck loaded with large logs waits by the railroad tracks at the edge of the commercial district of a small town. A young woman, holding school books and reaching up to a log, stands beside the unattended truck.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Trucks--Tacoma--1930-1940; O.B. King Co. (Tacoma); Logs;
ca. 1941. Abbott Petroleum Co.'s "Deluxe Gasoline" truck parked in front of company offices circa 1941. The Abbott Co. were distributors of Sunset Oil Co. products.
Per Richards Studio notes: "New Sterling truck sold to Mr. Frank Douglas to use as Tacoma-Rainier Auto Freight truck." Frank Douglas was the owner of the Tacoma-Rainier Auto Freight Co. at 523 Puyallup Ave. Sterling trucks are still made today; they are specialized work trucks. (filed with Argentum)
Sterling trucks; Tacoma-Rainier Auto Freight Co. (Tacoma);
On February 27, 1947 at 10:05a.m., a southbound Northern Pacific train plowed into a Medosweet milk delivery truck on a private road crossing three and one half miles south of the Tacoma city limits. The crumpled truck lies a distance from the tracks and delivery cartons are scattered about the area. The truck was carried over 150 feet down the tracks. One Medosweet employee, supervisor Alex McBeath Jr., was killed and another seriously injured. (T Times 2/28/1947, pg. 3 - picture, 2/27/1947, pg. 1- story)
Wrecks; Traffic accidents--Tacoma--1930-1941; Medosweet Dairies, Inc. (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1930-1940;
ca. 1939. Jensen Fuel Co. heating oil delivery truck. Owned by Everett R. Jensen, Jensen Fuel was located at 5802 S. Washington. The company sold fuel in the forms of wood, sawdust, oil and coal.
Titus Motor Company delivers a new 1940 Ford truck to the G. Andersen Fuel Co. at their offices at 1549 Dock St. The 95 horsepower truck will bring the company's service fleet to 8 vehicles. Andersen has been in the fuel business for 20 years. Proudly posed with their new truck are O. Andersen, secretary and treasurer (left), and G. Andersen, president. (T. Times 12/13/1939, pg. 8) (filed with Argentum)
G. Andersen Fuel Co. (Tacoma); Ford trucks; Andersen, O.; Andersen, G.; Fuel trade--Tacoma--1930-1940; Fuel--Tacoma--1930-1940;
Truck built by Highway Truck Equipment for AA Star Transfer Co. photographed on May 29, 1940 in front of the Washington State Vehicle Safety Inspection Station, 3415 So. 38th St. Highway Truck Co. was located at 3224 South Tacoma Way and specialized in manufacturing hoists and bodies for dump trucks, trailers of all types, truck alterations and brake installations. (filed with Argentum)
Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Highway Truck Co. (Tacoma); Vehicle Safety Inspection Station (Tacoma);
It's "Thumbs up" all around as the British American War Relief Committee poses with a new ambulance in February of 1941. The ambulance, destined for Great Britain, was on display in front of the British American War Relief office at 914 1/2 Broadway. The "Thumbs up" Cavalcade of ambulances was on a three month tour of the U.S. with five members from professional football driving the vehicles. Doug Oldershaw of the NY Giants, believed fourth from left, was the driver of the ambulance that traveled to Tacoma from San Francisco. Each ambulance took a different route from California on the cross-country trip. Money was being raised during the tour to purchase airplane ambulances for the Royal Air Force. Names of the other individuals in the photograph were not provided. (T. Times 2/8/1941, pg. 3-article)
Ambulances--1940-1950; World War, 1939-1945--Ambulances--Tacoma; British American War Relief Committee (Tacoma);
This new oil delivery truck, with Clifford Griffin at the wheel, had just been purchased by the Griffin Fuel Company in August of 1940. It was made especially for quick small deliveries and had a visible recording meter. The Griffin Fuel Co. was a pioneer Tacoma firm founded in 1889. The truck is parked outside the company offices at 1910 Commerce Street. The building to the right was the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company Transfer House, 250 South 19th Street. The Transfer House is now part of the Library at the University of Washington Tacoma; the Griffin Fuel Co. building has been demolished. (T.Times 8-15-40, p. 4) (Additional identification provided by a reader)
Griffin, Clifford; Griffin Fuel Co. (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Snoqualmie Falls Power Co. Transfer House (Tacoma);
A dripping automobile is salvaged by the Coast Guard with grappling hooks on June 24, 1941, about two hours after it crashed through the guardrail on the 15th Street Bridge and sank in 30 feet of water. The lone occupant, Mrs. Bertha Woodard of Milton, drowned. A witness to the accident said that she had swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian. The police and fire departments were unable to bring the vehicle to the surface until the arrival of the Coast Guard. (T. Times 6/25/1941, pg. 1)
Tacoma Transit wreck. Tacoma Transit had most of their drivers on strike this week. The Transit Co. and the Union were at a standstill over seven cents. Many people were affected by the strike. Some bus drivers and other Tacoma Transit staff had decided to not strike. View of Tacoma Transit bus with "Sixth Avenue" sign on side and broken windows, after traffic accident.
A trailer is shown. It only has back wheels and is the type of trailer that would fit on a "fifth wheel" type of hitch such as in D21444-2. The trailer is parked next to a house in a residential neighborhood. Separate garages for several of the houses can be seen.
