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A Brief History of Car Shipping in the United States and How We Got Started Shipping Cars

When a trucker gets out of the truck’s sleeping compartment and drives off, perhaps to flex his muscles or take a cold shower and a cup of coffee, that individual appears to be enjoying the job. Sure, today’s rugged-looking 18-wheelers attribute their fame and vigor to their comparatively larger engines and all-terrain-conquering design. Sometimes, though, it pays to look back down the well-trodden path this profession has followed.

But first, what is a semi-trailer?

There are certainly many things we don’t know about 18-wheelers, including the fact that they are “semi-trailers.” It turns out that the brains behind the whole idea, a certain Alexander Winton from Cleveland, Ohio, came up with the first of these designs. His semi-trailer vehicles featured a cargo trailer attached and supported at the front end by a tractor fifth wheel.

And, today’s tractor trailers or 18-wheelers are a bit different than they were in the 1890s. Yes, the unique crop of vehicles is truly an eyesore as they cross our country roads, but they are a fundamental necessity. Some can even carry up to 800,000 pounds. More than 70% of all freight in the US reaches its final destination thanks to these convenient vehicles.

History at a glance:

1898: Alexander Winton creates the first semi-trailers

1899: Winton begins commercial production of trucks.

1916: Mack joins the fray with his rear-axle truck

1920: The first “truck boom”.

1939: Peterbilt sells the first semi-trailers

1953: Freightliner introduces the first convertible roof

1986: The Peterbilt 379 becomes the best-selling truck

Alexander Winton: How he invented the first tractor-trailer designed to haul cars.

The idea of ​​shipping goods by road was born in the 1890s when an automobile manufacturer discovered the need for a convenient vehicle to transport goods. Alexander Winton of The Winton Motor Carriage Company of Cleveland created an 18-wheeler while going about his car sales business. The Scottish man was experiencing tremendous growth in his car business and needed to be “smooth” and better than his competitors.

You see, Winton would experience endless difficulties delivering cars to his large number of buyers spread across the US He feared having to literally drive the new car to the customer’s garage and risk damaging it. The very idea of ​​driving someone a thousand miles away would practically cost a lot, maybe more than sending it.

As a result, the problem of car delivery made it easy to introduce the concept of trucks with 18-wheelers. All that was needed was a tractor and the truck, although one surprising drawback to it all was that the semi-trailer could only carry one vehicle at a time.

But the invention of the “car carrier” not only paved the way for massive sales, it also ushered in a new era in car shipping. In 1899, the renowned automaker finally released the first semi-trailer truck. Before that, notably in 1898, he had managed to sell as many as 22 manufactured cars and another 100 cars in 1899.

As mentioned above, the first semi featured the skeleton of a custom tractor, but with a cart secured to the rear. It meant that, unlike the common idea at the time: the engines were built at the front, the engine was at the rear.

And while early versions proved useful, they were very labor intensive and yet could only carry a single car. However, its growth in demand created a whirlwind of modifications designed to improve its usefulness and productivity. The phenomenon resulted in Alexander Winton’s competing car manufacturing companies relentlessly trying to usurp him into the business.

The expansion:

With him focusing on creating better-performing engines, his interest in improving the design of his early semi-trailers would continue to wane. Credit goes to names like Detroit’s August Charles Fruehauf, who helped ease the ship-shipping process. But it is John C. Endebrock (1918) who had so much experience building horse-drawn carriages that he decided to use the same knowledge and inspire the creation of the “trailmobile”.

The design of the 1918 would allow the trailer to be hitched to the vehicle easily and by a single operator. It was an improvement over the old one that needed at least three men to connect it to the car’s chassis, and therefore an instant hit. To date, Trailmobile continues to exist as a great brand.

There was yet another modification in the 1920s, thanks to George Cassens. He was a smart car salesman who often delivered cars to buyers. He therefore created a semi-trailer that could carry up to four, and its carrying capacity increased. Much of the inspiration to create it came from the prohibitively high shipping costs.

Just when you thought the new semi would steal the show, Mack Trucks arrived. Between 1929 and 1944, the firm would grow in popularity for its self-starting truck engines. Mac was a sudden trendsetter in the industry, mostly because all of his trucks were durable. More than 2,601 semitrailers or full trailers in that period was no small feat.

In a period spanning more than a century, Winton’s two-wheel semi has evolved into an eighteen-wheel semi with three axles. And with semi-trailer trucking serving as the backbone of the commercial trucking industry, the fact that more than 70% of all freight is transported by vehicle in the US today is no surprise.