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Adam Black started a small blacksmith and wagon building shop in Jersey
City, New Jersey in 1886. Black specialized in horse-drawn commercial
vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, and as Jersey City grew, so did his
business. When his sons, Edward A., Clarence B., and Frederick O. Black
became old enough he brought them into the business renaming it Adam Black &
Sons.
When early self-propelled commercial chassis became available, Black
supplied their bodywork, and he became well-known for his Model T-based
hacks and delivery vans.
As did most urban truck body suppliers, a large part of Black’s business
involved installing knocked-down van, coal, dump and refuse bodies supplied
by larger mid-west manufacturers although they occasionally built custom
bodies for local businessmen and municipalities.
On September 4, 1925, Adam Black & Sons filed papers of incorporation,
with a capitalization of $150,000. Officers included Edward A., Clarence B.,
and Frederick O. Black.
The third generation of Blacks took over in the 1940s, with William C.
Black, the founder’s grandson, president. Black was an authorized Mid-West
Body and Anthony Hydraulic Hoists dealer during the 1940s and 50s. In the
1950s they also built a truck-mounted swimming pool that was donated to the
Jersey City Rotary for use by the city’s residents.
The firm built a few automobile-based ambulances for regional rescue
squads starting in the late 20s. Their mid-1930s models were attractive,
emulating the style of the major mid-west manufacturers. Production
continued into the early 1970s using Ford, Chevrolet and GMC vans and
Suburbans.
Black also built rescue bodies for regional fire and civil defense
agencies on light and medium duty chassis from the 30s through the 1970s.
Known customers included fire and rescue agencies in Saddle Brook, Point
Pleasant Beach, and Boonton, New Jersey as well as Greenwich, Connecticut.
In conjunction with United Parcel Service engineers, Adam Black & Sons
helped design the now-infamous P600 package delivery truck that was
introduced in 1966. Black also received a portion of the contract to build
the P600, but as they did not have the capacity to build the numbers
required by UPS, two other manufacturers, Union City and Grumman-Olson also
produced the P600.
Along with the rest of the country’s truck body builders, Adam Black &
Sons experienced an economic downturn in the late 70s, and unable to
recover, closed its doors in 1983.
A handful of Black bodied vehicles are known to exist, a 1964 Dodge
Salvage & Rescue truck and a 1965 Chevrolet van-based ambulance.
The former Adam Black & Sons factory at 276-300 Tonnele Ave is now a
U-Haul Moving Center.
© 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com |
