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DIVCO - Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company -1925-1986 - Warren, Michigan

22000 Hoover Rd, Warren, MI

Divco was began by George Bacon in 1925, he designed a new milk delivery truck. It could be driven from four different positions, front, rear and either running board. Divco was originally located on Fort St. West in Detroit. The site has since changed and moved many times. In 1932 Divco went bankrupt and all assets were turned over to Continental Motors. (12801 East Jefferson Ave) The Fageol Brothers reorganized Divco in 1937 and began the Divco-Twin Truck Co. located on Hoover Rd, in Warren, MI. The name changed in 1944 to The Divco Corporation. In 1956 they moved to Richmond, IN, and bought Wayne Works, later they moved to New York, their new name was Divco-Wayne Corp. In 1967 they were purchased by Boise-Cascade, the truck manufacturer was spun off to Highway Products in Kent,OH. They were only interested in the milk truck contract. They moved the operation to Delaware, OH and ended the history in Detroit. The company again went bankrupt in 1987.

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n 1922, George Bacon, Chief Engineer for the Detroit Electric Vehicle Company designed a remarkable new milk delivery truck. It could be driven from four positions, front, rear, or either running board. But battery power was no match for winter weather, heavy loads (such as milk) or long days on the city streets. His employer balked at making a gasoline powered truck, so Bacon and other investors formed the Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company (D.I.V.CO.) to produce his invention using a LeRoi gasoline engine. After testing a prototype in 1924, and 25 more prototypes with the Detroit Creamery in 1925, Bacon and his investors were ready to go into business:

This information is paraphrased from the Automotive Encyclopedia:
(1) Detroit Industrial Vehicle Co., Detroit, Mich. 1926-1927
(2) Divco-Detroit Corp., Detroit, Mich. 1927-1934
(3) Continental-Divco Co., Detroit, Mich. 1934-1935
(4) Divco-Twin Truck Co., Detroit, Mich. 1936-1944
(5) Divco Corp., Detroit, Mich. 1944-1956
(6) Divco Truck Div., Divco-Wayne Corp., Detroit, Mich. 1957-1967
(7) Divco Truck Co., Transairco, Inc., Delaware, Ohio 1968-1972
(8) Divco Truck Co., Correct Mfg. Co., Delaware, Ohio 1972-1986

The original Divco milk truck resulted from an electric prototype built by George Bacon, chief engineer of Detroit Electric Car Co. Built in 1922 it had four driver positions, front, rear, and from the running boards on both sides. Three years later a separate company, Detroit Industrial Vehicle Co. was set up to market a gasoline-engined version. This went onto the market in 1926 as the "Divco", powered by a 4-cylinder Continental engine with Warner 4-speed transmission.

The first 25 Divcos were forward-control vans with a front-hinged door through which the driver could step ahead of the axle. Control from the running boards was also possible.

But development of such a specialized "Multi-Stop" vehicle was expensive. Among unexpected expenses were the design of heavier brakes, clutch and generating systems than most vehicles of the time required. New capitol was needed, and the company was reorganized in 1927 as the Divco Detroit Corporation.

In 1928 came the Model G which had a short hood and was available with van or open-sided bodies. The control was from the normal position, either sitting or standing or from either running board, using a tiller for steering. A later development was the model H. This model was the first Divco to have a drop frame with the walk-through aisle which became a basic Divco feature. Subsequent improvements took manufacture all the way through the Model "S" Divco by the mid-1930s.

Divco Detroit was hit hard by the depression, and in 1932 the company was purchased by Continental Motors, one of their largest suppliers. It was renamed "Continental-Divco Corporation."

In 1936 through a stock manipulation, Divco was divested from Continental Motors, and merged with the truck business of the Twin Coach Co. of Kent, Ohio, who were making a similar vehicle. Under direction of the Fageol family the merged companies and products were known as Divco-Twin until the Twin Coach name was dropped during WWII in 1944. After that the firm was simply known as the Divco Corporation.

In 1937 the Divco was completely redesigned with a welded all-steel van body and a snub-nosed hood which was used with virtually no change up to the end of production. A huge new plant was built on Hoover Road near Detroit to manufacture the first snub-noses which appeared in service in 1939. The doors were of the folding, semi-automatic type, and the power unit was still a 4-cylinder Continental. In 1940 the first insulated and refrigerated unit was built. But production was stopped so the plant could be used for war materials during WWII. After the war, the 1946 Divcos were basically similar to pre-war, and came in two wheelbases, the 100-3/4 inch Model UM and 127 inch model ULM. GVW were 9000 and 12,000 lbs. and engines were 4- and 6-cylinder Continentals. In the early postwar years production briefly reached 7000 annually, more than double the best pre-war figures. In 1954 refrigerated vans were offered as a regular production option, and the forward-control Dividend series made its debut in 1956. Continental 4- and 6-cylinder and Hercules 6-cylinder engines were standard in the 1950s, while in the 1960s 6-cylinder ohv Nash engines were used in addition, and there was also the option of a Detroit-Diesel 3-53N 3-cylinder 2-stroke diesel.

In 1957 Divco Corporation bought the Wayne Works, a school bus builder in Richmond, Indiana, and renamed itself, Divco-Wayne Corporation. Snub-nosed products remained about the same, but the firm put more emphasis on the larger forward control vehicle designed to tap into more delivery truck markets, including the growing wholesale delivery of dairy products. Dividend Series trucks were also modified with seats and windows from the Wayne Works to produce a Dividend Bus. But very few of these units were built between 1959 and 1961.

Starting in 1964 engine options were Ford F240 and F300 6-cylinder gasoline units, which eventually became standard for the Divco range. The snub-hood models were continued in several sizes and there was also the forward-control Dividend in three sizes, from 3000 to 9200 lbs. payload, made up to 1966.

The largest Divco ever made appeared in 1961 - this was a 6 ton refrigerated wholesale delivery model with Dividend chassis and cab, and a separately attached van body in 14-, 16- or 18-foot lengths.

In 1968, The Divco-Wayne Corp. was acquired by Boise-Cascade, Inc., and delivery truck production was spun off to Highway Products, Inc., a company using the old Twin Coach plant in Kent, Ohio to build trucks and buses. Highway Products immediately resold the Divco line to Trainsairco, later Correct Manufacturing, a family of businesses owned by Glenn Way, in Delaware, Ohio. Down a year to move production from Detroit to Delaware, the Divco assembly line reopened in 1969 producing far fewer trucks annually. The final models were the 300 and 200 series with 115 inch and 127inch wheelbases, and load capacities from 6000 to 10,000 lbs. The same Ford gasoline engines as in 1963 were available, with an optional 3-speed dual range automatic transmission. Diesels included Detroit, Caterpillar or Deutz. Chassis were also produced for other uses, including Divco Refuse trucks

In addition to Divcos, Correct produced truck beds and Skyworker Cranes. Product liability suits against some of these in the 1980's and the resulting court battles forced the company into bankruptcy in 1985. The final Divco trucks were produced under the authority of the bankruptcy trustee in January, 1986, and the assets of the company were then liquidated. With no more trucks being produced, one by one the dealerships closed, until there was only one left. The last dealership in America was Tri-City Divco Sales in Rock Island, IL.

The final Divcos produced looked like the truck above. But today there is a growing interest in all models of Snub-Nosed delivery trucks and their ancestors. The Divco Club of America is the oldest and largest group of Divco enthusiasts, collecting, restoring, and operating Divcos for pleasure and business. Our library is stocked with Divco literature, manuals and advertising materials. We catalog parts sources to keep Divcos running and facilitate restoration. And we offer a number of fun Divco related products for members. A partial listing of some "Divco Stuff" is available by clicking HERE.

A more complete Divco history was written in 1997 by DCoA Members Dr. Robert Ebert (DCoA #148) and John S. Rienzo, Jr. (DCoA #041) Copies are still available from the publisher:

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Divco's Past in the Present

The very first truck of what would later become known as “DIVCO’s” was an electric vehicle designed by George Bacon, Chief Engineer of the Detroit Electric Car Company, on Antoinette Street in Detroit. The firm was owned by William Anderson. who authorized construction of a test vehicle in 1920. Unfortunately, in tests for the Detroit Creamery, it became apparent that battery power was not the way to go when delivering perishable milk products in very hot or very cold weather.

When DECC went bankrupt, Bacon presented his designs to others, and the Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company (D. I. V. C. O.) was founded to manufacture the truck using a LeRoi gasoline engine. This proved much more practical, and in 1926 and 1927 a total of 25 trucks were tested by Detroit Creamery, produced in a plant on Fort Street West, a main Detroit thoroughfare.

The success of these first “DiVcos” brought in new capital to put the truck into full production. With the new funding came a new name, “Divco Detroit Corporation,” and a new factory, located at 2435 Merrick Avenue, near Grand River in Detroit, which was the old Gemmer Manufacturing Corporation plant. (This company later made Divco’s steering gears.)

Unfortunately, because of the rigors of multi-stop delivery, many components had to be developed from scratch. Heavier brakes, clutches, transmissions, higher output generators, and other components to withstand up to 300 starts and stops, and long idle times each day, needed to he designed and created. The work quickly exhausted most of the capitalization acquired in 1927 and so by the Great Depression, the company was just barely getting by, ultimately being taken over by a committee of its creditors in 1931.

In April, 1932 the company was auctioned by the Creditors Committee, with a winning bid accepted from Continental Motors. The name was changed to “Continental Divco Company,” and the operations were moved to the Continental Building at 12801 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. The facility on Merrick Avenue still stands, today being used as a recycling center.

Continental Divco was short lived however. New investors purchased the Divco line while at the same time buying the rights to delivery trucks produced by the Twin Coach Company of Kent, Ohio. Twin Coach, which was formed by the Fageol family to build buses and trucks, stopped producing trucks in Kent, and in May and June, 1936, the new firm combined both truck operations as the “Divco-Twin Truck Company,” and apparently continued production of both style vehicles on Jefferson Avenue.

Demand grew and in late 1937 property was purchased at 22000 Hoover Road in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan, and a new, modem production factory was built, being occupied in July, 1939. The company offices also were moved to that location, with the move coinciding within months of the introduction of the new “Snub-Nosed” style delivery truck. The new design superseded both the Divco and Twin Coach style trucks made until then. The company continued to be known as “Divco-Twin,” as they wanted to keep the loyal customers of both firms. They also promoted the plant and office location as being in Detroit, as “Detroit” was still one of the initials in the original Divco name. The company name was changed to simply the “Divco Corporation” in January, 1944 as the Twin Coach name no longer served a purpose.

The old Continental plant found other uses and parts of it are still standing in 1996. Still visible is the name “Continental” spelled out in the brick of the structures tall smokestack.

During WWII the Hoover Road plant was taken over by the War Board for the production of aircraft parts, and other military items. Truck production was suspended for the duration, and by the war’s end, the pent up demand sparked factory additions. The new, expanded plant continued truck production for many more years.

In November, 1956, Divco Corporation acquired the assets of Wayne Works, Inc., a manufacturer of school and other bus bodies. Delivery truck production continued on Hoover Road, but corporate offices of the newly renamed “Divco-Wayne Corporation” were moved to the Wayne Works bus production hometown of Richmond, Indiana. The firm also diversified with funeral car and ambulance production by Miller-Meteor in Bellefontaine, Ohio, electronics components formerly made by a division of Gruen Watch Co in Cincinnati, Ohio, and special contracts operations performed in at the Wayne Piqua Division in Piqua, Ohio.

Many other worldwide manufacturing operations were acquired in the early 1960’s as the conglomerate continued to diversify, including Estavan Industries, through a Canadian subsidiary, and mobile home production in England.

The growth of Divco-Wayne attracted other conglomerates as well, and in 1967 and 1968 D-W was acquired itself by Boise-Cascade Corporation, which spun off delivery truck manufacturing in 1968 to Hiway Products Corporation. Interestingly enough, H-P also had bought the rights to manufacture buses under the Twin Coach name, and set about establishing bus production in the old Twin Coach building in Kent Ohio.

Their primary purpose in buying Divco rights was to land a lucrative contract to build mail trucks, however, and to raise start-up capital to make them, the rights for multi-stop snub nosed truck manufacture were resold to interests controlled by Glen W. Way along with the Divco brand name. The firms’ divisions included Hughes-Keenan, which made Roustabout Cranes, Transairco, and Correct Manufacturing. The Divco production plant on Hoover Road was later sold to Chrysler Corporation which used it for several years. Today three unrelated businesses occupy the property. None uses the 22000 Hoover Road address. [Today, it is empty and up for sale or lease – MikeM]

In 1968 the snub-nosed production line was moved for the last time, to a former crane factory in Delaware, OH. It was here production ceased in January, 1986 after G. W. Way suffered a stroke and his businesses interests were liquidated. Today the complex is mostly abandoned, but some minor hints of Divco construction still remain.

The trademark rights to the Divco brand name, logos, and snub nosed truck production remain held by the bankruptcy estate of Correct Mfg. Apparently there are no plans to revive the brand.