Feature Truck
for Winter 2003
1911
by Don Hays
This featured truck is a 1911 Randolph. My attention was called to this truck because of the loose wooden-spoke wheels. The years have dried the wood and left them loose in its metal frame. Two of our volunteer wheel workers, Dale Simmons and Jocko Pettit took on the project of restoring them. While watching them work on the project, I thought our members would be interested in knowing more about this rare relic.
Randolph is one of the three “R” trucks that is said to become the predecessor to GMC Trucks. The other two companies that were bought by Durant at General Motors, were Reliance and Rapid. Durant combined them and built GCM. The museum also has a Reliance truck on display.
The museum’s Randolph has a horizontally-opposed 2-cylinder engine, 3 speed transmission, solid-rubber tires,and a right-side steering wheel. In 1908 a Chicago , Illinois garage owner formed the Randolph Motor CAar Co. In 1910, General Motors Co. bought Randolph and moved it to Flint, Michigan. In 1912 the original owner bought back the Randolph production line, reorganized it as the Randolph Motor Truck Co., and rented the factory space from General Motors. However, General Motors sold dthe factory to the Sterling truck company. Unable to find new factory space, Randolph closed down in 1913.
Randolph’s first light delivery vans were powered by two-cylinder engines. The one ton model 14 used a 206-cubic inch displacement, 22.1 hp 4 cylinder engine. Randolph also built trucks up to 4-ton capacity and called its trucks the Strenuous Randolph. It featured two radiators in side panels under the drivers seat and water was circulated by a large centrifugal pump. Single-elliptic springs were used in front and full-elliptic springs in the rear.
Writing about this Randolph brought back memories from 1987 when Pop Hays and his son Don found it in Wetaskiwin, Alberta Canada. They made the journey to Stan Reynolds place south of Edmonton to look at the non-Canadian trucks he had for sale. It seems the government was building a large museum nearby and they wanted the Reynolds collection of Canadian built equipment. Two days were spent walking through the tall moist grass, looking at treasures that were covered with rust. Each truck that peaked Pop Hays’ interest was inspected and measured.
The evenings were spent doing a loading layout for a 48 foot flatbed semi. The plan was to load three semis with five trucks on each. Once the load plan was made, the negotiations with Stan Reynolds began. A deal was completed for fifteen rusty old trucks. Within two weeks customs was cleared and Hays Transportation sent trucks to haul them home to Woodland California.