Early trucking in British Columbia was like nowhere else in Canada. Drivers had to deal with the heaviest payloads, treacherous mountain passes and the rawest weather conditions.
That’s why every truck driver should visit the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum in Coquitlam, B.C. Located just north of the Lougheed Highway, crammed into an unassuming industrial unit, its 15 pre-1950s trucks offer a direct connection to a great historical legacy.
The trucks are small by today’s standards, but the smells of grease and 90 weight fluid are palpable as you step in the door. The crank on the 1929 White tanker has probably scraped a few knuckles over the years. This is a working garage and many of these heritage trucks are operable.
Curator Norm Lynch just drove the museum mascot 1928 Hayes Anderson last weekend in a Coquitlam parade. Built in Vancouver, it was a forerunner of the Hayes’ dynasty of heavy-duty trucks that would become world-famous. In its first incarnation, the two-ton box carried construction materials on deliveries around Vancouver and made the occasional milk run into the Fraser Valley. Today its use is limited to local parades and Canada Day celebrations.
Andy Craig’s red and silver 1936 Indiana is kept close to the door. The pioneer trucker started running Penticton-Vancouver for Inland Motor Freight in 1937 using the same model truck. He must have cut quite a figure. Early photos show him in knee-high breach boots wearing a jaunty cap.
Craig turned writer in his later years and wrote a book called 100 years of Trucking in British Columbia. He had a bunk installed in the nose of the Indiana’s cargo box where he slept when he was on tour selling his book.
Andy Craig passed away in 1987, but not before being honoured by the citizens of British Columbia. He and his 1936 Indiana were the first commercial truck and driver to roll across the newly-completed Coquihalla Highway in 1986.
The oldest truck in the collection is a 1914 FWD built in Clintonville, Ohio. The FWD stands for Four Wheel Drive and the vehicle saw service overseas in England during WWI. It more closely resembles a wagon than a truck, and is sharply contrasted by the 1935 K52 Dodge Airflow parked directly behind it. Decades ahead of anything in its class, its sleek hood-lines attest to a brief time in the 1930s when truck manufacturers were flirting with streamlined designs. 249 Dodge Airflow trucks were built and this is one of the few survivors.
A series of Maple Leaf Chevrolet three-ton trucks, all made in Oshawa, Ont., all with two gear shift sticks, demonstrate the evolution of the truck design over a decade. The 1935 Maple Leaf was literally cut out of the bush in Waldo, B.C. and restored by the fleet of museum volunteers. It has no windshield wipers and the windshield opens towards the driver. The truck also features the semaphore signal system. The driver operates and extendable arm by means of a lever. The arm sticks out from behind the cab: up means turning right, straight out means turning left, and down means the truck is stopping.
Next in line, the 1943 Maple Leaf was built during wartime to austere minimalist standards. It has canvas seats, a maple wood steering wheel and a driver’s side windshield wiper. It also sprouts a small, round driver’s side mirror.
Lastly, the 1946 Chev Maple Leaf has a synthetic steering wheel (made out of Melmac, a new plastic for the time) and two electric-driven windshield wipers. This vehicle is in mint condition and never had to be restored. It has only 77 miles on the odometer.
The 1946 Maple Leaf , like many others in the museum, originate from the collection of Aubrey (Bob) King. A Vancouver shipping magnate and avid collector of trucks, King had many of these units stored in his West Pender Warehouse over the years.
Ironically, it was a feud between King and the Teamsters that caused many of these trucks to be preserved in such good condition. Reportedly, King shut down his trucking company and warehouse in a fit of pique in 1958, after refusing a union demand for a two cent per hour increase. The trucks were sealed in the warehouse until 1974 when they were donated to the province.
The Teamsters Union entered the picture in 1996 when retired driver Norm Lynch was asked by then-president of Local 31 Garnet Zimmerman to find a truck from 1936 to commemorate the Local’s 60th anniversary. That effort resulted in the founding of the Teamster Freight Transportation Museum and Archives Society, with Lynch as curator.
The museum was granted its charter in 1997. The same year, the King collection was donated to the museum from a facility in Cloverdale, BC where it had been mothballed.
A personal element infuses many of the exhibits. A truck driver’s leather belt with silver badges cleated into its skin sits behind a glass case. The badges were chauffeur licenses from the 1930s. Other cabinets show BC license booklets (fee $1) from the early decades of trucking, and a union dues stamp book from 1937.
Nice touches include hand-crafted models of Hayes trucks, complete with figurines and miniature trees. A hooked rug of a GMC Astro mounted on the wall could certainly pass as folk art.
The volunteer members come from a variety of trucking backgrounds. Most are retired Teamsters, but not all. One is a truck mechanic. Lynch, himself, was a heavy haul specialist. Some of the older guys have spliced and braided sisal rope for the exhibits.
"In the old days before chains and tie-down straps with ratchets, everyone used rope," says Lynch. "Drivers would spend hours braiding ropes. Then they'd dip them in oil. We still have some guys that know how to do that."
Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum and Archives Society.
1580 Kingsway
Coquitlam, BC.
Port Open every Thursday 7:30am-3:30pm
For info call Norm Lynch 604-803-6314.
Check the website as well: www.tftmas.org