Autocar

AUTOCAR Truck Operator Manual PDF

Autocar U7144 Operator Manual

Autocar Trucks History

At the origins of Autocar was a small firm Pittsburgh Motor Vehicle Company, which in 1897 in the city of the same name in Pennsylvania, the brothers Louis and John Clark founded for the production of Pittsburger cars. Having moved to the city of Erdmore, on August 28, 1899 the company was named Autocar. This company before the trucks made small buses with units under the driver's seat and the frame of the machine. The first cargo Autocar appeared in 1907. In 1911 the company stopped the production of cars and was engaged only in the production of trucks. During the First World War, they also met in Canada and Britain.

In 1919, production of cars with a carrying capacity of 2-5 tons began, as well as electric vehicles with a carrying capacity of 1-3 tons. By the mid-20's. in the program of the company there were already 20 models with the carrying capacity from 500 kg to 5 tons. By this time, all the units for their cars manufactured independently. The first loud glory for Autocar came in the very beginning of the 30s. with the development of a compact all-metal, car-type cab above the engine, with a slightly forward-facing front round panel. Since 1933 it was installed on trucks of the "U" series. The cabin proved to be so successful that its style, forms and constructive principles immediately used White, Mack and GMC on their cars. By 1935, the first experiments of Autocar with the use of Waukesha diesel engines on their beskapotnye chassis are included.

In 1938, the company offered 28 models with a total mass of 6.0-22.5 tons. Despite the extensive program, the total production volumes for the army were insignificant, so at the end of the war, the situation of the company Autocar began to deteriorate. In 1946, she proposed a more modest range of standardized 2- and 3-axle machines. In the 50-ies. The activity of Autocar was reduced to the creation of versions of the base chassis and the development of a new more convenient cabin. In 1953, Autocar, who was in financial clutches, came under the control of White. The production was transferred to Ixton, Pennsylvania. The company began to specialize in the manufacture of chassis and tractors for construction, logging, coal and oil industry, road services.

In 1980, to reduce production costs, the production of the entire Autocar range was moved to the White plant in Ogden, where Western Star trucks were built. The following year the new owner of White was the Swedish company Volvo. With the formation in 1988 of a group of Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corporation with the trademark White GMC, Autocar continued to assemble the same chassis that was combined into the "ACL" range. If all the products of the new company wore the White-GMC brand, Autocar's trucks were called Autocar-White-GMC. Since July 1995 on all cars the White-GMC brand has been replaced by Volvo.

Autocar remained part of Volvo until 2000, when the brand was withdrawn from the market. After Volvo acquired the North American division of Renault Trucks in 2001, Volvo agreed to sell the new Xpeditor chassis, intellectual property and the Autocar Company brand to Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, LLC from Highland Park, Illinois. Under the Autocar brand, garbage and specialized trucks are now being manufactured.