Mack truck history

To all of you Mack Truck lovers, here's the history of it. Enjoy!
In the early 1900s as Americans began their love affair with the automobile, trucks were an afterthought. Trucks were largely assembled with surplus or obsolete car parts
. John (Jack) Mack was to change all that.

Jack Mack was one of five brothers raised on his German parents' farm near Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1878 Jack ran away from home to work as a teamster. He was 14 years old. Mack learned how to work steam engines, a talent which took him to sea. He worked for several years on ships and docks around the United States and the Panama Canal region.

With his seafaring wanderlust sated, Mack and his brother Augustus purchased a small carriage and wagon building firm in Brooklyn in 1893. It was not a good time to start a business as the country was gripped by economic depression and the Macks filled few orders. They did, however, establish a reputation as first class repairmen for wagons.

Jack and Augustus began experimenting with the new self-propelled vehicles that were beginning to sputter around big city streets. Many of their early failed creations ended up in the East River as fish-breeding environments. In 1900, after eight years of work, the first hand-crafted Mack motor vehicle was ready.

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Linda Costner
truck toppers