A Diamond T in the rough
Here's another hauler for Robb Mariani and his American Trucker crew to inspect when they get to Cuba . This bruiser, advertised on Revolico.com, is a 1952 Diamond T dump truck. Built in Chicago, the Diamond T was known as "the Cadillac of trucks." These days, of course, Cadillac makes its own trucks, or at least sport-utilities, but it was strictly a passenger car producer throughout the Diamond T's 62-year run. Diamond T also started as a carbuilder. C.A. Tilt, son of a successful shoe manufacturer, founded the Diamond T Motor Car Co. in 1905 to make four-cylinder roadsters. In 1911, after assembling a truck at the request of a customer who owned a plumbing supply company, Tilt decided that commercial vehicles represented a better opportunity and shifted his production exclusively to trucks. Tilt's enterprise would become one of the largest independent truck builders in the United States, turning out some 250,000 vehicles over more than five decades....