Ron the Yarn Spinner

 

 DIVCO

 

Only the VW Beetle stayed in production with the same basic model longer than the Divco.  And if you looked at them from the front, they had similarities.

 The Divco truck shown above bears the name “Borden Dairy,” and while I cannot forget Elsie the Cow, it was the driver for Hawthorn Mellody farms (like the man in the photo below) that delivered dairy products to our house – and then milk to the elementary school I attended: St, Francis of Assisi on Chicago’s west side. The older boys helped unload the milk each school day morning. It took two of us to carry the heavy oak crates with metal dividers between the glass bottles into the school building.

 

 

What I found fascinating about the Divco truck was that it was the only vehicle I ever saw that you drove while standing up.

Divco was a brand name of delivery vehicles made in Detroit  and sold in the U.S. The name is an acronym which stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company. With a walk-through aisle, Divco became the choice for compact frequent-stop delivery trucks particularly by dairy companies for sixty-years.  (1926 until 1986.)

There were different models, but in most Divco trucks the throttle (gas) and the brake controls were mounted on the steering columns allowing driving while standing to make it easier and faster for the delivery driver to make his rounds. This was important since most Divcos were not refrigerated. Perishable loads such as milk crates loaded were covered with crushed ice. (We had to get the milk into the school as quickly as possible on warn days.) Unfortunately, the ice made the truck prone to rust from the inside out, but the trucks did have a very long useful life. You might say they did a stand-up job. (Ouch)