Editorʼs Notebook

Editorʼs Notebook

By Bill Blauvelt

While my father would later advertise that he offered tankwagon service, that was a misnomer. Dad offered tanktruck service for his bulk delivery tank was mounted on some kind of truck. His earliest Dodge truck was about the size of a modern pickup. As the years passed, the trucks got bigger. His largest, which was never put into service, held 5,000 gallons and was made to be pulled by a semi-tractor.

I suspect the 1903 tankwagon had a steel tank mounted on wagon gear pulled by a team of horses or mules. A decaying Standard Oil tankwagon like I envisioned in...