MTFCA Forum

Here is a Coke bottling or delivery TT truck. Early days of Coke it seems.

Coke goes back to the 19th century. Dr. Pepper, likewise. Coke was a real "energy drink" then!

Yup, 1886.

So, do you suppose there was any breakage of bottles on their way to the designated stores?

The famous Coke bottle design, introduced to the market in 1915, was two-fold. One was to be instantly recognizable. The other was a built-in strength to resist breakage. Bottles cost money, and recycling them, washing and sterilizing saved a lot of money for the bottler to reuse the bottles over and over again. The difficult to break bottles extended their useful life by several times, for a relatively small increase in cost to manufacture.

In another automobile history related tidbit, the machinery to manufacture the bottles (complicated!) was invented and developed by the Graham Brothers, later famous for the Graham Paige automobile! They were also developing a "form-a-truck" kit to turn used cars into trucks. It was one of the earliest kits to do so, beginning about the same time as the better known "Smith Form-a-Truck" kits.
The Graham Brothers sold the bottle making machinery and patents to another glass manufacturing company, becoming (if I recall correctly?) part of Corning Glass. They invested the money they got into further developing form-a-truck kits as well as completed conversions, and then eventually building new trucks for the Dodge Brothers car company using Dodge engines, sheet metal, and other parts where practical. The "Graham Brothers" trucks then were sold and serviced through Dodge Brothers dealerships. It was a win-win partnership. The graham Brothers got a ready dealership network and the Dodge Brothers Company got an impressive truck lineup without needing to manage and manufacture them themselves.
However, the Dodge Brothers Company had been suffering from managerial problems and family infighting ever since the deaths of John and Horace. They eventually sold the Dodge Company which became part of Chrysler's empire. That sale ended the partnership with the Graham Brothers.
The Graham Brothers got a large buyout from Chrysler/Dodge, and used that money to buy the Paige Detroit automobile company. Paige Detroit's management team had been quite successful for many years, becoming one of the most profitable small independent automobile manufacturers in the industry. However, those "many" years had lead up to a management team needing to retire. Harry Jewett had done such an incredible job for so long, and with the changing times it was becoming more difficult for a small independent to find suitable suppliers. The big automobile companies were buying up most of the small manufacturing companies and were not very interested in continuing to provide support to their own competition. Rather than form a new management team, Paige sold itself to the Graham Brothers and became the Graham Paige. This allowed the entire management team to retire.

When I had my 1915/'16 center-door sedan, I got a couple of the 1915 run Coca Cola bottles. (The "1915" bottles were actually manufactured for about three years.) In addition to the "1915" date on the bottle, there are a couple other subtle differences from all the millions of bottles that came later. The script is slightly different, and there is a slight variation in the fluting. If someone is familiar with the minor differences, one can spot the bottles from about six feet away!

Did you know that just a short time before the 1915 bottle, there was another earlier version? It was used only a short time. Looked similar the the 1915 bottle if you squint really hard. A bit more curvy, and slightly longer neck. A few reproductions were made by Coke for some anniversary landmark a few decades ago. I have seen a couple of the reproductions, and photos of the originals. But I have never seen an original myself.

Photo looks like a 1924 TT C-cab delivery truck! Looks like the 23 inch rear wheels.

So much intertwining history!

Great photo, it seems like I’ve seen old photos of unfortunate incidents involving bottles that somehow became unrestrained. Probably weren’t wearing their seat belts.

At one point, actually an extended point in time, I was obsessed with Coke and anything related to it. Drank a lot of Coke. Had a few of those vending machines that dispensed bottles behind a vertical door after depositing ten or fifteen cents. I remember a few as a kid, still lingering at old-timey filling stations. Most anyone who’s seen sixty years of living or so can recall the old vending machines. So inviting—seeing an ice-cold bottle of Coke just out of reach. Those machines were great.

Enough about me.

During this fascination with Coke, which I’ll call “POCO,” short for Period of Coke Obsession, I of course read a comprehensive history of the company from it’s inception to modern times. One thing that really stood out is the business venture embarked on by two entrepreneurs who approached the president of Coke with an idea: Why not bottle Coke and offer it for sale in stores? That way people could take some home and enjoy it whenever they wanted. Up to that point it was offered in pharmacies with soda fountains and such places. It was—as many are aware—reputed to have some medicinal properties.

The president of Coke at that time, a certain Ira something (sorry, I read the book a long time ago and have never been good with names), all but laughed at the idea.

“Sell Coke in bottles? Sure! Go ahead, knock yourselves out!” He signed over the rights for this. Of course, Coca-Cola enjoyed profits from selling the Coke syrup to make the beverage. As an aside, the initial standards for bottling were fairly nonexistent, so it was anyone’s guess what kind of bottle your Coke would be sold in.

The point of this story is that those who jumped on the Coke-bottling bandwagon were almost literally overnight millionaires. The Coke-loving public embraced the idea of having some in the fridge whenever they wanted. Many of the bottling plants you see scattered about the country were founded by those original families. Whether Coke eventually absorbed them, I am not sure. My POCO era ended some years ago. I do remember visiting a bottling plant in a midwestern city where the local news was that they were shutting down the machinery for the little green bottles. Last place in the USA to be bottling like that—at the time, anyway. Memory tells me it was maybe Jefferson City. Can’t swear to that. The plant manager told us there was one old-timer who knew how to run the equipment—and he’d just retired. It dated from around 1923 and no one else had the knowledge or experience to keep it all going. Folks had descended en masse to snatch up those last bottles of Coke, so we were too late for that. But he did show us all the bottling equipment and yes, it looked very old. Huge old castings and pipes and belts and what-have-you. He graciously gave us complimentary bottles of Sprite, which was very generous. Not part of his job description to be a tour guide for random guests who wandered in off the street.

Anyway, that’s my contribution to the internet today.

Gerrit

The local Adelaide, South Australian Coca Cola plant still had a TT truck right up till the closure of the plant a few years ago. Some local T club members kept it running for them. I don't know what happened to it since the plant closure.

Allan from down under.

Great stuff! I love the stories. Thank you Gerrit.

I remember a school field trip to a local Coca Cola bottling plant nearly six decades ago. Fascinating to watch as hundreds of bottles got filled one by one!

Wayne Sheldon wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 22, 2023 7:31 pm

Great stuff! I love the stories. Thank you Gerrit.

I remember a school field trip to a local Coca Cola bottling plant nearly six decades ago. Fascinating to watch as hundreds of bottles got filled one by one!

You’re welcome! I would have enjoyed the Coca-Cola tour—I like anything that involves some industrial process.

Now this old Coke truck is jogging loose some memories I didn’t know I had. Remember the “Cola Wars?” I had to be in my young teens when Coke and Pepsi were going head-to-head to win over the cola-drinking public. It was in an airport, I believe, and they’d set up a little table where you could sample two colas. The people putting on this little exercise were from Pepsi, of course—and they wanted the tasters to come over to their side.

“Sure, I’ll try them! Bring it!” I was confident, even at that young age, that Coke would win out in this blind test. I tasted one, then the other. The sweeter one was clearly Pepsi. That has always been my main reason for choosing Coke: It has more character, is less sweet, maybe more of a “bite” to it than Pepsi.

The Pepsi folks had to admit I’d chosen their competition. And I’m sure they didn’t care, since the young people at the airport comparison test table were probably on the first rung of that corporate ladder. A long-ago memory now, maybe some of them moved to Coke, maybe took other paths. Possibly moved to Africa or Venezuela. Maybe caretakers in a petting zoo. Anyway.

Pepsi was addressed at length in the history of Coca-Cola I read. They were, from early times, a strong competitor for Coke. Their standout trait is to undercut Coke where pricing is concerned. If a business switches to Pepsi, it’s not because they like the flavor better. It is always price. Ok, maybe some people actually prefer the taste of Pepsi. I don’t see how that can be but it must be the case sometimes.

Vanilla Coke: All these different flavors, and of course the “New Coke” debacle. I prefer not to think of those dark times. But once, on a long distance trip across the midwest, I stopped for gas and a drink in a small town. The Coca-Cola man was delivering his product. And among the many bottles was a new offering: Vanilla Coke. I mentioned I had not yet tried it, planned to, but hadn’t tasted it yet. In one of those small gestures that I remember to this day, he took a bottle and offered it to me. I was very much in my POCO phase (see previous entry), and was enthralled to have a sample of this new drink from a representative of the Coca-Cola company. I remember I liked it, but have always preferred plain old Coke.

My beverage of choice these days is plain old water, neat. Doctor’s orders. Don’t like ice in it, seems to interfere too much with the water’s natural taste.

Those old green Coke bottles were pretty rugged. There are probably some very early ones buried in creek beds and old cellars.

I have always tended to switch back and forth whether I prefer Coke or Pepsi. I can tell the difference between the sweeter Pepsi and the sharper Coke. Usually, I prefer the sharper Coke. I do NOT like the multitude of various flavors marketing keeps trying to push on us! If I want root beer, I want Root beer (pretty much anymore still A&W although I much preferred their flavor from fifty years ago!). If I want orange soda, I want orange soda. A few other major products are fine from time to time (although I never liked Dr. Pepper). I do not like the barrage of the flavor of the week from a hundred small companies, and certainly not from the big mainstays. I also cannot stand to drink any diet soda. The real stuff or nothing!
I also anymore drink a lot more plain water than any soda.

I certainly remember the Cola wars. I was so angry with Coca Cola dropping original Coke in favor of the sweeter "new Coke" that I quit buying their products for several years, even after they brought back the "Original Coke" product.

I certainly remember the Cola wars. I was so angry with Coca Cola dropping original Coke in favor of the sweeter "new Coke" that I quit buying their products for several years, even after they brought back the "Original Coke" product.
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Ha! I was actually upset about the New Coke now that I think of it! Had to be one of the worst decisions in the history of corporate America.

5 WoodenWheels wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 23, 2023 9:10 pm

I certainly remember the Cola wars. I was so angry with Coca Cola dropping original Coke in favor of the sweeter "new Coke" that I quit buying their products for several years, even after they brought back the "Original Coke" product.

Ha! I was actually upset about the New Coke now that I think of it! Had to be one of the worst decisions in the history of corporate America.
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Maybe second to the Budweiser debacle.

Coke wars - New coke was a debacke and honestly some awful thing designed to replicate Pepsi... Bad move on Coke's part.

The funny one is "Coke Zero" which claims not to have sugar, but at least here normal coke has sugar, not that HFCS stuff. AAnd yes, you can taste the difference!

Rich Eagle wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 22, 2023 1:40 pm

So, do you suppose there was any breakage of bottles on their way to the designated stores?

Ha ha Rich I was wondering the same thing! Plus, I bet you could hear that thing coming a mile away...klinckety klinckety klink!

Here’s a Coca Cola company photo shoot of its truck fleet. I’ll bet it took a while to get this shot! It’s looks like it’s from the early 30’s to early 40’s. Anybody know what kind of trucks these are? I can’t tell by the angle of the shot.

If I didn't know better I'd say that medaliion above the front grill is from Freightliner. And I don't know better!

Just looked again with magnifying glass...seems wording above the trim/vents on side of hood...may say International!

Whoever it was the Coke company paid a lot for that many trucks from mostly the same truck builder! It was a big contract!
There are a few others that may be other brands but most are the same. I think?? Can’t see the other brands at all but the grills are a little different.

Yes, mostly Internationals. And a few 48-53 Ford's and chevys.

To add a bit to Wayne Sheldon's history, when Winnebago motorhomes was starting up, neither GM or Ford would make custom chassis for Winnebago in the (by Detroit standards) low volume that Winnebago needed. They finally went to Dodge which said "sure". Winnebago has had a special loyalty to Chrysler ever since. They do use other chassis as well now, but the smaller units still use the Mopar chassis.