Features
Once the largest truck manufacturer in the world, the Republic Motor Company of Alma, Michigan, ultimately faced a tragic end. Tim Gosling recalls the vital work of this automotive stalwart
In the service of the New York National Guard is a 1.5-ton Model 11 Republic, probably destined for service on the Mexican border
In 1918, the Republic Motor Truck Company of Alma, Michigan, was the largest truck manufacturer in the world – having the capacity to produce an astonishing 30,000 trucks a year, and having manufactured one in nine of all trucks then on the road in the United States of America.
Unsurprising, the company was a major contributor to the war effort, producing vehicles for the US and the French Army. However, like many other companies, although it did very well during the war, it struggled in the years of peace that followed the armistice.
