SAFEWAY

Six-Wheel Co. (1924-1928)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is a Safeway radiator emblem (c1925-1928)    mjs
Size:115mm wide 59mm high   MM: None

Charles M. Schwab and other investors had formed the American Motor Body Corporation in 1923 and in April 1924 they received a license from the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to build six-wheel chassis for buses and trucks.

Since 1920, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company had themselves been producing trucks and buses in Akron, Ohio as part of a program of research aimed at proving the value of pneumatic tires compared to solid tires for heavy truck operations. The Goodyear engineer, Ellis W. Templin played a major role in successfully developing the six-wheel chassis to reduce tire sizes by spreading the load.

Ellis Templin joined Charles Schwab and his partners when they established the Six-Wheel Company in July 1924 to manufacture six-wheel buses and trucks. Three models of the six-wheel chassis were offered, Model 57 truck chassis, Model 64 single-deck bus chassis and Model 66 double-deck bus chassis. All Six-Wheel chassis were powered by 109 hp six-cylinder Continental Red Seal engines.

The Six-Wheel chassis and completed buses were initially marketed as Six-Wheel but by 1925 the name "Safeway" had been adopted and the products were then advertised as Safeway Six-Wheel buses or trucks.

Safeway Six-Wheel buses were adopted in New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. About 400 buses were built before production ceased in 1928. A few Safeway Six-Wheel trucks were also built but were mostly sold overseas.

Emblem

The Safeway carried a black, white and yellow enamel Safeway radiator emblem, see example shown above. This Safeway radiator emblem is extremely rare.

I do not know if there was a Six-Wheel emblem in use before the Safeway name was adopted. If you have any information about a Six-Wheel emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post.