Velie Motor Vehicle Co. (1911-c1918)
Velie Motors Corp. (c1918-1924; 1927-1929)
Moline, Illinois
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (1917-1924) sam Size: 108mm wide 63mm high MM: Unknown |
The Velie Carriage Company was established in 1902 and began building horse drawn buggies. This was followed by the Velie Motor Car Company, which was set up by Willard Lamb Velie in July 1908. The first Velie cars appeared in late 1908 and Velie passenger cars continued in production until 1929 (see Velie).
The first Velie commercial vehicles were introduced in 1911. These were a 1-1/2-ton truck and a 3-ton truck both powered by four-cylinder Velie built engines. Over the following years, Velie truck offerings were somewhat erratic. By 1913 the 1-1/2-ton truck had been replaced by a smaller 1-ton model. In 1916, Velie offered 1-1/2-ton, 2-ton and 3-1/2-ton Biltwel trucks powered by four-cylinder Continental engines and by 1917 a 4-ton model was also offered.
Velie exported trucks to France in 1916 for use in the First World War. During the War, Velie did well on US government contracts by building 3-1/2-ton capacity Liberty Standard B trucks.
After the War in 1919, Velie offered 1/2-ton, 2-ton and 3-1/2-ton trucks in its line up but, just a year later, in 1920, the only Velie truck model listed was a 1-1/2-ton unit. The Velie truck became a 2-ton unit in 1921 but there was another change in 1923, when Velie offered 1-1/2-ton and 2-1/2-ton trucks.
No Velie trucks were offered from 1924 until 1927 when the six-cylinder 1-1/2-ton Velie 40 Speed Truck was introduced. A 3/4-ton Speed Truck model was also available in 1928 but it was all over for Velie in 1929 following the deaths of Willard Velie and his son.
Emblems
There are very few good quality illustrations or photos of early Velie trucks and original Velie truck photos rarely show the detail of the emblem. However, the first Velie trucks appearing in 1911 used the same radiator as Velie passenger cars and carried a round radiator emblem, which can be seen in the following original photo taken in 1912:
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| This is a Velie truck with a round radiator emblem (1912) tmw |
The first Velie truck radiator emblem was the same blue, white and gold enamel Velie radiator emblem, as used on Velie passenger cars, see example shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (1911-1914) mjs Size: 63mm diameter MM: None |
The following original photo shows a 1911 Velie truck with the "Velie" name displayed on the side of the truck just under the driver's seat. This truck side logo is likely to be either a decal or simply painted onto the truck side using a stencil.
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| This is a Velie truck showing a side logo (1917) truck news |
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| Close-up showing Velie side logo (1911-1912) |
Some Velie trucks in this period used a side logo representing the round radiator emblem in place of the "Velie" name, see original 1912 truck photo shown below and compare this to the round Velie radiator shown above:
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| This is a Velie truck showing a round emblem style side logo (1912) tpw |
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| Close-up showing round emblem style side logo (1912) tpw |
This round emblem style truck side logo is large and is most likely a colored decal. This truck side decal continued to be used for some time and is seen on original Velie truck photos up to 1917.
The following illustrations are taken from a 1914 Velie Fire Truck brochure and show the round Velie radiator emblem, shown earlier, still in use and a "Velie" script logo style nameplate at the rear:
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| This is a Velie fire truck with round radiator emblem (1914) tucsonfirefoundation |
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| This is a Velie fire truck showing a rear Velie nameplate (1914) tucsonfirefoundation |
The round Velie radiator emblem shown earlier above ceased to be used on Velie passenger cars in 1914 and was replaced by a large bow-tie shaped radiator emblem, see example shown below:
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| Velie passenger car with a large bow-tie radiator emblem (1915) hcg |
Some Velie trucks also carried a large bow-tie shaped radiator emblem from late 1914. The following original photo of a 1914 Velie fire truck (no doubt later in 1914 than the 1914 Velie fire truck brochure illustration shown earlier), shows a bow-tie shaped radiator emblem, which appears to be much the same size as the emblem shown in the passenger car photo above.
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| This is a Velie fire truck showing bow-tie radiator emblem (1914) twitter |
It seems likely that the Velie truck radiator emblem used from late 1914 is the same as used for the Velie passenger car, although I cannot confirm this absolutely due to the lack of very clear original truck photos. If this is correct, then this emblem is the white and blue enamel Velie radiator emblem shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is a Velie radiator emblem (1914-c1916) mjs Size: 91mm wide 48mm high MM: Unknown |
Velie passenger cars stopped using this radiator emblem in 1915. However, it is possible that this radiator emblem continued to be used on smaller capacity Velie trucks with flat radiator tops up to about 1916 or even longer, but I cannot confirm this.
It is noted that an original photo, taken in 1916, of a Velie truck exported to France, probably in 1915, still shows the early round Velie radiator emblem. This may have been used on exported Velie trucks, because the emblem carries the Velie Motor Vehicle Company name.
From 1917, the 3-1/2-ton Velie truck and, from 1918, all Velie truck models had a heavy cast iron radiator with a ribbed radiator tank top. These ribbed top radiators carried a larger bow-tie radiator emblem, which was connected to the radiator with four corner screws, see the following illustration of a 1917 Velie radiator and emblem:
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| This is a Velie truck radiator & emblem (1917) coachbuilt |
The following Velie truck photo from 1917 shows this bow-tie shaped radiator emblem, together with the round emblem style side decal described earlier:
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| This is a Velie truck showing the emblem & side decal (1917) coachbuilt |
This same sized Velie radiator emblem is also seen on the following photo of a surviving 1917 Velie Model 26B truck on display at the Iowa80 Truck Museum:
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| This is a Velie 26-B 3.5 ton truck showing a radiator emblem (1917) iowa80 |
The following photo shows the radiator used on the Velie Model 26-B truck at the Iowa80 Truck Museum:
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (1917) iowa80 Size: 106mm wide 63mm high MM: Unknown |
This Velie emblem has been painted over but may have been originally finished in enamel like the Velie truck emblem shown below, although I cannot confirm this.
The enamel finished Velie truck emblem is the white and blue enamel Velie radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below for convenience. This Velie truck radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (1917-1924) sam Size: 108mm wide 63mm high MM: Unknown |
The following photo of a 1919 Velie truck shows the above radiator emblem together with a larger, similar bow-tie shaped body side emblem:
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| Velie truck showing a Velie body side emblem (1919) worthpoint |
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| Close-up showing Velie body side emblem (1919) |
This Velie truck body side emblem is most likely a painted metal emblem, which has white letters in the above photo, but which is also found in reversed colors similar to the radiator emblem, see the blue and white painted Velie truck body side emblem shown below. This Velie body side emblem is very rare.
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| This is Velie truck body side emblem (c1918-1924) hatm Size: 187mm wide 103mm high MM: Unknown |
The following appears to be another example of a Velie truck body side emblem:
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| Velie truck body side emblem (c1918-1924) lktec Size: Unknown MM: Unknown |
The following illustration of a Velie 1-1/2-ton truck taken from a 1920 Velie truck advertisement appears to show a bow-tie shaped radiator emblem with reversed colors:
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| This is a Velie truck illustration showing reversed color emblem (1920) |
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| Close-up showing Velie truck radiator emblem (1920) |
It is possible that this emblem is the blue and white enamel Velie truck radiator emblem shown below. This Velie truck radiator emblem is extremely rare.
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (c1920) sam Size: 108mm wide 63mm high MM: Unknown |
The following, rather poor quality, photo shows a Velie Model 52 truck from the early 1920's with what appears to be a painted "Velie" word cast into the top front of the radiator:
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| Velie Md 52 truck with possible cast radiator emblem (early 1920s) worthpoint |
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| Close-up showing the possible cast radiator emblem (early 1920s) worthpoint |
The following photo is a different Velie Model 52 showing a large painted "Velie" side nameplate:
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| Velie Md 52 truck showing a "Velie" side nameplate (early 1920s) worthpoint |
There were no Velie trucks offered in 1924 to 1927 but Velie "40" Speed Trucks were produced in 1927 to 1929, see advertisement shown below:
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| This is an Acme "40" Speed truck advertisement (1929) ccj |
This Velie Speed Truck advertisement includes a depiction of a new, round Velie radiator emblem with a central coat of arms. This is believed to be the white, red and black enamel Velie radiator emblem shown below, which was also used on some Velie passenger cars in 1927-1928. This Velie radiator emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Velie truck radiator emblem (1927-1929) mjs Size: 50mm diameter MM: Unknown |
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