PATRIOT

Hebb Motors Co. (1918-1920)
Patriot Motors Co. (1920-1922)
Lincoln, Nebraska
Patriot Manufacturing Co. (1922-1926)
Havelock, Nebraska

This is a Patriot truck radiator emblem (1919-1920)   mjs
Size: 140mm wide 40mm high   MM: Unknown

Arthur G. Hebbs was engaged in a variety of business enterprises around Lincoln , Nebraska, including dealerships for Ford, Mitchell and Chase trucks. By 1916, Hebbs was producing bodies for independent truck manufacturers and light delivery bodies for conversions of Ford passenger cars. Hebbs had some prototype trucks built from assembled parts in 1917 before he established Hebbs Motors Company in early 1918  to build Patriot trucks in Havelock.  

The first Patriot trucks were the 1-1/2-ton Lincoln and 2-1/2-ton Washington models with heavy ribbed cast iron radiators, which appeared later in 1918. The first full year of production of the Patriot was 1919, when 750 trucks were built, including 200 new Revere 3/4-ton speed trucks with conventional radiator shells and equipped with pneumatic tires. As a result and in view of increasing orders, the Hebbs Motors Company expected a large increase in production for 1920. The company was reorganized as the Patriot Motor Company, additional components were ordered and action taken to increase factory capacity. Unfortunately, the company was now overextended and was unable to deal with the severe recession in the latter part of 1920. and receivership followed in November 1920.

A consortium of creditors and shareholders took over in July 1921, reorganized the company as the Patriotic Manufacturing Company and resumed production of the Patriot, which remained largely unchanged until 1924. Production numbers never reached the originally predicted output.  

Mark and George Woods bought the company in January 1924 and continued production of the Patriot in 1-ton, 2-ton and 3-ton capacity sizes with minor changes in appearance, apart from a new radiator design to replace the the ribbed cast iron radiator and pneumatic tires replacing the solid rubber tires on the heavier duty models. The trucks were renamed as Woods in early 1927 and continued in low volume production until 1932.

Emblems

The first Patriot trucks from 1918 had heavy ribbed, cast iron radiators with the "Patriot" name and groups of five stars at each side of the name cast into the radiator tank top, see illustration and example shown below:

Patriot radiator (1920)  cmcc 

Patriot truck with cast emblem (1919)  nebraskahistory 

Close-up showing cast radiator emblem (1919) 

Patriot trucks also displayed the "Patriot" name on decals on the sides of the body below the driver's seat, see illustration shown below from a Patriot farm trucks advertisement. These decals had "Patriot Trucks" within the outline of an eagle.

This shows a Patriot truck with body side decals (1918-1919)   ccj

From 1919. Patriot trucks displayed the "Patriot" name on rectangular Patriot nameplates mounted on the sides of the upper hood panels and on the rear chassis frame cross member, see examples shown below:

Patriot truck illustration showing hood side nameplate (1919-1924)   ccj

Patriot truck hood side nameplate (c1920)    cmcc

Patriot Revere speed trucks introduced in 1919 had a conventional radiator shell and carried a rectangular radiator emblem. This is the blue and white enamel Patriot radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Patriot radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Patriot radiator emblem (1919-1920)   mjs
Size: 140mm wide 40mm high    MM: Unknown

The company was reorganized as Patriot Motors Company in 1920. However, I have never seen a Patriot radiator emblem marked Patriot Motors Company, and it is possible that the same Patriot radiator emblem, as shown above, continued in use until 1924.

From 1924 to 1926, Patriot trucks had new radiator designs with slightly domed alloy tank tops instead of the previous ribbed radiator tank tops with cast radiator emblems, see original photo from 1925 shown below:

Patriot truck with domed radiator tank top (1925)   cmcc

Close-up showing domed radiator & emblem (1925) 

This close-up shows a different Patriot hood side nameplate and a radiator emblem following the curvature of the domed radiator indicating a new Patriot radiator emblem design. However, the detail of the radiator emblem is unclear. 

The following Patriot truck advertisement from March 1926 includes an illustration of a Patriot tanker truck with a ribbed top radiator showing a round radiator emblem. The detail of the emblem is unclear.

Patriot ad (1926) nebraska state journal

Close-up showing round radiator emblem (March 1926)

The following Patriot truck advertisement from November 1926 includes a photo of a Model 35 two-ton truck with a domed radiator and a round or oval shaped radiator emblem. 

Patriot advertisement (Nov 1926)  lincoln journal star

Patriot Model 35 truck close-up showing a curved radiator emblem (1926)    

It is evident that there was a different Patriot radiator emblem, and possibly more than one, in the period after the take over of the company by the Woods Brothers in 1924. However, the currently available photographs and illustrations are not clear enough to see the detailed design of the emblem. 

If you have a clearer photo of Patriot truck emblems or of the front of this truck in the 1924-1926 period, please let me know, in order to update this post.