LARRABEE

Larrabee-Deyo Motor Truck Co. (1916-1932)
Binghampton, New York

This is a Larrabee Speed Six radiator emblem (1929-1932)   mjs
Size: 104mm high 71mm wide   MM: Unknown

Larrabee was in business in various forms since 1866, including as the Sturtevant-Larrabee Company, which built horse-drawn wagons, carriages and sleighs in Cincinnati and which moved to Binghamton in the early 1870s. The introduction and development of motor trucks had a growing effect on the horse-drawn carriage business and, in 1916, H. Chester Larrabee and R. H. Deyo formed the Larrabee-Deyo Motor Truck Company. 

The Larrabee-Deyo was a standard assembled truck in the 1-ton to 5-ton capacity range using four-cylinder engines initially. A six-cylinder 1-ton speed truck, called the Larrabee Speed Six, was introduced in 1922. Six-cylinder engines were used to power all the Larrabee truck range in the later 1920's.

Larrabee truck production reached a peak of 400 units a year by 1924 but then began to decline. During this period Larrabee also assembled several hundred four-cylinder taxicabs called Majestic for use in New York City (see Majestic) and produced a line of fire trucks. In the late 1920's Larrabee also produced some bus chassis. However, after 1929 sales plummeted and Larrabee production ceased in 1932.

Emblems

The Larrabee-Deyo Motor Truck Company had a diamond shaped logo trademark from 1916, see below:

This is the Larrabee-Deyo logo (1916)    ms

Heavy duty Larrabee-Deyo trucks with cast ribbed radiator tank tops displayed the "Larrabee" name cast into the radiator top, see photo shown below:

Larrabee radiator with cast emblem (1917) coachbuilt

There are few clear photos or illustrations of Larrabee-Deyo trucks before 1918, but by 1918, and most probably from 1916, lighter duty Larrabee-Deyo trucks displayed diamond shaped Larrabee-Deyo decals on the sides of the truck under the driver's seat and on the front of the lower radiator tank, see Larrabee-Deyo advertisement and original photo shown below:

Larrabee-Deyo ad showing decals (1918)   eBay

Close-up showing Larrabee-Deyo decals on side and (just visible) on the lower rad front (1918) 

The following original photo of a Larrabee-Deyo truck from about 1918 shows the diamond shaped decal on the lower radiator front:

Larrabee-Deyo truck showing lower rad front decal (c1918)
broome county historical society

Some Larrabee-Deyo trucks displayed the "Larrabee" name on rectangular painted hood side nameplates instead of the diamond shaped side decals, see example shown below:

Larrabee-Deyo truck with hood side nameplates (1918)   jaques-leretrait

The cast ribbed radiators used for the heavy duty four-cylinder Larrabee models developed more rounded shoulders in the 1920's, see example shown below:

Heavy duty Larrabee radiator with cast emblem (1920)   moroz

The Larrabee Speed Six trucks introduced in 1922 carried a diamond shaped, blue and white enamel radiator emblem, see example below. This Larrabee Speed Six radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Larrabee Speed Six radiator emblem (1922-1928)  mjs
Size: 100mm wide 53mm high   MM: Unknown

Early Larrabee Speed Six trucks are believed to have also displayed the "Larrabee" name on hood side nameplates, see the blue and white Larrabee hood side nameplate shown below. This Larrabee hood side nameplate is rare.

This is a Larrabee hood side nameplate (1922-c1924)   mjs
Size: 303mm wide 52mm high   MM: None

There are other Larrabee nameplates, see examples below, which may have been used on the four-cylinder Larrabee and probably later Speed Six models also. Some of these nameplates have been seen on surviving Larrabee trucks but the actual dates of use cannot be confirmed due to the absence of clear original, dated photos showing these nameplates:

This is a Larrabee hood side nameplate (c1925-1928)   mjs
Size: 256mm wide 45mm high  

This is a Larrabee hood side nameplate (dates unknown)  moroz
Size: Unknown

Some speed trucks from this period displayed rectangular "Larrabee" nameplates with a diamond shaped motif on the truck side frames above the running boards, see example shown below:

Larrabee fire truck with side frame nameplate (1927)  wiki

Close-up showing side frame nameplate (1927)

The following appears to be a reproduction Larrabee side frame nameplate, seen on a restored 2-1/4-ton Larrabee truck from 1923:

Larrabee side frame nameplate (1923)   nyslandmarks
Size: Unknown

There was a change in Larrabee radiator and emblem design from 1929 when restyled Larrabee models were introduced, see Larrabee advertisement shown below:

New Larrabee radiator & emblem (1929) 
nyslansmarks

The new emblem is the blue and gold enamel Larrabee radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Larrabee radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Larrabee radiator emblem (1929-1932)    mjs
Size: 104mm high 71mm wide   MM: Unknown