RELIANCE (2)

Racine Motor Truck Co. (1917-1918)
Reliance Motor Truck Co. (1918-1922)
Appleton Motor Truck Co. (1922-c1927)
Appleton, Wisconsin

This shows the Reliance truck radiator emblem (1920)   ma

The Racine Motor Truck Company based in Appleton, Wisconsin began to build the Reliance truck in 1917. In 1918, the company was reorganized and became the Reliance Motor Truck Company. The Reliance was built in 1-1/2-ton and 2-1/2-ton capacity sizes, both powered by Buda four-cylinder engines and could be had with either three-speed or four-speed transmissions. 

There was a further reorganization in 1922, when the company became the Appleton Motor Truck Company. The company no doubt suffered the post First World War recession, as did other small truck manufacturing companies, and production after 1923 is uncertain, although some lists of truck makers included the Reliance up to 1927. 

Emblems

I can find no original period photos of Reliance trucks and there appear to be no surviving examples. 

However, there are illustrations of the Reliance truck in advertisements in the 1919-1920 period. These show the Reliance truck with a heavily ribbed radiator tank top, probably in cast iron, with a "Reliance" script that appears to be cast into the radiator tank top. Some advertisements also show the "Reliance" name displayed on a body side nameplate, see examples shown below:

Reliance truck advertisement (1920)  ma

Detail showing radiator emblem (1920)

Reliance truck advertisement (1919)  ma

Close up showing body side nameplate (1919)

The following detailed illustration from another 1920 Reliance advertisement clearly shows the Reliance radiator and emblem:

Detail showing Reliance radiator & emblem (1920)   ma