(Words and photos by Greg Rourke) – Ever seen a Hendrickson truck? If you live outside of the upper Midwest, probably not.
Hendrickson started building trucks in Chicago in 1913, and in 1926 they developed walking beam tandem suspension, which they are probably known more for than their trucks. They built tough trucks to work hard, not to win beauty contests. They always had a good relationship with International Harvester, another Chicago truck builder. Hendrickson supplied suspension systems to IH, and IH sold cabs to Hendrickson. Hendrickson was hardly a competitor to IH or anyone else, selling maybe a couple hundred trucks a year. They built trucks until the late 80’s, although under a different company, HME. HME continues to build fire trucks and crane chassis. Total production from 1913 until the 80’s is estimated at 5500 units.
While Hendricksons were somewhat common around Chicago 30 years ago, you seldom see them today. I last drove one in 1991, I was happy to see it go. Last Saturday morning after biscuits and gravy at the Newark Country Kitchen (Newark, Illinois, pop. 880) I wandered around town when I spotted the unmistakable Hendrickson hood down the block. After snapping a few shots I headed around the block to go home, when I see another Hendrickson. The first was a pre-1970 model, they used a smaller IH cab and a steel hood. The second one was the later style fiberglass hood model with a larger cab, still IH sourced. I deduced it’s a 1970 based on the “70 Hank” license plate. So much for careful research.
So here we have a little town with at least two cool old trucks. I’ll be back to try to photograph an old junkyard from the 50’s, and also for kumla at the Country Kitchen.
Those look like they have very long hoods – did they use straight-8 power or something? Or is it just a quirk of the styling?
They used typical inline 6 diesels, and I assume V-8 Cat or Detroit power. The engines were mounted way out there, I think because the small cab didn’t allow any room for a doghouse typical when the engine is partially under the cowl. And it’s partly an illusion, as the front axle is set so far back for maneuverability. These were designed for heavy vocational use, not cruising down the Interstate.
Note the air cleaner mounted behind the front bumper on the red one. No room under the hood.
I believe Hendricksons are still being built in Grand Rapids MI. A big metal recycler in the state has a fleet of them.
http://hankstruckforum.com/htforum/index.php?topic=5328.0
Hendricksons were also known for “center point steering”. The brown truck has it but it doesn’t look like the red truck does. You can tell by how far the the front wheel hubs stick out. This moved the centerline of the tire tread directly over the kingpin and made steering much easier with manual steering trucks. Hendricksons were manufactured on 47th street in McCook. I drove a few “Henrys” back in the 70’s pulling gravel trailers. They were cramped cabs especially the early ones but not any worse than that old B model Mack I learned how to drive in. Another point kinda unique to Hendrickson was that the earlier trucks had the throttle and brake pedal suspended from above instead of being hinged on the floor. Ah, the memories….
Thanks for noticing our old trucks. The red one is owned by Dierzen welding. It was mostly used around the lot. It was loaned out to Central Limestone to pull their water tank around the lot for several years. It has a Detroit with a Spicer 2 stick 4×4 trans. Some batteries and fresh fuel, and a free afternoon and it will scream to life. The brown one is mine. I drove it 36 years ago. It was bought new by Chance Freight Lines in Gardner, Il. The company I\’ve worked for over 36 years leased to Chance to haul propane and fertilizer. We needed an extra truck, the Hank was sitting around there shop so they sold it to us in 1981. It was the first truck that only I drove. Before that I slip seated with whoever got home first. 18 year olds didn\’t have much pull even at a small company. We hauled corn cobs the rest of the year when we weren\’t pulling tanks. After I got out of it, we kept it as a yard spotter. I told the boss whenever he got tired of it, I Would take it off his hands. 3 years ago I bought it and am slowly restoring it along with a couple of International pickups that used to be my grandpa\’s. Mine runs good, a 270 cummins with another Spicer 2 stick 4×4. It\’s headed out to Des Moines in late March for the ATHS annual truck show.