White for sale
As the story goes, Thomas White owned a successful sewing machine business in Templeton, Massachusetts in the 1870s and, in 1876, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he began to make bicycles as well. In 1898, he purchased a Locomobile steam car and complained about the inadequacy of its boiler. In response, his son Rollin White designed and patented a new, improved steam generator with superheated steam and with that, a new car company was born.Rollin White set up shop in the factory in Cleveland, building the company's first automobile. He was joined by his brother Windsor, a businessman. They built 50 cars, but did not offer them to the public until all were tested and approved. This helped White build a reputation of quality and reliability. Success led to separate plants having to be built for the different White divisions.
The White steam engine got a big boost in 1909 from then-President-elect William Howard Taft, who selected a White Model M7 touring car, a 7-seater that became known as the official automobile of the President of the United States.
The steam engine was successful but it could not survive under pressure from an industry where gas engines were quickly becoming the norm. White built its last steam automobiles around 1910, but in the end made about 10,000 steam cars - more than any other maker, including Stanley. Meantime, White started to turn its attention to gas cars and, finally, specifically to trucks and other commercial vehicles.
Success hit once again after World War I as White ended car production altogether to concentrate solely on trucks. The company at one point sold more than 10 percent of all the trucks sold in the United States, producing all sizes from light delivery to semi. In the 1930s, White trucks with red bodies, known as "Red Jammers," were used at several national parks. In 1949, a White semi played a major role in the James Cagney film, "White Heat."
After making heavy trucks for the military during WWII, White boosted its business even more by making deals with several other trucking and machinery companies, including Euclid, Inc. in 1968, but the company instead went heavily into debt in the late 60s and 70s. An effort to reorganize the company failed in 1973, in part to do organized labor troubles, and the company eventually went out of business altogether in 1985. Sweden's AB Volvo had purchased much of White's assets and in the late 1990s, the White name was finally put to rest forever.
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