Fruehauf History featured on CarsYeah with Mark Green

Ruth Fruehauf shown here with a Fruehauf 5th wheelRuth Fruehauf discovers a Fruehauf 5th wheel at the ATHS antique truck show!
Recently I was interviewed by talk show host, Mark Green on his podcast program, Cars Yeah.  What a fun experience and honor to be his 1426 guest!  I love to discuss Fruehauf History and enjoyed Mark's great questions and the interesting conversation!  Thank you Mark.   For more info......

August Fruehauf inducted into the
Automotive Hall of Fame

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​ August Fruehauf was the founder of the Fruehauf Trailer Company and is credited with inventing the semi- trailer. Fruehauf was a successful blacksmith and horse carriage builder in Detroit, Michigan, around the turn of the 20th century. In 1914, a client came to Fruehauf asking if he could devise a method of transporting a boat behind a Model T. Fruehauf agreed, and the result was the first Fruehauf semi- trailer. The Fruehauf Trailer Company was founded in 1918 and soon became one of the largest and most successful semi-trailer companies in the world.
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August Fruehauf, well respected Detroit blacksmith also made wagons and carriages
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The first Fruehauf "semi-trailer" created in 1914 for a Detroit lumber merchant

For more information - see these links

Hemmings Motor News Automotive Hall of Fame to induct tractor-trailer pioneer Fruehauf
Automotive Hall of Fame to induct tractor-trailer pioneer Fruehauf
Automotive Hall of Fame 2017 inductees
2017 Automotive Hall of Fame inductee's
http://autoweek.com/article/people/four-named-automotive-hall-fame-class-2017
AutoWeek honors the 2017 Automotive Hall of Fame inductee's

The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society

Ruth Fruehauf and Darlene Norman created an organization dedicated to the preservation of the history of Fruehauf Trailer Company and the Fruehauf family legacy.  The society has created historical books and a traveling exhibit rich with Fruehauf memorabilia and archival materials. Planned for 2016 are 3 books, “The Fruehauf Promotional Story, 1926-1960” "Fruehauf and World Wars and the Military" and “Fruehauf, the First Name in Transportation” an in-depth analysis of the company’s history.  

Introducing our new book - The Fruehauf Engineering Story

The Fruehauf Engineering Story, an illustrated book illustrated by fruehauf Trailer advertisements and company anecdotes. ISBN-13: 978-0578186870Our New Book

​The historical perspective of an American industry and its technological innovations illustrated by advertising, 1914-1997 this charming book captures the engineering developments as they were announced by the company tracing them back through the golden era of a great American company.  Read executive anecdotes, tidbits of history illustrated with photographs, original advertisements and other details to delight the reader.

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

Please click on the photo or titles which are hyperlinked to other topics

The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society celebrates the 100th anniversary of August Fruehauf's invention of the semi-trailer with our first book, "Singing Wheels"

To commemorate the centennial in 2014, we present a biographical essay on August Fruehauf and the history of the company he created.  It includes 90 pages of original photographs from our archives, 39 pages of text.  The book is available in hardcover and softcover.  

Book Cover of our New Book
Singing Wheels, 90 pages of original photos and 39 historical text.

Following is an excerpt of Singing Wheels  "August Fruehauf & the History of the 
Fruehauf Trailer Company"
Their solution was to remove the back seat!

In mid-1914, Frederic M. Sibley, Sr., a Detroit lumber dealer, came to the shop looking for a carriage or method of transportation for a newly purchased boat.  It was a fateful visit for Sibley was to change the company’s destiny and carry it far beyond the horse and into the motor age.

Sibley had acquired a summer place on a lake in upper Michigan.  He had a large 18-foot long sailboat he wanted to transport there, but a horse and wagon would take several days.  He wanted to know if August thought he could rig a contraption to hook onto Sibley’s Model T Ford roadster to haul the boat.

August and Otto thought they could and asked Mr. Sibley to give them a few days to work on a solution. Brainstorming, they discussed the details of weight, width, height and specific length. Otto began drawing sketches of the carriage bed.  Their solution was to modify the back end area of the Roadster by removing the back seat.

The above excerpt is a detail from the our book. This references the solution that August Fruehauf and Otto Neumann invented as an experimental solution which became the world's first "semi-trailer." It features 39 pages of historical text and 90 pages of photographs from our archives.

Our online Book and Gift Store - the perfect place for gifts!

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Click on the photo to view our online Book and Gift Store