Singing Wheels:  The History of the Fruehauf Trailer Company
  • The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society - Home
    • The Detroit Historical Museum presents - Fruehauf History
  • Bookstore & Gift shop
  • Classic Trailer Types
  • Company History early years
  • Company History - Later years
  • Fruehauf Inventions and Patent List
  • Military Defense Vehicles
  • The Fruehauf Family
  • Who Really Invented the Shipping Container?
  • What Happened to the Fruehauf Trailer Company?
  • The Internal Struggle for Power
  • Singing Wheels and other movies
  • Author's News Blog
    • Ruth Ann Fruehauf Bio
    • Darlene Norman Bio

Fruehauf's Classic Vans

The Fruehauf Dry Freight van semi-trailer changed over the 85 years they were produced.  They included customized semi-trailers for every industry with modifications tailored to order.  Freight vans came in corrugated steel vans, drop-frame furniture vans, lightweight aluminum vans and stainless steel vans.  Fruehauf's chassis and light wall system gave customers a competitive edge. In the late 1950’s, Roy Fruehauf emphasized, “Our large research and engineering department is constantly making improvements and suggesting changes.  And we are always trying to increase payload capacity by decreasing the weight of the semi-trailer without sacrificing strength.”

The early Fruehauf Trailers were extremely heavy as they were made from durable steel and wooden materials.  As the practicality of the semi-trailer concept caught on with customers they requested modifications to reduce weight and expand their payload.  The early and beautiful rounded nose trailers were eventually abandoned in favor of square nosed trailers.  The rounded nose trailers had reduced jack knifing and also gave the truck and trailer a greater turning radius.  As technology improved the rounded nose trailer became obsolete as customers complained of dead cargo space in the nose.

Stainless Steel, aluminum and steels were used to provide varying strengths for industries needing them for a wide range of hauling jobs like livestock, race cars, carpets, newsprint, boxed merchandise, food products, beverages, appliances and almost every thing that is used, worn or purchased traveled by truck transport.

Other classic hallmarks of the Fruehauf Trailer are the I-beam axle, torsion bar suspension, self lubricating brake lines, and other engineering advances.  
For details on these Fruehauf innovations and other patents click here.......

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We are Social

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. Our next book,  “Fruehauf, the First Name in Transportation” an in-depth analysis of the company’s history will be published soon.
Picture
Copyright © 2013 -20 by 
Ruth A. Fruehauf and Darlene Norman.  
All rights reserved.
Online Store
The Fruehauf Trailer 
Historical Society
PO Box 5008-164
Mariposa, CA 95338

[email protected]
  • The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society - Home
    • The Detroit Historical Museum presents - Fruehauf History
  • Bookstore & Gift shop
  • Classic Trailer Types
  • Company History early years
  • Company History - Later years
  • Fruehauf Inventions and Patent List
  • Military Defense Vehicles
  • The Fruehauf Family
  • Who Really Invented the Shipping Container?
  • What Happened to the Fruehauf Trailer Company?
  • The Internal Struggle for Power
  • Singing Wheels and other movies
  • Author's News Blog
    • Ruth Ann Fruehauf Bio
    • Darlene Norman Bio