Singing Wheels:  The History of the Fruehauf Trailer Company
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    • The Detroit Historical Museum presents - Fruehauf History
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  • Who Really Invented the Shipping Container?
  • What Happened to the Fruehauf Trailer Company?
  • The Internal Struggle for Power
  • Singing Wheels and other movies
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    • Ruth Ann Fruehauf Bio
    • Darlene Norman Bio

Singing Wheels in the News!

The Drive with Alan Taylor - ​Fruehauf History | SEGMENT 9 | #221

alan taylor the drive
THE DRIVE with Alan Taylor puts you in the driver’s seat for a unique, fast paced look at today’s automotive industry. 

Award winning host, Alan Taylor, is a 30-year broadcast veteran and a true automobile aficionado. For years, Alan has been a featured automotive expert to millions on ABC’s Live with Kelly & Michael, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC,  the SPEED Channel and others.  To listen......
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What a great experience on the Tim Ridley Show on Sirius XM!

Michigan Public Radio with Cynthia Canty. The name “Fruehauf” is an iconic one in American transportation history. 

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It was 1914 when a Detroit blacksmith named August Fruehauf came up with a creative way to help lumber barons haul even more lumber and make even more money.
The result became the semi-trailer. Its descendants can be seen to this day, rumbling across the highways of the world.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW


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Ford Motor Company recognizes the efforts of one of their own. Randy Shelton, a senior engineer at Ford has restored a Model-T, Smith Form A Truck for the Fruehauf Trailer display which will go on view at the Ford Piquette plant museum in Detroit Michigan. Randy, who has been with Ford for 16 years is also a rare vintage commercial vehicle collector.  Some of his rarest vehicles can be seen at Ford Piquette like a 1920 snow mobile among other great vehicles at the very cool museum.  I am very proud that they are displaying a 1916 restored Fruehauf trailer in their collection. Click here for complete article

A 1916 period, Fruehauf Trailer on display at the Ford Piquette plant museum, the birth place of the Model-T in Detroit Michigan
A 1916 period, Fruehauf Trailer on display at the Ford Piquette plant museum, the birth place of the Model-T in Detroit Michigan

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The unexpectedly fascinating story of the Fruehauf Trailer Company

By the first years of the 20th century -- arguably one of the worst times in modern history to be a successful blacksmith -- August Fruehauf, the Michigan-born son of German immigrants, had established a name and a healthy living for himself building horse-drawn carriages and shoeing the animals that pulled them. 
​His spacious shop could reportedly accommodate four or five dozen horses at a time. All in all, not a bad business to be in in pre-internal-combustion Detroit, which was a booming industrial center even before the advent of the automobile.

Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/unexpectedly-fascinating-story-fruehauf-trailer-company#ixzz3sSRnR3iV

A wonderful article from ForbesLife

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Jason Fogelson from Forbes Life captures the essence of our Fruehauf story in a great piece. Here is a link to the full story with photos:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonfogelson/2015/06/05/fruehauf-the-first-name-in-transportation-exhibit-opens-at-detroit-historical-museum/

New exhibit unveiled at the Detroit HIstorical Museum

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Southfield, MI (WXYZ) - The Detroit Historical Museum has unveiled a new exhibit just in time for summer.
It's called "Fruehauf: The First Name In Transportation." The exhibit celebrates August Fruehauf and his invention, the semi-trailer.
It features pictures and company memorabilia from the family's collection focusing on key Fruehauf patents and innovations to the trucking industry.


Motor Mouth TV show with Kendra Cook and Dan Olsen in Boyertown, PA

Dan Olsen and Kendra Cook really know their trucks and trailers!  Dan and Kendra do a terrific segment on Smith Form A trucks and the Fageol Twin Coach. What a fun experience I had to participate on their program, Motor Mouth. And how aptly named for your's truly…..
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Michigan Matters with Carol Cain

Ruth Fruehauf and Carol Cain on the set of CBS TV's Michigan Matters
Ruth Fruehauf and Carol Cain on the set of CBS TV's Michigan Matters
An Emmy Award winning journalist, Carol Cain is also the senior producer and host of “Michigan Matters” on CBS 62 that features politics, business, education and more.  Carol is  also a  columnist at Detroit Free Press, covering business and politics on Sundays. A prolific writer, she pens stories and columns for CBS, Dome Magazine, the Michigan Chronicle and other publications.

A great article in the Old Motor online magazine!

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Thanks to a comment on an older article here on The Old Motor by Ruth A. Fruehauf, I found her admirable work that tells the interesting story of Fruehauf Trailers. The freight carriers were first built by her grandfather, who was then followed by her father, Roy Fruehauf. The company was called the Fruehauf Trailer Company (1918-1963) and was founded in Detroit, Michigan, by August Charles Fruehauf. To read more....

44 historical photos of Detroit’s Fruehauf Trailer Company–The first semi-truck manufacturer in the world

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Fruehauf, the first semi-truck manufacturer in the world, was founded right here in Detroit in 1914. To celebrate the company's centennial year, browse this selection of historical photos, and visit singingwheels.com for a complete history of the Fruehauf family and the internationally renowned company they created.
All photos are courtesy of Ruth Fruehauf, Darlene Norman, and the Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society

Laura Berman's Detroit News article captures my journey from boxes to book in her terrific piece

The Detroit New's feature columnist, Laura BermanThe Detroit New's feature columnist, Laura Berman
 

Many thanks to Laura Berman an excellent writer who was able to capture the emotional struggle that I have had faced with my father's  papers in boxes for over 30 years.  These have been successfully  turned into my book, Singing Wheels, August Fruehauf & the History  of the Fruehauf Trailer Company.  
​Read the article with this link

Thank you to ATHS's Wheels of Time!  
We are featured in their January/February 2015 issue

Read the Article
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Dave Stall's "You Auto Know Radio" program, San Diego, CA

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Women's Automotive Association
Women's Automotive Association
Singing Wheels and Ruth Fruehauf receive the 2015 Spirit of Leadership Award.  
Established in 1999, the WAAI's "Spirit of Leadership" award is presented annually to professional women in the automotive industry in recognition of their significant accomplishments in their profession, community, and family

Please listen to Detroit's WJR's radio interview with me and Warren Pierce on this morning's program to promote my book signing at the Detroit Historical Society from 2-5pm.

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WJR Radio strikes again with a great interview from Warren Pierce

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PLEASE CLICK ON TITLES WHICH ARE HYPERLINKED TO OTHER TOPICS


Home - Company History-EARLY - COMPANY HISTORY - LATER - CLASSIC TRAILERS - THE 5TH WHEEL - - MARTIN

ROCKING
- FRUEHAUF INVENTIONS - MILITARY - SHIPPING CONTAINER - MALCOLM MCLEAN - What Really

Happened
 -  Internal struggle for Power - FRUEHAUF IN THE MOVIES - TRAILER PHOTOS - VIEWERS

CONTRIBUTE
- News Blog
- FRUEHAUF FAMILY - Killarney - Fruehauf airplanes - GLOBAL OPERATIONS STILL  

​ACTIVE
- WHO INVENTED THE MUDFLAP -PRESS FOR SINGING WHEELS - MUSEUM EXHIBITION - 
Store

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.
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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

info@singingwheels.com
  • 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