A Brief History of How GMC Started

 A Brief History of How GMC Started

On December 22, 1901, Max Grabowsky established a company called the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines.

In 1909, the company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for the General Motors Truck Company, from which "GMC Truck" brand name was derived.
Another independent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid and Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York International Auto Show.
In the early decades, the initialism "GMC" was simply an abbreviation of "General Motors Corporation".

 In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes.
During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the U.S. military, like the DUCK shown here.

In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz. After purchasing the remaining portion in 1943, GM renamed it GM Truck and Coach Division.

Here is a great short film on GM and how the Futurliner was a part of GM history http://youtu.be/7ZDbv567vbs

The Division manufactured interurban coaches until 1980. Transit bus production ended in May 1987. The Canadian plant (in London, Ontario) produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design.

GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, and transit buses.    


Keep it between the lines,
Happy Motoring                        
For more information  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_(automobile)