FEBRUARY 2007 OLD TIME TRUCKS
G.B. HUTCHINSON’S 1949 FEDERAL 15-M
By Photographer & Old Truck Nut John Sponholtz

The Federal Motor Truck Company began in 1910 and ceased operations in 1959. The first trucks were 1-ton high-wheelers. High-wheelers used wooden wagon wheels, which raised the truck high off the ground. During the 1930s and 1940s the company stayed with normal technical design but Federal trucks were known for their styling. They introduced a deluxe cab, high crowned fenders and a new distinctive grill that rounded and featured chromium plate with nine slots from top to bottom. The truck pictured here left the Federal factory on June 24, 1949 to go to Nebraska Wesleyan University. The truck came off the line with a four-speed Warner T9 transmission and a Hercules JXE3 six-cylinder engine. Before arriving at the university, it was fitted with a dump body. The university used it as a yard truck for the next twenty three years. When the truck was retired from the university, it was bought by a used truck dealer named John Geise and, eventually, was purchased by G. B. Hutchinson. The truck was restored from 1974 until 1983. When Mr. Hutchinson passed away in 1992, ownership passed to his two sons. The bright red truck’s engine and transmission have been fully restored and the bare rails of the chassis now sport a hand built stake bed and rails made of white oak. Much of this truck has changed over the years, but some things will always stay the same – the running boards and the Federal badge remain just as G. B. Hutchinson would have wanted them.