ITEM E554

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By Robert Gabrick

Tar Heel Treasures: Richard J. Corbitt and the Corbitt Motor Truck tells the important story of two of North Carolina’s largely and undeservedly forgotten Tar Heel Treasures. Little known today except among a cadre of aficionados, R.J. Corbitt and the Corbitt motor truck deserve a far better fate. For more than a half century, from 1899 to 1952, Corbitt sought to add transportation and trucks to North Carolina’s famed “three Ts”—tobacco, textiles, and timber. Corbitt the man, an innovative, visionary leader, created organizations that manufactured buggies, wagons, automobiles, trailers, farm tractors, and, above all, distinctive motor trucks, all bearing his name. More importantly, Corbitt recognized the key role that specific types of vehicles would play in each phase of the economic development of the Tar Heel State, the South, and the nation. Corbitt’s innovative efforts began in 1899 with the establishment of the Corbitt Buggy Co., followed by the production of automobiles offered in 1911 and the first “heavy-duty” truck built in 1913. The legacy of the nearly 40 years that followed includes the dramatic stories of a still-born merger with the Sterling Motor Truck Co. and an “E Award” for “Excellence in Production” in World War II.

About the Author

Robert Gabrick, whose passion for trucks and all aspects of transportation was formed in childhood, began his academic career in 1962 and currently is an Adjunct Professor at Wilmington University, Wilmington, Delaware. His academic accomplishments include being awarded 26 scholarships and fellowships and co-authoring The Great Depression and the Arts and Communism, Espionage and the Cold War. His other writing credits include 13 books devoted to trucks and buses and nearly 100 magazine articles devoted to vintage trucks, buses, and tractors; as well as World War II. He was awarded an Automotive Heritage Foundation Silver Medal for “The Weight of History: Ford Motor Company in 1952” published in Collectible Automobile magazine for a “Best Marque-Specific Story.” He has also appeared in the documentary film, Truck Wars: The Birth of 4WD. His research for his books on FWD trucks and fire trucks led him to establish an archive to house the extensive historical materials of the Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. and its successors. “My mission,” explains Gabrick, “is to tell the stories of the vehicles and the people behind them. While researching a subject, I found too much evidence of important legacies being discarded into the ‘anti-archive’—the dumpster. Hopefully, others will come along and add to the stories I tell, as well.”

Sftbd., 180 pgs., 8.5”x11”, B&W photos