History 1948 Bell Telephone Service Truck

Hey all, looking for some history. About a year and a half ago I picked up a 1948 International KB-1 service truck. It has Rodgers Electric painted on the door and Bell System stickers on the dashboard. It has a Highway Trailer service bed on it also dated 1948. The truck sat in a barn in Arizona for 32 years. I've since rebuilt the engine and most of everything else and gotten it back on the road. I've gathered that it was a telephone service truck, but does anyone have any other pertinent history on this thing? Who the hell was Rodgers Electric? Any idea how many were built? How many might survive?



Have also since found the correct front bumper:

 

Neat truck. I'd convert it to a push truck / support for vintage dragsters or land speed racers! Good luck with the history project. Gary

 

Typical 1940's era Bell telephone bed made by the Highway Trailer Co. out of WI. Newer ones have a flat metal top to them, which I just recently picked up. I would hazard a guess that Rogers Electric was merely a buyer of the truck after it was sold or auctioned off by Bell. On top of that, it's a shortbed KB1, which are fairly rare in their own right. Neat truck!

 

There's no real way to know how many may exist but I'd bet you could count them on your fingers. Old work trucks typically got run into the ground and junked, although I'm sure more than a few of those beds may still exist as trailers.

 

McCabe Company manufactured those as well and some had ladder brackets so the workers could reach pole supported phone lines!







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I am drawn to the odd ones. Nice truck.

 

Rodgers Electric Co. may have been an independent contractor that did work for the phone co. or like the above poster suggested, the truck may have been acquired by them when the phone co. decided to retire it from inventory. Cool piece nonetheless.

 

cool! I really like the telephone service trucks

 

Simply awesome!

 

Great old IHC!
I have been researching these old telephone trucks because I found one out west that I am bring back to MA soon.
My truck is a 1951 L110 that is mostly original, it runs & drives!
Except for that one ours is the only IHC I have found.
Not many of these old telephone trucks still exist, I have found a Chevy or two and a Dodge and a couple fords is all.
Most of these trucks I have found have been completely restored, I like yours the way it is, I plan, for as long as I own the 51 to also leave it the way I found it.
Mike

 

Bitchin truck. I would of kept the old bumper and made a push bar for it. New bumper looks out of place but the good thing is it's your truck to do as you wish and all of us get to sit and dream it was ours.

 

Yes many of those beds were made into trailers. Nobody wanted the trucks because of the short beds.

 

I have a 37 ford phone truck with a service box all apart in my back yard.Yours is the only other one I have seen!

 

Cool truck! Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

Great looking truck !!

 

Wowzers....are you starting a handyman service soon....great truck there...

 

There was a 1950 Dodge service truck like that for sale last year on the western ,ma craigslist. Was tempted to buy it but passed. When I was considering buying it and was looking for info on them I found this video which has GMC versions:

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Just a bit of Bell System trivia here. Every Bell service truck was set up identical in placement of tools, supplies and telephone equipment. This was covered in BSP's (Best Service Practices) manuals. Reasoning behind this was that if crews were called in from out of the area, for example Ohio Bell called in to assist Michigan Bell during a disaster the "new" crew would know exactly where everything was at on the truck, no wasted time or motion.

 

I have seen this several times at the Strykers cruise night and I think Calvalcade . Neat old truck.

 

The whole phone system is setup like that. Naming and Labeling standards are very strict. Bell Core Standards. Imagine if each manager in the country had his building and trucks setup the way he wanted. It would be chaos. AT&T and Verizon have the #1 and #2 largest fleets of company vehicles in the US.

 

Very Cool!
I'd have a hard time deciding to restore it, or just make it mechanically sound and drive it with all that patina/history on it. Either way nice truck.

 

It will make a great "Parade Vehicle" with 6 or 8 pom-pom gals in the back.

 

..hot rodded version...

 

I didn't realize this thread had been revived, hell, it's almost 3 years old now. Still have the truck and it still looks pretty similar to original pics. I've since completely redone the interior, had the gauges restored, installed 3.55's, and just had it professionally pinstriped. I'll post up some pics of the striping..

 

Yes you have.. I'm at a lot of cruise nights and have been at the Cavalcade the last 2 years. So long as the creek don't rise I'll have it at the Buffalo Motorama this year

 

what a cool truck. Beautiful grill on these, and that bed is sooooo cool. I love that baby. I like what you have done and best wishes with enjoying this rare one.

 

I imagine when you go to cruise nights, your truck stands out.

 

Only a lot.