Timeline of Moving Vehicles from Around the World

The moving industry is a very old one and as any other industry it has evolved a lot during the years. Following our articles about the moving history, the vintage postcards, I decided to look at the business from a different perspective by following the vehicles and means of transportation that were used during all these years.

Movers from 1885

Even before automobiles were invented, the moving industry was a blooming business. This picture represents movers from Montreal, Quebec, Canada that used horse drawn carriages to transport household goods.

Early 1900’s

During the 1900 the moving industry was modernized with the introduction of the first moving vans and trucks. But still some movers were using horse-drawn carriages to transport goods during the industry transition period. This is a photo taken in Salt Lake City in 1911:

With the mass production of combustion engine vehicles, the industry gains access to means of transportation that will totally transform it. These are photos of the revolutionary Fort TT truck widely used in the industry. The moving truck in the image is the 1919’s model:

This is a photo of a moving truck of a moving company from Ontario, Canada from the 1920’s:

(Source: Flickr: James Tworow)

Below is a photo of a New York based moving company from the early 1900’s

(Source: spoonercentral.com)

An enclosed International moving truck operated by a moving and storage company during the winter:

Old Rhinebeck Airfield truck from 1929 undergoing restoration:

(Image credit: James Coldicott)

1950s and 1960s

Büssing was a German bus and truck manufacturer. Similar moving trucks were used in Germany, Austria, Hungary. These trucks featured with 4 and 6 cylinder engines. (5 tonnes and 11 tonnes respectively).

(Source: Flickr: Georg Schwalbach)

1980s

A tractor trailer in England used by the Britain’s moving and storage industry in the 80s.

2000’s

Present days, the moving industry is a huge business performing about 40 million moves per year. As any other industry, the competition is quite big. This drives some moving companies to try do it differently. Here is a Canadian moving company that uses bikes to move customer’s belongings:

(Source: Demenagement Myette)

Nowadays most trucks used in the moving industry are specially designed for that purpose. Most of the special features that distinguish them from the regular trucks are:

• Side doors for easy access.
• GPS navigation systems.
• Low ramps for easy loading and unloading.
• Electric ramps for easy lifting of heavy furniture pieces or equipment.
• Low-profile tires for greater volume capacity.
• Extra storage space over the driver’s cabin.
• Air-ride suspension for smoother transportation.

If you own other interesting images and you want to share them with us, please send them to info@mymovingreviews.com and we will publish the best of them here.

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