The Hayes Manufacturing Company Limited was a Vancouver-based Canadian manufacturer of heavy trucks. Founded in 1920, Hayes built both highway and off-road trucks, particularly for the logging industry. Hayes also manufactured buses. The Signal Company acquired a controlling stake in the company in 1969, and in 1971 renamed it Hayes Trucks. In 1975, Signal sold the company to Paccar, which closed the Hayes plants.
 A Hayes WHDX 70-170 ballast tractor 6x6 truck operating in Spain in 2010. | |
| Formerly | Hayes-Anderson Motor Company Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public (1920-1974) Subsidiary (1975) |
| Industry | Truck manufacturing |
| Founded | 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 1975 |
| Fate | Dissolved by Paccar |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada |
| Parent | Paccar |
History
edit
The Hayes Manufacturing Company was established in Vancouver in 1920 by Douglas Hayes, an owner of a parts dealer, and entrepreneur W. E. Anderson from Quadra Island, as Hayes-Anderson Motor Company Ltd. The company sold truck parts for the first two years, then built their own trucks.[1] The company was renamed Hayes Manufacturing Company Ltd. after Anderson left the company in 1928. Despite Anderson leaving the company, the trucks kept the Hayes-Anderson badging until 1934. Throughout the late 1930s, Hayes was a distributor of British-made Leyland trucks, and the Leyland trucks supplemented Hayes' range of trucks. The company also used Leyland's components for the trucks.[2][3]
Three employees – Vic Barclay, Mac Billingsley and Claude Thick – left Hayes to start Pacific Trucks in 1947.[1][3] In 1952, the company started manufacturing the HDX, which was the most successful truck manufactured by Hayes. The Signal Company, the parent firm of Mack Trucks, acquired a two-thirds share in Hayes Manufacturing in 1969, and Hayes began a mass expansion. The company was renamed Hayes Trucks in 1971.[4] The company at its peak had 600 employees and three plants. In 1975, Signal sold the company to Gearmatic Co., a subsidiary of Paccar, which closed the Hayes plants and stopped production.[1][3]
Products
editAlong with trucks, Hayes manufactured buses, moving vans, tractors and trailers.[2][3] The company's few bus models included the Hayes "Teardrop", a very streamlined design introduced in 1936. Several Teardrop buses were purchased by Pacific Stage Lines,[5] one of which has been preserved by the Transit Museum Society.[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Carroll & Davies 2005, p. 393.
- ^ a b Holtzman 1995, p. 46
- ^ a b c d Francis 2012, p. 81.
- ^ The Financial Post Survey of Industrials 1973, p. 159.
- ^ Kelly & Francis 1990, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Transit Museum Society 2024.
Works cited
edit- Carroll, John; Davies, Peter (July 8, 2005). The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Tractors & Trucks (1st ed.). London, United Kingdom: Lorenz Books. ISBN 978-0-7548-1524-2.
- Francis, Daniel (September 1, 2012). Trucking in British Columbia: An Illustrated History. Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada: Harbour Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55017-561-5.
- Holtzman, Stan (1995). American Semi Trucks. Osceola, Wisconsin: Motor Books International. p. 46. ISBN 978-1610605731.
- The Financial Post Survey of Industrials, Vol. 47. Maclean-Hunter. 1973. ISBN 978-0888961068.
- Kelly, Brian; Francis, Daniel (1990). Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years. Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada: Harbour Publishing. ISBN 1-55017-021-X.
- "1937 Hayes PCT-32 "Teardrop" – Pacific Stage Lines #63". Transit Museum Society. June 6, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.