Fageol Motors was a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es, trucks and farm tractors.

History

The company was founded in 1916, in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, by Rollie, William, Frank and Claude Fageol, to manufacture motor

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s, farm

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s and

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s. It was located next to

Oakland Assembly Oakland Assembly was a Chevrolet manufacturing facility located in Elmhurst, Oakland, California. It was the first automobile plant established in Northern California to build Chevrolet vehicles. In 1916, Chevrolet opened the auto industry's firs ...

, then a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

factory originally built in 1916 by William Durant, which later became part of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

. Fageol produced two luxury automobiles, but production was halted when the supply of

Hall-Scott Hall-Scott Motor Car Company was an American manufacturing company based in Berkeley, California. It was among the most significant builders of water-cooled aircraft engines before World War I. History 1910–21 The company was founded in 1910 ...

SOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combus ...

six-cylinder engines was diverted to build airplanes for the war in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The first Fageol farm tractor was a re-labeled Hamilton Walking Tractor, designed and built by Rush E. Hamilton of Geyserville, California. As a result of the many tractor performance trials of the day, the tractor was redesigned to be more compatible with the needs of the West Coast. The Fageol version was designed by a team led by Horatio Smith with the cooperation of Hamilton. In about 1923, the tractor business was sold to the Great Western Motors Company of San Jose, with Hamilton and Smith joining Great Western. In 1921, Fageol became the first company to build a bus from the ground up. The new-style bus was initially called "Safety Bus", and the goal was to build a bus that was resistant to overturning when cornering. It had a wide track, and was lower to the ground for ease of entry and exit. Following their successful introduction, the vehicles were renamed "Safety Coaches", a term intended to imply greater value. Fageol trucks became favorites of the industry owing, in part, to the dual range, mid-mounted transmission. That gearbox allowed for extreme ranges in gearing, ranging from slow-speed heavy hauling to highway speeds with lighter loads. The vehicles were easily spotted, due to the large number "7" painted on the front of the radiator. Fageol flatbed 1932

The Fageol brothers left the company in 1927 to form the Twin Coach Company, manufacturing buses in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County, Ohio, Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 United States ...

. Leadership of the business was taken over by company president L.H. Bill, but during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

the company went into receivership. The bank assumed control and reorganized the company under the name Fageol Truck and Coach. In 1938, T. A. Peterman bought the factory and its contents. In 1939, the first

Peterbilt Peterbilt Motors Company is an List of American truck manufacturers, American truck manufacturer specializing in the production of heavy-duty (Truck classification#Class 8, Class 8) and medium-duty (Classes 5–7) commercial vehicles. The names ...

was produced. The

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

(SAR) operated a number of Fageol buses. In 1932, that system introduced the first of four

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

s, converted from road buses at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.Eyre Peninsula Railway, but some were transferred to the Kingston to Naracoorte line, prior to the line's

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

. Because the buses were not designed for rail use, the ride was very rough. The last Fageol railcar was condemned in 1961.

Products

Fageol produced tractors, buses and trucks, at least three luxury cars, as well as engines for land vehicles and ships. The company went through several stages, names, and location changes that included ''Fageol Motors Company'', from 1915 to 1932 in Oakland, California; ''Fageol Motor Sales Company'', from 1916 to 1932 in Oakland, California; ''Fageol Truck and Coach Company'', from 1932 to 1938 in Oakland, California; ''Fageol Motors Company of Ohio'', from 1920 to 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio and 1922 to 1926 in Kent, Ohio.

Tractors

The brothers had originally sold the Hamilton Walking Tractor, rebranded as the Fageol Walking Tractor, without much success. They were contracted to solve a transportation issue at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. The fair covered over 600 acres, with two and a half miles of water front property. From February to December over 18 million people visited the fair. The solution provided by the brothers ended up being the Fageol Auto Train, also called the Trackless Train, powered with a Ford motor, pulling two or three low to the ground 20 passenger open-sided cars. The financial backer chose to use a different spelling, for ease of pronunciation, so the company was registered as ''The Fadgl Auto Train Inc.'' This led to the founding of the Fageol Motors Company of Oakland. The company reached an agreement with Rush Hamilton of Geyserville, California to manufacture a tractor with spiked rear wheels.

Trucks

In 1950, the company manufactured a unique truck, the TC CargoLiner – touted as "A Trailer Without A Tractor". In 1953 the Twin Coach Company was awarded a patent for what would become the standard in straight truck design. The inventor was Louis J Fageol. The company produced -ton, -ton, 3 1/2-4 ton, and 5-6 ton trucks.

Cars

Since the founding of Fageol Motors Company, there had been a plan to build automobiles. Frank R. and William B. Fageol, with Louis H. Bill, built and marketed what was to be the most expensive luxury car of the time using the

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

. Marketed as the "Fageol Four Passenger Touring Speedster", only three were known to have been produced before the government took over the engine manufacturing plant to build war planes, ending production. Other cars built by the company were: *Fageol 100 * Fageol Supersonic

* PataRay, also known as Fageol Special

Buses

Fageol produced buses until 1953, when the bus-manufacturing portion of the Fageol Twin Coach Company was absorbed by

Flxible The Flxible Co. (pronounced "''flexible''") was an American manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars, funeral cars, ambulances, intercity coaches and transit buses, based in the U.S. state of Ohio. It was founded in 1913 and closed in 1996. The c ...

. *Twin Coach 44S co-manufactured with

JG Brill Company The J. G. Brill Company manufactured tram, streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and passenger car (rail), railroad cars in ...

and Twin Coach * Safety Coach * Cruising coach dubbed "America" * Canopy covered double-decker "Sight-Seeing" bus * Fageol Flyer * Parlor Car * Rear double-decker Parlor Car * Super Twin (introduced in 1938) was a 14-ton 58-passenger diesel-electric that was hinged in the middle.

References

External links

Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Groundbreaking ceremony at Foothill Blvd and 106th, Oakland, California, June 9, 1917

Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. First unit under construction in Oakland

Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Another view of the factory under construction, with a Fageol truck in the foreground

Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Second unit under construction

Oakland History Room, photo collection. Hall-Scott Motor Company. 150 horsepower straight-6 engines being assembled were formerly destined for Fageol productsFageol.com
{{North American bus builders Defunct bus manufacturers of the United States History of Oakland, California Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1916 Manufacturing companies based in Oakland, California Motor vehicle manufacturers based in California Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States 1916 establishments in California Defunct manufacturing companies based in California