The Trucks
Piggins Brothers appear to have manufactured trucks for a considerably longer
period than they did cars. The date of one surviving sales
brochure, The Piggins Motor Truck, is not certain, but the inclusion
of a picture of the unusual Piggins axle, for which a patent was sought in 1912
and granted in 1914, as well as photographs of trucks already sold, indicates
that the brochure dates from about 1913. The brochure shows two basic chassis
designs:
- A high vehicle with a vertical steering column, where the driver's feet were directly over the engine: examples of bodywork include the flatbed trucks, with and without load-securing stakes, and the flap-side (Rapid Transit Co.) truck in the brochure. It had a four-cylinder engine available in various bores, and its 41-inch-wide chassis could be extended backwards to carry a maximum of five tons on a vehicle 18 feet long.
- A lower, more agile vehicle, evidently derived from the touring car, with an oblique steering column, where the driver sat behind the engine: the ambulance/hearse shown in the brochure is of this type. The sanitary ice-cream truck also appears to belong in this family, although its front axle has been moved from the forward end of the chassis and has been placed under the engine, giving it a shorter wheelbase to suit city streets. This series generally had six-cylinder engines.


The mention of lumber in the brochure suggests the trays of the trucks were made of wood, not steel. It is assumed that the chassis itself was a steel frame. The cockpit sides, footboards and compartment doors below were of solid aluminium, according to the brochure.
The photos of the actual trucks suggest there was not only considerable variation in the bodies, but even in external features such as the 18-inch aluminium wheel hubs and radiators:
- Asdahl & Nelson flour, feed and seed, 1231 State Street, Racine
- Rapid Transit Co.
- Klinkert Brewery, 800 Washington Ave, Racine
- unidentified owner, truck with two-man crew carrying goods in sacks