Traffic Motor Truck Corporation

The Traffic Motor Truck Corporation (TMTC) was a St. Louis truck manufacturer from 1917 to 1929. It used Continental engines chiefly, and sometimes Gray Victory engines. The company was based at 5200 North Second Street. Guy C. Wilson was TMTC's president and Theodore C. Brandle was its vice president. Stephen W. Avery was the company's advertising manager.

TMTC's vice president, Theodore C. Brandle, was the son of Charles and Belle Brandle. He was born in St. Louis on February 2, 1894. He taught school teacher for 4 years (1910-1914), following which he began working for the Bell Telephone Company, then took a job at an automobile repair shop, and later that same year founded Westcott Motor Sales Company. After changing the company's name to Brandle Motor Company, he sold it to automobile giant Chevrolet. He married in 1917. The same year he became involved with Guy C. Wilson and Harry P. Mammen, and the three of them founded TMTC.

Wilson was born on May 1, 1878 in Christian County, Kentucky. He worked in the railway industry until 1904 when he switched to insurance. Having had considerable success in the insurance industry he retired in 1915 to focus on the automobile industry. He became vice-president of the Brandle Motor Company.

Harry P. Mammen, was the general sales manager for the Westcott Motor Car Company of Springfield, Ohio. In 1917 he joined with Brandle and Wilson to form the Traffic Motor Truck Corporation.

Produced in 1918 with prices starting at $1,195, rising to $1,395 in 1919, $1,495 in 1920 and $1,595 by late 1920 (respectively as of 2017: $19,027, $19,270, $17,873 and $19,068). The truck was sold virtually as a rolling chassis with an engine and seat. The advertisement described the truck as being able to cover 14 miles in an hour with a 4,000lb load. It had a 4-cylinder 40hp 239 cubic inch overhead valve Continental Red Seal engine, Covert transmission, Borg and Beck disk clutch, Kingston magneto with impulse starter, Russel rear axle with internal gear and roller bearings, standard Fisk tyres, 133 inch wheel base, and an oil cup lubricating system. Production was said to be one every 45 minutes. The trucks were also exported to such places and Guatemala and El Salvador.

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