ABOVE: From an Ulrich 1959 ad, the Mack truck with Kraft Foods trailer was promoted as “the thinking man’s truck kit.”
Ulrich introduced its line of die-cast metal truck and trailer offerings in the mid-1950s. The truck styles included the flat-faced/cab over Mack and long-snoot Kenworth prototypes. These tractor truck kits came in 2- and 3-axle editions. Pairing these two trucks with a series of trailers, Ulrich got great utility from the pair of toolings.
ABOVE: Here’s Ulrich’s Kenworth tractor truck with Fruehauf trailer decorated for Denver-Chicago Trucking Co.
Ulrich’s trucking line presented the Kenworth tractor with Fruehauf 32-foot trailer in three decorations: Pacific Intermountain Express (1v2), Garrett Freightlines (1v3), and Denver-Chicago Trucking Co. (1v4). The same 32-foot Fruehauf trailer mated with a two-axle Mack tractor came in four versions: Mid-States (2V2), Associated Transport (2v3), Hennis (2v4), and Kraft Foods (2v5). The three-axle Mack tractor with trailer decorated for Safeway was Ulrich’s 3v1 release.
ABOVE: This Safeway release included a three-axle Mack tractor truck with Ulrich’s 32-foot trailer.
In addition to the 32-foot trailer, Ulrich offered a tanker trailer in two versions. A Kenworth tractor with tank trailer (1T1) and Mack tractor with Cities Service tanker (2T1) were offered.
ABOVE: The Mack truck paired with a tanker trailer came decorated in green and lettered for Cities Service.
Ulrich also offered an open stake trailer that was sold with a three-axle Kenworth (1F1), two-axle Mack (2F1), and three-axle Mack (3f1). The Kenworth truck also served in Ulrich’s dump truck and transfer trailer (1D1). The catalog also included an Accessory Kit (AC-1) selling for $1.50 that provided complete running gear (wheels, axles, bogeys, drive shaft air cleaner) for a three-axle tractor and two-axle trailer.
This popular line of trucks went on to serve in Walthers’ catalog in the 1970s and 1980s and saw many new decorations.
For more on Ulrich, check out HO Collector‘s 4th Quarter 2020 edition and the article, “An Introduction to Ulrich” by Tony Cook. You can purchase individual issues of HO Collector and other White River Productions’ magazines and books by visiting your local hobby dealer or going to the publisher’s website.
