Through the Hemmings Forum, we recently heard from the folks at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont, regarding the calliope truck that used to promote the flour in New York City and in Boston in the late 1920s. Featuring a wooden carving of King Arthur atop his horse and carrying a banner (a later version of the truck has him carrying a banner with the King Arthur Flour lettering on it), it’s a mystery on several levels. First, though it carries a sign noting that it was built by Spillman Engineering of North Tonawanda, New York – the company best known for building carousels and for building four-cylinder, six-cylinder and even V-8s for use in cars of the 1910s and 1920s – we haven’t yet come across any reference of Spillman building trucks. (The company did build about four cars in the 1900s, back when it was formally known as Herschell-Spillman.) So which company provided the cab and chassis for this truck?
Second, the folks at King Arthur Flour would like to restore this truck, but they don’t know where it is. We imagine solving the first mystery will go a long way toward solving that second one.