The Boyertown Auto Body Works/Boyertown, PA

On December 3, 1872, in the era of American History known as the horse and buggy days, there appeared in the pages of the weekly Boyertown Democrat Boyertown, PA.,

an advertisement by Jeremiah Sweinhart announcing that he had opened a new carriage factory near the Mount Pleasant seminary for the manufacture of Carriages, Buggies, spring Wagons and Sleighs.

For generations of Pennsylvania Dutch craftsmen of the community of Boyertown and the surrounding boroughs has labored in the company that began as the J. Sweinhart Carriage Works and grew into the Boyertown Auto Body Works, the nation's largest independent builder of walk-in truck bodies.

In a 1884, wishing to retire, Mr. Sweinhart sold his business to a partnership of two young men, Milton R. Strunk and Horace Fisher, who changed the company name to Strunk and Fisher. In 1886 Fisher left the business and his place was taken by Frank Hartman and the January 4, 1887, an issue of the

Democrat noted: Hartman and Strunk the Carriage Builders, are now ready for business and want their friends to call and see them. They started with an immense supply of Sleighs, Wagons, Carriages, etc. of all styles on hand. If you want a vehicle of any kind, you will be pleased with them.

The Sweinhart factory, or shed, would remain as a blacksmith shop (today, the Boyertown wood shop is located on that site), but by 1885 building had begun on a new three-story carriage factory along the alley near Walnut Street (and what is now Third Street). This had been closely followed by the Construction of another structure which was to be linked to the factory by a bridge ramp. Originally a two-story building was used as a repository for Carriages during the winter months, it would later receive an additional story and be converted into a paint shop.

Then in 1890, Strunk retired, and Hartman carried on the business with great success over the next two decades.
That factory produced a wide variety of vehicles: bakery Wagons, Huckster Wagons, milk, ice and ice cream Wagons and the like.

The Boyertown stage and U, S,. Mail Coach, which wended its way from Reading to Boyertown in the gay nineties, was built by Frank Hartman in 1890 Between 1906 and 1910 the Hartman factory; all three buildings, were rewired for electricity. The forges were also electrified; two big electric motors operated the entire plant. The job was done by J. William Shaeffer, Boyertown's first electrician.

On February 4, 1911, a headline in the Boyertown newspaper read:

Boyertown carriage works given over to employees.

The four men who took over the business were Milton Derr, a Wood worker, and Morris Gilbert, a painter, along with Al Shuler, a trimmer, and John Landis, a blacksmith. The new owners bestowed a new name upon their company: the Boyertown Carriage Works, Ltd.. Milton Derr was installed as president and Morris Gilbert as secretary-treasurer.

It was a period of tremendous change, more steering wheels were being sold than were buggy whips, more cars than Carriages, for the automobile was coming of age. Derr and Gilbert were actually aware of this fact of life as evidenced by the Armistice Day parade held in Boyertown on November 11, 1918. The Boyertown Carriage Works float carried a large banner sign that proclaimed :

The carriage days are past, now we make truck bodies.

The Boyertown Carriage Works first commercial delivery truck body still exists and is on display in the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles. It was built in 1914, with wooden frame members and poplar wood panels with metal reinforcement. Its original owner was the D. S. Erb and Company, manufactures of famous Castle Hall Cigars. At a later time, date unknown, the Erb Company sold the body to C. S. Bower and Son, a printing company from Oley, PA., and this is the name that still appears on the side panels.

In 1926 drastic change within the industry from Wagons and Carriages to delivery bodies for the automobile, B. Frank Hafer, W. Howard Swartz and J. George Hoffman formed a corporation and assumed the management of the Boyertown Carriage Works. The new company was incorporated under its present name, Boyertown Auto Body Works.

In 1933, B. Frank Hafer, together with his son, Paul R. Hafer, bought the interest of Howard Swartz; and in 1934, Paul R. Hafer was elected president of the company, B. Frank Hafer was elected secretary-treasure.

A new era of pioneering began in delivery body design, development and construction, employing the new stronger, lighter, and corrosion resistant steels being introduced by suppliers. One of the earliest vehicles to be built of the new hi-strength steels was a modern design 32-passenger bus for the Leigh Valley Transportation Company.

It was during this time that the now famous and recognized Boyertown Merchandiser delivery body was built. It was a delivery body specifically designed to satisfy the demands and needs of truck owners, the drivers and the mechanics who were to maintain them.

With the advent of World War II, Boyertown converted 100% to war work in the nation's interest and built more than 2,500 vehicles, among them were general service ambulances, front line ambulances, mobile waterproofing packaging units and hundreds of mobile machine shops that were used to repair airplanes, tanks, trucks, and other vehicles.

Peace time brought an immediate conversion to commercial truck body production to replenish vehicles serving daily peacetime commerce. Better Built, Merchandisers and delivery panel truck bodies again rolled from the assembly lines!

The Boyertown Body and Equipment Company was established in 1945 as the wholly owned sales subsidiary of the Boyertown Auto Body Works and its function was to sell truck bodies and equipment in sales areas not served by truck equipment distributors.

By February, 1951, the company had produced 2,500 truck bodies for the U. S. Post Office Department. These were of the Step-In van type and they were built and delivered in record time! Truck No. 1800 can be seen in the Boyertown Museum of Historical Vehicles.

The U. S. Government of Defense Department called upon the company to develop and build the first Expansible Van for military use. In 1954, two of these units were designed and built for commercial use so that when parked side-by-side the served as a mobile auditorium seating 100 persons and were fully equipped for public meetings. An Expansible Van is one of the most complicated production bodies in the world because its specifications require it to expand, when set up for use, to twice its highway width.

A new automated assembly plant was constructed next to the Parts Fabrication wing and completed in 1961. Here was installed the latest in automated truck body production methods and straight-line assembly techniques.

In 1962, a joint-venture with E.S.B., Philadelphia, Smith Delivery of England, and the Boyertown Auto Body Works resulted in the founding of the Battronic Truck Corp., a company formed to further research and development and eventual manufacture electric-battery-powered vehicles. During the fall of 1963, Paul R. Hafer announced the company's exclusive manufacturing concept of quality truck bodies, Multalloy construction. In Multalloy, the best high strength alloy metals and other materials are combined with time proven design and engineering experience, to produce truck bodies of high strength, light weight and unusual durability!

In 1965 Boyertown design engineering produced the Weightsaver Merchandiser-Multalloy Aluminum-Plastic (reinforced fiberglass) or MAP delivery body. During the same year, the Battronic Truck Corp. announced a technological breakthrough that made it possible for them to develop self-supporting power cells. This reduced the weight of former battery systems by about 1900 pounds. In addition, the new lighter batteries and the new system made changing power cells as easy as putting new batteries in a portable radio, requiring five minutes time to change the batteries for charging; negating the taking the vehicle out-of-service!

On December 12, 1965, the Boyertown Auto Body Works, opened to the public the Boyertown Auto Body Works Collection of Historic Vehicles of Berks County. This enabled the preservation of the fine wagons, carriages, autos and truck bodies built by the company. Early the following year an IBM computer program for inventory and production control was installed.

September 3, 1966, marked the First Annual Duryea Day Duryea Days Virtual Tour held at Boyertown. The celebration was to commemorate and salute the achievements of one of the first true pioneers of the automobile, Charles Duryea, whose most important work had been done in Reading, PA., with the help of Berks County men. Duryea Day was held in conjunction with the Boyertown, PA., Centennial and has become an annual institution.

1968 was a busy year with many activities coming forth. For example:

a)

In January, the Hafer Foundation was established with trustees responsible for operating and maintaining the Boyertown Auto Body Works Collection of Historic Vehicles. At this time the name was changed to Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles. The Museum collection affords the public the opportunity to see the progression of design and development in the building of vehicles of all kinds that were made by early craftsmen throughout Berks County.

b)

A new era of training for Boyertown craftsmen began, with a new and vital concept of understanding of their function in line and staff positions. Thus, working together in greater understanding of their relations and responsibility to each other in their areas of operation. The title for this new company concept was Planetary Matrix Company.

c)

Also, the introduction of the new Aluminum+Plus Weightsaver truck body was announced. Aluminum+Plus is just what its name implies - it provides minimum weight per cubic foot of payload space + the advantage of superior corrosion resistance. Plus, greater structural strength than with an ordinary aluminum truck body because heavy stress areas are built stronger to last longer.

In 1969 the Battronic Truck Corp. introduced their 11-Passenger Suburban Bus manufactured with all Made in America parts and in 1970 Battronic added a 15-25 Passenger Transit Bus and Delivery Van to their line of vehicles. Practical aspects of electric vehicles were demonstrated to the Bakery Industry, the Dairy industry and to the Air Force. Extensive testing was performed at Langley Field, Virginia on both of these vehicles. The Suburban compact bus was used to transport passengers and air crew members arriving and departing from Langley. The Merchandiser Van was used to carry mail and courier material to all the tenant units including the NASA installation at Langley. This vehicle made two round trips per day around the base traveling approximately thirty five miles. Two men were in the rear of the vehicle sorting mail enroute. The vehicles were capable of traveling between fifty and sixty miles on a single battery charge while making an average of about 225 starts and stops daily.

Another test was performed on the People Mover Transit Bus as proof of the companies readiness to be a factor in the nation's pollution solution problem. The test was held for a two week period at the Allentown Mall, a shopping complex, Allentown, PA. The vehicle carried approximately 15,000 passengers, traveled approximately 720 miles while making 4,200 starts and stops without one problem encountered. Route distance was 1.6 miles and the distance traveled on a battery charge was approximately thirty-five miles with more than 350 stops and starts made on a single battery charge! This vehicle was used during inclement weather when it was necessary to use the lights, heater, defroster, and windshield wipers. This added battery usage had no adverse effect on the distance traveled on a single battery charge.

Formation of the Boyertown Leasing Corp., a new division of the Boyertown Auto Body Works, was initiated in 1971. The new company was organized to provide special low-cost leasing arrangements for Boyertown Industries along with nationwide availability.

Vehicle Museum plans a campaign to Improve! - CLICK HERE

More to come in the near future!

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