The poet e e cummings once wrote, “the cow is of the bovine ilk. one end is moo, the other milk.”
Before the day of super markets when dairies delivered milk to your door, one company supplied virtually all the trucks needed to make these home deliveries. DIVCO (Detroit Industrial Vehicle Co) was in business from 1926 until 1986 when home delivery of dairy products essentially came to a halt and the demand for these purpose built trucks no longer existed. The iconic DIVCO milk truck was a fixture on American streets. Interest in these trucks continues among collectors to this day. Here are mine in 1:43 made by either Road Champs or later by American Heritagee both using the same molds. The American Heritage trucks have additional opening doors.
Here is my collection with a few actual trucks sprinkled in among the 1:43 scale models where I could find them. The setting is by my 1:43 dairy barn in which is my herd of 40 prize Jersey cows
With all those milk trucks parked outside the barn, I think we're looking at the early beginnings of the term "farm to table". Even more interesting are those cows all of whom appear to be in the witness protection program.
@david-knight And as previously posted I did a circa 1950 Chevrolet Canopy Express for the housewives to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in the neighborhood.
Lots of milking going on, David, and it brings back memories of the Biltmore Dairy trucks. The milkman would call out as he came through the front door and then he would put the milk straight into the fridge, pick up the empties, and be on his way. I don't have a Biltmore, but this one is a nice duplicate of one of yours. I added the tank truck that makes the home delivery possible; it also has rear doors that open.
The farm that inspired me to build this barn many years ago is a beautiful dairy farm in Western Massachusetts, High Lawn Farm, in Lee and Lenox where I grew up. I spent many days during summers at the farm and as a kid used to ride one of the Divco trucks along the route where our house was helping to deliver milk. High Lawn Farm is reputed to have the finest Jersey cows in the world. It is still in full operation today. The DIVCO trucks are long gone replaced by large refrigerated trucks that transport milk to super markets in Western Massachusetts and beyond.
High Lawn barns
My barn in 1:43 was inspired by the artecture of High Lawn
Nice barn in 1/43 scale David. However, from the first picture of your barn that you posted at the start of this post, don't let the cows wander off through the 2 end doors, it a long way down!
I held off on a Divco, hoping that a Sealtest version would show up. This is the brand that delivered to us when I was a young lad. But none appeared that I was aware of. Nice comparison shots with the 1:1s David!
