What is Peterbilt?
[[Image:Peterbilt_truck_3.jpg|thumb|upright|Semi-truck from Peterbilt]] The '''Peterbilt Motors Company''' is an [[United States|American]] company. It makes medium or heavy duty Class 5 through 8 [[truck]]s. The Peterbilt company started making trucks in 1939 and built 15 trucks that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truckinginfo.com/article/story/2014/07/the-story-behind-peterbilt-s-anniversary-truck.aspx |title=The Story Behind Peterbilt’s Anniversary Truck |author=Tom Berg |date=July 2014 |website= |publisher=Trucking Info |accessdate=19 February 2016}}</ref> Their [[Semi-trailer truck|semi-trucks]] are made in different styles. == History == The company can trace its roots to the Fageol Motor Company.<ref name=Beach16>J.E. Beach, ''Peterbilt: Long-Haul Legend'' (Minneapolis: MBI Pub. and Motorbooks, 2008), pp. 16–20</ref> It was a regional truck maker that started in [[Oakland, California]] in 1916. The company made [[automobile]]s, [[truck]]s and [[tractor]]s. The company made trucks that could stand up to the tough conditions of the [[desert]]s and [[mountain]]s of the [[western United States]].<ref name=Beach16/> In 1923 they shut down all other products to concentrate on trucks. They made trucks from the 1920s and 1930s. Due to the [[Great Depression]], the company went into [[bankruptcy]] in 1932.<ref name=Beach16/> It kept operating under control of its [[creditor]]s but by 1938 was about to shut down.<ref name=Beach16/> In 1939 the company [[asset]]s were purchased by T.A. Peterman, a [[log]]ger and [[businessman]] from [[Tacoma, Washington]].<ref name=Beach16/> The name Peterbilt was already being used by one of his wood products companies and was used for his new truck manufacturing company.<ref name=Beach16/> ==References== {{reflist}} == Other websites == * [http://www.peterbilt.com/history.aspx Peterbuilt home page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209000156/http://www.peterbilt.com/history.aspx |date=2013-02-09 }} [[Category:Companies based in Texas]] [[Category:20th-ce