Yellow Knight.

I am looking for parts and information about Yellow Knight trucks, made by Yellow Coach Company of USA in the 1920's. The Company was related to the original Yellow cab Company and was started by John David Hertz. It was later sold to General Motors.

The Yellow Knight had a "Knight" brand single sleeve valve motor and was probably made under licence from them.

The hubcaps have YK cast into them and are listed in books on hubcaps and are very rare.

I have a front axle and springs, a wheel and a gearbox. All I need now is everything else!! Please drag all those bits out from under your bed or wherever you are hiding them and let me know!!

Morris.

Morris, Check out this thread of Chaindrives..

www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1352944656

He started out with a couple bits from a 1915 FIAT,& now has enough bits to start a Resto.

Be patient, you never know what's out there..

Hi there Morris.
Any chance of getting some pictures of what you have and of what you need so that we here can keep our eyes open for you.
Good luck with your search.

G'Day Morris,
Do you have any history on the bits that you have??
Cheers Ian

I would suggest you contact Murray Langford of our SA branch he has had contact with the GM heritage centre in Detroit and he tells me the guy there was very helpful Cheers Chris

Many thanks for the clues, fellers.
I know Murray and will contact him.
Next time I can get to the parts which are stored away with lots of other stuff, I will try to photograph them but doubt I will be able to post them on the forum. I do not even know what the vehicle should look like but I suspect many parts from 1920's Yellow Cabs would be the same. I need every part except those I have.

The only "history" I have of the bits is that about 30 years ago, a bloke I know could not sell them at a swap meet and said he would take them to the tip. I saved them from that fate and have tried a couple of times to get information or parts. One person said he was a member of a hubcap collectors club and showed me a photo in an American hubcap collectors book. This is how I confirmed the brand name. He wanted the cap but had no interest in it as a vehicle or as a restoration.

I know all about being patient, I have finally found some wheels I have been looking for, for 35 years! Unfortunately, I do not have another 35 years available.

Regards,
Morris.

Does it look anything like this one from google? I would imagine that not many came to Australia, which makes finding any bits an epic task.

Hello Chaindrive (and others),

Many thanks for the pictures. I have no idea what my truck should look like as the only part I have that might be identifiable, apart from the hubcap, is the front axle.

I have googled Yellow Knight several times but could not get any information at all. After you posted the photos, I googled Jim Steele Collection and again got nothing on old trucks. It did have an email address for Jim, so I emailed him.

Here's hoping,
Morris.

Hi Morris .. the front axle and gearbox may have cast in numerals which may end up being date or foundry codes...this may give you a better idea of its year of build. Good luck with her.

...also google "Sydney Yellow Cabs history" ...there should be some info in there for you.

Most USA manufacturers of that era were assemblers of proprietary parts with a few details and radiator/bonnet of their own manufacture. eg axles by Timkin, motor by Continental/Waukesha/Buda, gear box by Lipe Brown, wheels by Dayton. If you can track down the make of components you will be able to collect parts which were originally built into another make but are correct for your truck.
Look up the CCJ (Commercial Car Journal) archive library for contemporary adverts and other references. Might have to make a physical visit to Library of Congress where bound copies are kept. Sadly, pre WWll the Yanks had a culture of throwing away archive material so very little history is known beyond the 'living memory' time line for most USA truck makes.
I would guess that General Motors only bought the marque so that they could then sell their product to Yellow Coach Co, or some other deal that got them shares in another company - ie all about finance deals and nothing to do with nuts & bolts.