The Mack A series belongs to the early model designations used by Mack Trucks. The company itself began in Brooklyn in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, built its first truck in 1905 and adopted its present name in 1922; since 2000 it has been a subsidiary of Volvo.
Mack A series at a glance
| Maker | Mack Trucks, Allentown, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Company founded | 1900, Brooklyn, New York |
| First Mack truck | 1905 |
| Trade name before 1910 | Manhattan |
| Company name | Mack Trucks, Inc., from 1922 |
| Corporate symbol | the bulldog, adopted in 1922 |
| Hood ornament | bulldog carved by Alfred Fellows Masury, 1932 |
| Headquarters | Allentown 1905–2009, then Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Assembly | Macungie, Pennsylvania; Salem, Virginia |
| Powertrain plant | Hagerstown, Maryland |
| Owner since 2000 | Volvo |
| Market | Class 8 to class 13 vocational and on-road trucks |
There is no dedicated Wikipedia article on the Mack A series; this page is based on the company article and covers the records in the context of Mack’s history.
History of the Mack A series
The Mack brothers started in the carriage trade: John Mack took a job at Fallesen & Berry, a carriage and wagon company in Brooklyn, in 1890, and he and his brother Augustus bought the firm in 1893. A third brother, William, joined in 1894, and in 1900 the family opened its first bus plant, delivering the first “Mack bus” to a sightseeing company. The Mack Brothers Company was established in 1902, and in 1904 the products were sold under the Manhattan name, a brand that survived until 1910, when Manhattan trucks were rebranded as Mack trucks.
Allentown, Pennsylvania, became the home of Mack manufacturing in 1905, and the company stayed there for more than a century before moving its headquarters to Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2009. Mack built armoured trucks for the New York State National Guard in 1916, and after the First World War the bulldog, the nickname British soldiers gave to the Mack AC, became the corporate symbol in 1922. Today Mack trucks are assembled in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and Salem, Virginia, while engines, transmissions and transfer cases come from Hagerstown, Maryland.
Design and features
- In-house components: Mack designs and builds its own engines, transmissions and axles, all matched to work together.
- Vocational focus: the company sells into the class 8 to class 13 vocational and on-road market.
- American plants: chassis and bodies are built at the Lehigh Valley Operations plant in Macungie, Pennsylvania.
- Worldwide reach: Mack trucks have been sold in 45 countries, with right-hand-drive parts made in Brisbane, Australia.
Mack A series versions
- Mack AB (1914): a smaller Hewitt design that replaced Mack’s older Junior model.
- Mack AC (1916): the heavy truck that earned the bulldog nickname in British service.
- Mack AB Armored Truck (1916): built for the 1st Armored Motor Truck Battery of the New York State National Guard.
The heavy truck of the same era is described on the page for the Mack AC, and the line that followed the war is the Mack B series. More trucks are in the Mack collection.
Sources
- Mack Trucks, English Wikipedia: company history, plants, market
- Mack AC, English Wikipedia: the AB and the armoured truck of 1916
