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1 October 1896 that the Daimler Company, of Cannstatt, Germany, delivered its first petrol-fuelled goods vehicle. Whether that actually was the world's first truck is a matter for debate, but the date remains valid as an early milestone in the industry.
To mark the centenary, the German publishing group ETM organised a rally for historic trucks across northern Europe. After several local shows in Germany, 48 trucks assembled for a display at the Hanover Truck Exhibition on 28 September. They called it the "Jubilaumsfahrt" or jubilee drive.
The following morning they set off for official receptions at the Schmitz Cargo Bull trailer plant at Altenberge, and Daf Trucks HQ at Eindhoven, both major sponsors of the event. Stopping briefly for a civic reception in Brugges, for the benefit of the Belgian entrants, they embarked on a Stena ferry (another sponsor) to take them to Britain.
Mercedes Benz was a major sponsor too, so the colourful cavalcade made its way to MB (UK)'s HQ at Milton Keynes, where Lord Montague of Beaulieu, perhaps Britain's foremost authority on historic vehicle matters, welcomed the rally drivers and their families.
Mercedes boss Hans Tauscher hosted a splendid lunch, amid tales of mishap and adventure along the way. Make no mistake, that was a long, hard trip for trucks up to 65 years of age. Of the 48 starters 45 made it as far as Milton Keynes, which is a remarkably good survival rate.
After the celebrations at MK, the schedule demanded that everyone crank up their motors once more to head back to London, then on to Brussels the following day.
Visually and technically, this collection of representative vehicles from 1930 to the late 1960s was very different from British vehicles of the same period, such as might be found on a Historic Commercial Vehicle Society event.
Except for a few built in the mid to late '60s, bonneted designs were universal among the continentals. MAN and Mercedes offered semi-forward control cabs for a while before going all the way to full cabovers; the rest trailed along behind, apart from Daf, which was offering full forward control from 1955 onwards.
Certainly some of those big bonneted trucks were impressive to look at, and awesome to drive, with huge steering wheels without power assistance, and dismally poor vision around the front of the vehicle. But that is what the operators wanted, and that is what the manufacturers provided_ Makes represented on the rally were Mercedes Benz, Opel, Henschel, Bussing, Hanomag, Volvo, Daf, Scania Vabis, Krupp, MAN, Faun, Saurer,Nlagirus Kaeble, Renault, WA and Ford. They came predominantly from Germany, but Belgium. Holland, France and Switzerland were represented as well.