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If You Want it Done Right
...do it yourself. Today, American Red Ball has our own paint and body shop to maintain our equipment to the highest standards. Back in 1923, Hiner decided trucks could be better, so he decided to manufacture his own.
1923 was the year Hiner ventured into manufacturing. He employed a well known automotive engineer, Charles Glaser, to draw up plans for two specially designed motor truck chassis for both a conventional four-wheel truck on which a 24-foot van body was to be mounted, and a six-wheel chassis of hitherto untried deisgn, on which a 28-foot van was to be installed.
The first trucks were manufactured in Indianapolis on Kentucky Avenue, but production was moved after the purchase of the Stewart Wire Wheel Manufacturing plant on Barner Street in Frankfort, Indiana. That plant would house the new truck building enterprise, as well as a division to build closed van bodies. About two hundred chassis of these "Red Ball Trucks" were actually built, but the operation was found to be impractical. However, more than one thousand bodies were sold and delivered throughout America and were considered far ahead of their time.
The trucks sold for $9,000, and were painted and identified with "Red Ball Transit Company" with the understanding that the new owner would drive for Red Ball. At that time there was no credit, so the truck was paid for before it left the factory.
As it happened, purchasers would sometimes indicate that they wanted to wait 30 days before going on the road. Thirty days later the truck would be returned (even though paid for) because the purchaser no longer wanted to handle household goods, as agreed. When inspected, it would often be discovered that floor boards had been torn up - to accommodate "special" cargo destined for Chicago and other cities.
A less well known event, according to Ward's son, Richard, was Hiner's brush with "the mob." The story goes that one day Richard was in the front yard mowing grass when a black sedan pulled up. Two men inquired if he knew where Ward Hiner lived. It developed that 10 Red Ball Trucks had been discovered with $50,000 worth of bootleg whiskey on board and the "revenuers" were on the trail. During this time period, Hiner was selling franchises, wholly owned and operated by others, but authorized to use the Red Ball name. Evidently one franchisee had decided more money could be made transporting illegal moonshine than household goods. Hiner courageously cooperated fully and established the innocence of his firm and personnel, but not without a price. Reprisals from the so-called "Purple Gang" included bombings and threats in attempts to ruin the company and Hiner. For many years following his testimony, he reprortedly carried a silver plated pistol on his lap while driving.
In 1924, in order to give faster road service to highway equipment, Hiner purchased a "Jenny type" airplane to carry parts to drivers broken down on the road. While the venture didn't last long it highlights Hiner's innovative entrepreneurship and the company's early and ongoing commitment to service.
