What does the delivery-truck brand name Divco stand for?

Divco stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company. The name belonged to the American manufacturer best known for compact multi-stop delivery trucks, especially vehicles used for home milk delivery.

The company was founded in 1926 by George Bacon and investors after Bacon left the Detroit Electric Vehicle Company. He had proposed gasoline-powered delivery vehicles to overcome the range and cold-weather limitations of electric trucks. The resulting business adopted the name Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company, later shortened in branding to the acronym Divco.

Divco’s trucks were designed for repeated stops. Many allowed drivers to operate them while standing, with controls mounted near the steering column, and their low floors made loading and unloading easier. Early milk trucks were not mechanically refrigerated; dairy products were often kept cold with ice, which contributed to rust.

Divco merged with Wayne Works in 1957 to form Divco-Wayne, and production later moved from Detroit to Delaware, Ohio. The brand remained strongly associated with the snub-nosed milk truck, even though it built vehicles for several delivery uses.