HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION & TRUCKS 1948 PROMOTIONAL FILM "HORIZONS UNLIMITED" 61714

This 1948 black and white film was presented by The Highway Transportation Industries of America and produced by RKO Pathe, Inc. It is narrated by radio actor Dwight Weist and violinist Herman Fuchs supervised the music. The film opens with headlights on a dark street, and a spotlight on a “Horizons Unlimited” sign (:09-:32). A bird’s eye view is seen of an interstate with a tunnel (:58). The viewer passes a Howard Johnson’s (1:08). Passengers on a Greyhound Bus look happy (1:10-1:20). The bus pulls into a Texaco and stops at a restaurant (1:22-1:50). A young man washes the windshield of a Chevy Fleetmaster (1:56-2:10). People talk in front of Mac truck (2:13). Semi-trucks and busses drive on surfaced highways (2:25-2:25) and a Ford Model A post office truck delivers mail to country mailboxes (2:36-2:45). At 2:40 highway signs are seen for Route 66, California 7, Los Angeles, Akron and other cities and highways. Many 1940s vehicles drive by (3:02). The footage moves to the late 1890s (3:13). A team of horses struggles to pull a wagon through the snow (3:14-3:23) and a man works on a broken carriage wheel (3:24). Farm life included churning butter, pumping water, a cast iron stove to heat, and kerosene hurricane lamps (3:30-4:09). A 1907 Locomobile Type E Touring car needs repairs under the hood (4:23-4:38). Multiple early 1900s cars drive past (4:39-4:50), followed by 1940s cars, including a wood-sided Nash Ambassador Suburban (4:51-4:58). A 1948 Checker Taxi picks up a businessman (5:00-5:08). A woman hands a metal lunchbox into a car window (5:09). A large traffic jam is shown (5:18). A doctor arrives at a rural home (5:25-5:40). Vehicles from the 1940s include a school bus (5:42), a police car (5:52), a fire engine (6:01), and an ambulance (6:04). Men take golf bags out of a car (6:25). People purchase tickets at a bus station (6:33-6:48). Different busses are shown (6:49-7:15). Bus maintenance is performed (7:18-7:42). Factory lines of canned goods and eggs go into crates hammered shut for transport, loaded on trucks, and unloaded (7:44-8:15). Store windows showcase household goods, toys, and clothing (8:17-8:35). A pharmacist checks supplies (8:42). Esso and Amoco metal signs are seen (8:53). A tractor factory unloads steel plate rolls and engines with a forklife (8:55-9:54). Finished Metrac tractors are loaded (9:55-10:13). A grocery store is stocked with produce and eggs (10:15-10:54). A tricycle is delivered (10:55-11:15). A woman dials a rotary telephone (11:19). A fuel oil truck delivers (11:24), a moving van is unloaded (11:31), milk (11:36) and diapers (11:42) are delivered. Delivery trucks are loaded (12:02-12:14). American Airlines Flagship airplanes transport goods loaded into trucks (12:15), receive fuel (12:35), galley meals (12:51), and have mail loaded (13:01). Ships transport goods loaded into trucks (13:10) Sketched models of trucks from 1900 to 1947 are shown (13:18-13:50). Trucks include a mobile x-ray unit, cement mixer, insect sprayer, dump trucks, pineapple harvesters, and a rolling library (14:08-14:35). A semi cab hooks up to its trailer (14:50-15:03). Dispatchers are in action (15:05-15:45). A large wooden city model map is shown (16:46-16:55). Various roads with vehicles close the film.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@11UncleBooker22]

I looked up the narrator, Dwight Weist, he was quite a go getter in his time. For instance, he would fly his own plane to and from work locations. That alone makes him amazingly ahead of his time as an announcer in his time or any time.

[@the.porter.productions]

O-H-I-O Porter greetings 🇺🇸 Shave and a haircut…! I so enjoyed this video! My dad began trucking back in the 1930s & many of these trucks were around then. He purchased many new models of these trucks as well…REO,GMC, Dodge, International, Federal, White & Kenworth. The country sure depended on the trucks back then & still really do today. Those old trucks, being so under powered, had lots of style & character! Good stuff! 🥰😎✌️

[@barrylaite7000]

This was done at a time when not only truck drivers, but everyone who had a job, actually took pride and professionalism seriously. And look where we have gotten ourselves today…… such a shame that things have took a serious turn for the worse over the last 30 to 40 years. I wish that I was the age that I am now, but back in the 50s and 60s when professional drivers were exactly that, professionals. Not to mention the higher level of acknowledgment, appreciation and respect you would get from the public back then compared to today. The problem with our beloved industry today, is that it is too heavily regulated by the “experts” that think they know how this industry works. Between the regulations, criticisms, lack of respect and the low level of pay, it’s a wonder we still even have something called the trucking industry to work in. I love my job, don’t get me wrong, but I would get almost anything to have that level of pride and professionalism and a slower way of life of back then, into today’s society.

[@Edward-bd8iy]

Be careful what you wish for... did you notice, for instance, how WHITE everyone was? No people of color... ANYWHERE! But, if you go, make sure you have the stocks/bond movements to finance the lifestyle you wish to obtain... and consider setting up to stop the Kennedy assassination...

[@tonyorsini5255]

I was born too late. In the trucking school I went to, I was fed the line that it was still like that. Nice surprise when I found out the hard way that the industry is garbage now.

[@ianmaclean122]

the good old days

[@jaminova_1969]

My grandfather was a truck driver during this time period!

[@jimjoe9945]

Rotary mailboxes ! Good idea.

[@manhoot]

Keep on trucking

[@WAL_DC-6B]

TWA, Lockheed 049 Constellation seen taking off at 12:14 and next an American Airlines, Douglas DC-6 flying near New York City's East River and Brooklyn Bridge. TWA would enter the "Connie" in service in February 1946 and AA would initiate DC-6 service in April 1947.

[@musicom67]

6:07 - Southern State Parkway - Long Island, NY (or a similar parkway).

[@josephherrmann6304]

Today Greyhound drivers talk to passengers like they are criminals yelling and threatening them and treating them like a herd of cattle. They think they are policemen or something with their attitudes. I will never ride that bus line again.

[@francomtz7115]

We all have lost self respect for one another nowadays.

[@sarjim4381]

Well, there wasn't railroad in the city limits of Milford, but there were two railroads to the north and south within 8 and 10 miles in 1948, so the idea everything was transported completely by truck is a little disingenuous. It's not difficult to tell this is sponsored by The Highway Transportation Industries of America with the constant subtle and not so subtle digs at railroads and streetcars. I find it difficult to believe that many loads of steel plate were hauled from Pittsburgh to Cleveland by truck when there were eleven mainline railroads running between the two cities in 1948. The finished tractors may have been hauled by truck to the railroad team track, but there's no way a semi load of three tractors was hauled by truck from Cleveland to Kansas. The Highway Transportation Industries of America merged with the American Trucking Association sometime in the mid-50's. The ATA exists primarily to advocate for the least amount of regulation of trucks and trucking, especially fuel and use taxes, and they have done a very effective job of it. A 2000 Federal Highway Administration study estimated that combination trucks paid only 80 percent of the federal-scale costs they imposed on highways via user fees, with the largest trucks paying only half of their cost responsibility. The federal tax on over the road diesel hasn't been raised since 1993. At the same time, the ATA opposes subsidies of any kind for railroads and water transport.

[@rapman5363]

Well said

[@the.porter.productions]

O-H-I-O Porter greetings.🇺🇸 I’m not quite sure what the max length of trailers we’re back in 1948, but the ones I pulled of the 50s were average of 28 & 30 feet. If those tractors were about 10feet each, then it would be possible. But what a heavy load! Most of the trucks were gas powered & about 80 hp max. This might be a Hollywood Version of trucking, but quite enjoyable. I know that many things were hauled by the railroad to Huntington, WV from New York by railroad & my dad unloaded several trucks off of rail cars. Still quite a cool video of that era! Thanks for the info. Blessings!🥰🤩✌️

[@Edward-bd8iy]

​@@the.porter.productionsThe roads... don't forget the roads. Two lanes. Sixteen feet from edge line to edge line, or less. U.S.60 and U.S.21 went through WV; south from Parkersburg got hairy and 60 east of Charleston got insane with the curves/grades. Even the Turnpike wasn't opened until 1954. I remember garages and tow/wrecking companies stayed busy on those mountain sections...

[@antony716]

some men wore dresses even in the 19th century

[@Edward-bd8iy]

Boys wore gowns and long curly hair. Boy George based his look in part on this Victorian trend among the elites. So did Tiny Tim. They(the elites)were weird then and they've only gotten weirder...

[@martyjoseph9507]

If you're replying to the guy making a repair before the thunderstorm soaked him out was coveralls he had on that came with the vehicle when you purchase it, as they knew you'd be working on it and wouldn't want to get your suit dirty