“The Rise of Semi Trailer Trucks” at first sounds as a title of a cheesy horror movie. Or perhaps like the ever popular trucker flicks from the 1970’s, much like the “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”! But, instead of monkeys taking over the world, you have trucks conquering the world!
Just think if ‘Happy Toyz’ (the Green Goblin truck from “Maximum Overdrive”) suddenly came to life and rolled over the world. Much like the “The War Rig” from “Mad Max: Fury Road”. What a sight to see! Who do you think would survive Max or the Bandit?
But, in an odd way that is what happened. As technology advances so does everything else. Some things are a bit slower. Cellphones were advancing quicker in the Asian market than in the American market.
While microwaves and instant meals gained in popularity here but not as quickly in Europe!
The same was for the vehicle. Now of course when gasoline and diesel engines were first being designed they had several issues to contend with. Some of these are obvious and other we might take for granted. But here are a few issues:
Roads: once you left the major cities roads were mostly dirt and often badly rutted from the years of wagon usage.
Fuel: sure they figure out uses for oil in the late 1800’s but refining it was another matter. Petro stations were just a few and far between!
Parts: in the early days’ inventors and designers were building everything by hand. As time passed the designed were mass produced, but there weren’t any Auto Zone, NAPA, or O’Reilly auto parts stores.
