After running that pic of the postal Jeep the other day, we got a hankering for some postal vehicle history. No sooner did we get that hankering than we came across George Hamlin's article on that exact topic in SIA #56, April 1980. Hamlin covers the first several decades of postal vehicle history well, with a couple test drives of some unique purpose-built delivery vehicles.

Here's an excerpt:

"Most of the early automobiles out on the routes were not government property. The oldest vehicles so far encountered in photographic records are Wintons, circa 1899. There were probably others, and early photographs show a wide variety of body styles and propulsion systems: a 1904 Knox Waterless delivery truck in Saint Louis, a 1906 Studebaker electric in New York, a 1906 White steamer in Boston, two 1906 Columbias in Baltimore – the latter being the department's first government-owned."

Read the Whole Article