Horseless wagons began to appear in Europe and America in the late 1800s. American postal officials, continuously seeking faster and more effective ways of moving mail, were drawn to the possibilities of these new self-propelled wagons. The match between postal service and vehicle was a great success. By 1920, the U.S. Post Office Department controlled the largest civilian vehicular fleet in the world. By the 1960s, these vehicles had become an essential tool of city delivery service. Today letter carriers and their vehicles are commonplace in neighborhoods across the country.

A horseless carriage

Speeding Along and Setting a Standard

In December 1899, an automobile mail wagon was tested for the first time. It was manufactured by the Winton Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The test was conducted with snow both on the ground and falling. Even in those conditions, the new vehicle covered 22 miles of paved and unpaved streets in just under two and one-half hours, stopping at 126 mailboxes along the route. The average time for a horse and wagon over the same route was six hours.

Officials cheered the dramatic increase in collection speed and soon postmasters across the country were testing motorized vehicles. Collection times were cut at least in half in most trials. This was exciting news for the time-conscious Post Office Department.

Down The Road

1986 Long Life Vehicle (LLV) on display

As of 2004, there are 188,613 delivery vehicles in service in the United States. These white vehicles are common neighborhood sights. We watch and wait as carriers use them to help bring us our share of the over 600,000,000 pieces of mail processed in the U.S. each day.

Ford Flexible Fuel Vehicle
Photograph courtesy of Utilimaster.

In the 21st century, demands on postal vehicles remain great. A new set of challenges faces the postal service. Vehicles must not only be able to help carriers improve delivery service, but must also help the Postal Service lower their reliance on fossil fuels. The latest postal delivery vehicle is the Flexible Fuel Vehicle, or FFV, manufactured by Ford Motor Company, which has delivered 21,239 right-hand drive FFVs to the postal service. The vehicles use an Explorer SUV platform and a specially designed durable aluminum body from Utilimaster. They can be operated on 85% ethanol fuel, gas, or any combination of the two fuels in the same tank.

This exhibit was made possible
through the generous support of
Ford Motor Company Fund.