West Coast Mirrors???? HELP!

As recently as the early 1950s, some trucks were equipped with small mirrors both round and square. I call them "bicycle mirrors". I assume the large rectangular mirrors first became popular on the West Coast.

Ron Adams book "100 Years of Semi Trucks" is a source for old photos organized by decades. I looked for the earliest trucks with West Coast mirrors. Maybe this disproves my theory about the popularity of the big mirrors. The book has a photo of a 1934 Mack with West Coast mirrors, pulling for Werner of Minneapolis, Minnesota. However, bicycle mirrors were photographed in 1941 on an Autocar from San Diego, and in 1942 on a Consolidated Freightways Freightliner.

One would expect bicycle mirrors on East Coast trucks. Ron Adams has a photo of an Associated of New York (1940s) and a Spector of Chicago (1949) with small mirrors. I looked for the latest trucks with bicycle mirrors and found a 1954 Autocar pulling for East Texas Motor Freight of Dallas. That was unusual because most small mirrors were farther east. There is a photo of a 1953 White pulling for Mason and Dixon of Kingsport, TN, and a 1953 LJ Mack pulling for Kingsport Transport of Montreal, Quebec with small mirrors. The prize winner is a 1957 Mack pulling for W.J. Cowan Fast Freight of Baltimore, with small mirrors.

In the 1920s when railroads handled longhaul freight and straight trucks worked mostly in the cities, many trucks had no mirrors. They were still on hard rubber tires with chain drive when bicycle mirrors appeared. Tractor-trailer combinations and tractors with sleepers required larger mirrors.

 

I believe they were actually manufactured by a company name West Coast Mirror Co. orginally. I could be wrong and certainly would nolt be the first time. But believe this is correct.

 

And here i was thinking it was something to do with some new silly law like the one about trucks must spotless before entering California.

 

I dunno. Thought it was cuz its so big u could "see all the way to the west coast".

 

Some of these guys are guessing, I have the answer and it is " I don't know"

 

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40 years!............ my hats off sir