1946 Fruehauf Semi-Trailer, Used by Cole's Express

In 1914, Detroit blacksmith August Fruehauf built a trailer with no front axle to help move a client's boat. The client, who owned a lumberyard, saw the hauling potential for his business and contracted with Fruehauf to build more semi-trailers, as it was named. The success of the semi-trailer led to the incorporation of Fruehauf Trailer Company in 1918.

The freight or semi-trailer was a simple idea. The trailer's front is supported by the vehicle that pulls it, now called a tractor. A model of efficiency, a tractor can drop off a trailer and pick up another without waiting for unloading. Tractor-trailers are like one-locomotive, one-boxcar trains independent of rails. In fact, they've replaced trains for hauling most freight.

This 1946 Fruehauf Model FF Aerovan was a standard dry freight trailer of the industry during the 1940s. Purchased in early 1947 by The Goodwill Department Stores of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, it was never used. It was repurchased by Fruehauf in 1973 and later donated to The Henry Ford. The trailer has been painted to create a typical post-World War II tractor-trailer unit used by the Coles Express, Inc. of Maine.