Gotfredson Corporation
Walkerville, 1925 - 1960

Above: Gotfredson's first truck, the G & J (Gotfredson-Joyce)

Below: A Gotfredson Model 20 from 1924 depicted on a stamp as part of Canada's Historic Land Vehicles Stamp Series.

Gotfredson Truck Corporation (which started out briefly as the Gotfredson-Joyce Corp.) though American owned, began in Walkerville in 1919. In 1923 Gotfredson began manufacturing in Detroit but the Detroit plant came under control of the Canadian operation.

In 1925 it merged with the American Auto Trimming Co. Ltd. to form the Gotfredson Corporation and became one of the major truck manufacturers on the continent.  

At it's peak, Gotfredson was producing 2,000 trucks annually, and the Canadian company continued to manufacture trucks long after its American counterpart became a distributor for diesel engines.

It was the U.S. company's lack of success that brought on a petition for receivership in Canada. The company began bankruptcy proceedings in 1929 but was saved when Studebaker stepped in and rented Gotfredson's buildings from the trustees, hired Gotfredson's entire 110-man staff and started to build for itself the urgently-needed Studebaker and Erskine bodies that Gotfredson had been building for them. It also continued to build Gotfredson trucks until 1936.

Gotfredson carried on until 1960 building auto bodies and other parts after truck manufacturing ceased.