Written by Donald E. Meyer, GMC Historian
(Compiled from an account by James Carry by Donald E. Meyer, GMC Truck Historian, 1/16/03. First published in American Truck Historical Society, Motor City Chapter News Letter, 2/05)

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1909 Rapid Model F

The first commercial motor vehicle to climb Pike’s Peak (14,110 feet high) was a 1909 one-ton Rapid truck driven by James B. Carry, accompanied by Frank Grogan, T. P. Meyers and two other men. Carry and Grogan were Rapid Service Department employees. The truck was a model F-406-B combination 6-passenger "car" with a flare-side open cargo body. It was included in the 1909 Glidden Tour to carry baggage for the Tour participants.

When the tour route took them within a few miles of Pike’s Peak, the Rapid team decided to try for the top. The only other motor vehicle to ascend that mountain was a single-cylinder chain drive Brush passenger car that went up nearly a year before.

They left the Antlers Hotel at Colorado Springs a 6:15 AM on August 1, 1909, and returned the next day. Quoting from Mr. Carry’s account that was published in the December 4, 1942 issue of GMC Truck News:

Originally it was thought that the twenty and one-half mile trip could be made up and the same distance back in one day --- they were still nearly a mile from the top when darkness overtook them. They camped for the night and completed the ascent the next morning. "And, boy was it ever cold that night and we weren’t prepared for it in any way" said Mr. Carry.

"You can drive your car up the mountain now in less than one hour" said Mr. Carry. "But in those days such a trip was a real event. Many said we could never make it. The road was really nothing but an old foot path, although it was called a ‘wagon road’. We had to clear out boulders and virtually cut our way through underbrush and stumps many times. Of course, we got stuck often, but, fortunately, we had brought block and tackle with us. At one place, we had to build a bridge to help us across a culvert. We never could have passed any vehicle in a million years. We were in low speed all the way up, and our engine boiled just about all the time. Once, we nearly lost the truck when is started to slip, but we were quick enough with our timbers which we threw behind the wheels to stop the truck in time."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING MR. JAMES CARRY

Mr. Carry joined Rapid early in 1907. He stated that: “Production in those days was a total of fifteen or twenty trucks per month, and they were all hand made. Even in 1911, we were only able to turn out 50 units per month.”

Mr. Carry joined the General Motors Truck Company when it was formed and became Truck Service Manager for the Kansas City Branch. Later, he held the same position at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, branch.

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