Corbitt [9] was an American automobile, truck, and farm equipment manufacturer. Richard J Corbitt [10] founded a tobacco business in North Carolina in 1894. As a small tobacco dealer, he felt hopeless against the large tobacco industry and decided around 1899 to enter the manufacturing of horse-drawn carriage buggies.[11] He succeeded in taking over the three competing local buggy builders. In 1905, Corbitt built his first automobile, which he called 'Motorbuggy', and which went into mass production in 1907. Financially, the first motor buggies were a failure. Starting in 1910, with the production of a 1.5-ton truck with chain drive, profits were made and the business expanded over the years to include light and heavy trucks, intracity buses, personnel vehicles for the U.S. Army, and farm tractors. Based in Henderson, North Carolina, for its entire history, it sold in 1952 to the United Industrial Syndicate, a New York City-based company which gradually liquidated Corbitt and shut it down. The last production vehicles came off the line in 1954, though a few vehicles were cobbled together from leftover parts in the years after that.[12]
It is not known whether all the recorded serial numbers were used.[17][18] Note: The First figure of the Serial Number denotes the capacity in thousand pounds. The second and third Number are a key to the Units that go into the Truck. The last three Figures are the serial number!
- Corbitt Military vehicles
- 6-ton 6×6 truck
- 8-ton 6x4 [13]
References
- Model 25 Official handbook of automobiles 1926, 1926-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Model 40 Official handbook of automobiles 1927, 1927-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Model 56 Official handbook of automobiles 1928, 1928-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Model 620 Official handbook of automobiles / National Automobile Chamber of Commerce 1929, 1929-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-29^
- Model A Official handbook of automobiles 1921, 1921-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-29^
- Model B Official handbook of automobiles 1920, 1921-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Model C Official handbook of automobiles 1922, 1922-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-29^
- Model E Official handbook of automobiles 1923, 1923-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Corbitt Motor trucks of America ... c.1 v.8 1920), 1920-01-01, retrieved 2025-06-07^
- historic-truck-brands/corbitt historicvehicles, 2025-02-01, retrieved 2025-07-02^
- buggies-1899-1917 Corbitt Preservation Association, 2025-02-01, retrieved 2025-07-01^
- Corbitt History Corbitt Preservation Association, retrieved May 21, 2011^
- Corbitt 8t 6x4 Standard military motor vehicles, 1943-01-01, retrieved 2025-07-02^
- Corbitt Roadster and Tourer Automotive industries v.26 1912 Jan-Jun, 1912-01-01, retrieved 2025-07-02^
- Production Corbitt Vehicles Page 23-36 Lusher, 2015-04-04, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Corbitt Motor trucks of America ... c.1 v.6 1918 &suppl. 1919, 1919-01-01, retrieved 2025-06-30^
- Corbitt Branham automobile reference book, showing in illustrated form the location of motor and serial numbers on all passenger cars and trucks 1923, 1923-02-01, retrieved 2025-06-29^
- Corbitt Branham automobile reference book, showing in illustrated form the location of motor and serial numbers on all passenger cars and trucks 1929, 1929-02-01, retrieved 2025-07-02^