But do you know its origins? Here are three things you might not know about how the company got its start.
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More than 100 years of history
Many may know Navistar’s history proper dates back to 1902 when a merger resulted in the then-named International Harvester Company, but the sum of its parts date back even further.
The McCormicker Harvester Company, started by inventor Cyrus McCormick, was established back in 1847. The other part of the merger, the Deering Harvester Company, was founded by William Deering in 1874. Both companies focused on agricultural machinery at the time.
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Before the Model-T, there was…
The Auto Buggy, a two-cylinder, air-cooled automobile, was introduced by International Harvester in 1907, one year before Henry Ford introduced the Model-T to the automotive market. The vehicle featured 18-20 horsepower and had two forward gears and one reverse gear. It remained in production until 1912, but another variant produced in 1908, the Auto Wagon, remained on the market until 1917.
The Ford Motor Company and Navistar would later join forces to produce engines and vehicles together, starting in the 1980s.
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Helping the nation’s military
Because of its wide reach at the time, International Harvester was chosen to provide trucks for the U.S. military during World War I. In World War II, the company povided trucks for the Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy which acted as cargo transporters, weapons carriers and light artillery movement. The company still provides trucks and other automobiles to the military through its affiliate, Navistar Defense.
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