Michigan - Danish Army Vehicles Homepage

Michigan

Michigan was a brand produced by Clark Equipment Company. Clark was originally formed in 1902 as a general manufacturing company. During its history it specialised in the manufacture of drills, gears, towing tractors, lift trucks, and truck transmissions.
In 1917 the first Tructractor was built to haul materials between various departments of Clark's axle plant. Visitors to the plant were impressed with the practicality of this truck, and asked Clark to build trucks for them. In 1918, eight Tructractors were built and in 1919 Clark manufactured and sold over 75 trucks.
Clark's output of industrial trucks was just over 500 in 1939. In the four years of World War II, production was approximately 23,500 trucks per year and Clark's plant was running three shifts a day. Clark supplied substantially 90 percent of all the government requirements for this type of equipment.
Clark joined the VME Group NV (Volvo Michigan Euclid) in 1985. VME was owned jointly by Volvo and Clark. VME Groups bought Åkermans in 1991. Clark was bought out by Volvo in 1995 and Volvo Construction Equipment was formed. By then Michigan disappeared as a brand and was replaced by Volvo BM.
Also in 1995 Ingersoll-Rand acquired Clark Equipment Company which included the Bobcat, Club Car and Blaw-Knox product lines.