Medallion Truck Body Los Angeles, California and Cougar's Truck Body West Hollywood, California     Medallion Truck Body is a Los Angeles-area builder believed to have been founded in the 1970s Cougar's was started by an individual who worked at Medallion Truck Body, and then went out on his own. "I am pretty sure all these guys came from Bowles, Kouris (Bemars/ABC), or possibly Western, when the market broke open for low-cost front loaders and roll-offs." notes Scott Blake, who once operated a hauling business in the Los Angeles area. At a distance, these could be mistaken for Bemars-Maxon, or those of many other Southern California truck body manufacturers However, Blake explains how to identify a Cougars-Medallion body by the style of sheet metal used. "The verticals on the body have the tell-tale rolled 'rib', for lack of a better word, that was standard with the steel fabrications that Flemming Iron Works supplied to Medallion, and later Cougar. Medallion subbed-out the major weldments to Fleming, and when the former Medallion guy started up building bodies on his own (Cougars), he too used Fleming for the major body weldments." Zachary Geroux has confirmed the rolled rib characteristic as unique to Medallion-Cougars through contacts with industry insiders: " Through email correspondence with he's confirmed that it was a special request by those two [Medallion and Cougar's] and a cosmetic feature. It did nothing to the strengthening of the steel. " The two tan-colored front loaders shown below were found languishing in a yard in Los Angeles by Bill Tetreault, and are believed to be about 1980 vintage. A big three-stage telescopic ram fits easily into the short cab shield, yet extends enough to fully clear the hopper opening Back end of the packer blade assembly Detail of the packer blade, showing the guide shoes and one of the side tracks This JP Recycling top-pack front loader is believed to have been built by Medallion or Cougar's. Inset image shows close up of "rolled rib" vertical support member which sets these apart from other makes. Another two-axle top-pack formerly owned by Local Rubbish, which has recently been retired and scrapped. Believed to be a Medallion or Cougar's body. For more pictures and video of this truck, see the Local Rubbish album here at CRT. A Medallion/Cougar's from a 1970s motion picture A Medallion/Cougar's body rusting in the yard of Valley Disposal Close-up of the telltale "rolled rib" bracing that identifies these bodies 9/21/07 (revised 4/7/13) © 2005 All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos by Bill Tetreault and Zachary Geroux