Founded in 1881, Schodorf Truck Body & Equipment has grown over the past 124 years from a rural blacksmith shop to leading manufacturer and distributor of truck bodies, truck equipment, and truck parts for customers nationwide. A fourth-generation family business, Schodorf Truck Body is today the United States’ #1 manufacturer of truck bodies for the glass industry, one of the nation’s top three builders of forestry bodies, and a leading local distributor of truck equipment. In addition, we boast unsurpassed service capabilities and a fully stocked parts department.

Columbus, Ohio-based Schodorf Truck Body has defied the odds to become one of only a handful of private businesses that have survived and thrived over four generations.

Headquartered in a 45,000-square-foot facility just outside Columbus’ historic German Village, Schodorf Truck Body today operates under the direction of three great-grandsons of company founder Andrew Schodorf. Joe Schodorf, vice president of operations, joins his brother Steve Schodorf, vice president of engineering, and cousin Paul Schodorf vice president of sales, as co-managers of Schodorf Truck Body.

Schodorf Truck Body & Equipment traces its roots to Galloway, Ohio, where in 1881 company founder Andrew Schodorf, an Austrian immigrant, set up shop as A.C. Schodorf Blacksmith, following a brief stint as a cowboy in Oklahoma. More than a skilled blacksmith, Andrew also was a successful inventor who set the pace for future generations. One of Andrew’s earliest inventions was a device that held wild horses for shoeing. Sold nationwide by traveling hardware salesmen, the Schodorf rack for shoeing "vicious" horses was patented in 1896—the first in a long line of Schodorf-manufactured racks.

When Andrew’s son Otto, Sr.—a World War I veteran who served in Europe with the United States’ fist mortar division—joined his father’s business, the company changed its name to AC Schodorf & Son. With Andrew and Otto working side by side, the company’s business gradually evolved from shoeing horses to building horse-drawn wagons to designing and producing truck bodies.

Driven by an old-world work ethic, AC Schodorf & Son continued to grow in spite of the odds. During the Great Depression, when so many businesses faltered, the company survived by trading work for food vouchers from a local grocery store.

Three of Otto’s four sons—Robert, Paul, Sr. and Otto, Jr.—formed the third generation of the Schodorf family business. Sadly, older brother Howard was killed in combat during World War II, and never had the opportunity to work alongside his brothers, father and grandfather. Robert and Paul joined the company first. Younger brother Otto joined the company after attending college and serving as a Marine in Korea—one of the lucky few to survive the infamous Chosin Reservoir.

Generation three set the stage for today’s Schodorf Truck Body & Equipment. Widely regarded as the country’s foremost authority on the design and production of glass hauling truck bodies, Paul, Sr. oversaw manufacturing, and the design and production of some of the industry’s first tree trimming truck bodies. Otto, Jr. headed up a growing sales department that distributed refuse equipment, service bodies, van bodies, beverage bodies, and other types of truck equipment. Robert managed the company’s thriving service and parts departments.

Today the fourth generation of Schodorf Truck Body professionals, Joe, Steve and Paul, Jr. are committed to keeping their great-grandfather's 19th century dream alive—and growing—throughout the 21st century.