Tag Archives: 1948 International Truck Picture

1948 International Truck

1948 International Truck

Lesney was founded in 1947 as an industrial die-casting company by Leslie Smith (March 6, 1918 – May 26, 2005) and Rodney Smith. The two men were not related by blood; they had been school friends and served together in the Royal Navy during World War II. Shortly after they founded the company, Rodney Smith introduced to his partner a man named John “Jack” Odell, an engineer he had met in a previous job at D.C.M.T. (another die-casting company). Mr. Odell initially rented a space in the Lesney building to make his own die-casting products, but he joined the company as a partner in that same year.