When Dick Roderick took over his father's plumbing business in 1954 (Fall River, Mass.-based Roderick & Son Plumbing and Heating Supply Co.), he wanted his trucks to be distinctive. He took a liking to the brightness of Shell Oil's then yellow-and-red trucks.
"He used those Shell colors and threw in the blue at the bottom to be a little different, but you can sure see these trucks in the dark," said Rick Roderick, Dick's son, who recently joined the business after eight years as a minor-league hockey player. All of Roderick & Son's trucks use these three basic colors.