About E.M. Tharp, Inc. Serving the Central Valley
E.M. Tharp, Inc. is known throughout the California’s Central Valley and beyond as the leading truck sales, parts, and service provider. With over eight decades of unwavering dedication, we've built our reputation on keeping promises and getting every job done right, the first time.
Our History
Our dedication to service excellence can be traced back through three generations of Tharps, right back to E.M. “Gene” Tharp, the man who started the company in 1935. Gene quickly developed the original E.M. Tharp Trucking Firm from a single used truck into a fleet of tractors and specialty equipment – a commercial hauling business that thrived for over 25 years.
In the early 1960s, with his sons Morris and Michael, the family business grew in a different direction: selling new and used trucks from a full-service International Harvester dealership. It’s been said that Gene never knew a stranger and had a wonderful way with folks. Along with an uncanny ability to “horse trade” and bargain, he built a western United States clientele that continues to count on E.M. Tharp to this very day.
The Tharp family, anticipating the coming “Supercenter” trend, began building a comprehensive One-Stop Truck Center near Porterville, CA, in 1968. The truck sales headquarters soon were complemented by a parts department, repair shop, body shop, fuel shop and a welding and tire shop. In 2004 the company purchased Kroeger Equipment & Supply in Fresno and continues to expand with the new opening of Golden State TRP in Bakersfield in December of 2022.