FWDTEXAS Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) there are 30 pages of up-grades, probably dating back to 1925 Edited February 23, 2010 by FWDTEXAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Great stuff. i am not aware of any other war time truck Co that advertised as much as FWD. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4Founder Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 FWD was smart. When everyone else was struggling to build and sell new trucks, they were buying back the surplus army trucks to modernize and refurbish them. I also have one of these catalogs and it's fascinating reading. FWD had some stupid moments too. The Nash Quad might never have come to be had not FWD dug in it's heels and refused to make changes to the Model B to standardize it for military use. Ditto the Militor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Which catalog have you got? You say that FWD dug their heels in and refused to make changes to the FWD to standardise it. Can you elaborate on that more? What changes did they decline to make? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4Founder Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I'm working from memory here, I'd have to go digging and reread the material, but after the Dubuque-Sparta run, the Army decided they wanted some standardized military features and changes in design. LHD for one. I have some 1913/1914 letters copied from the National Archive, from Olen to the QMC whereby FWD basically refuses to make any changes. I just found the letters and it had to do with LHD, the clutch, the Army wanting a different engine, the seating arrangement over the engine. The last of these talk about the Jeff Quad, how it had been tested in Texas and how it met their needs at a lower price. It also opens the door to future purchases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4Founder Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Oh, and the Catalog lists all the things available to modernize the Model B, and IIRC, show the original and modified truck. It's an original catalog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Thats really interesting and would make sense. I guess that it was about at that time the US Army were looking to move over from RHD to LHD. I am not sure how much of an issue that was though as i have seen many photos of US Army Peerless, Pierce Arrow and locomobile (Riker) trucks which were still RHD even at the end of the war. The clutch was a Heleshaw. I wonder why they didnt like that? A bit too complicated and hard to change i suspect and quite different from their other trucks. The request for a different engine i find strange. Wisconsin were a well known and reliable brand and could meet the demand for the massive British orders that were coming in at that time. I am curious as to what they would have preferred. The cab over engine design results in an overly warm driver (great in Winter Wisconsin) and fuel evaporation (hence most photos of Model B's have their side covers removed), but does provide for a longer body. Moving that means a whole new design of truck, something that Walter Olen would have been reluctant to do at that stage. I would think that FWD didnt really need the order from the US Army as they could manufacture just for Britain alone and be unable to keep up with the demand. Therfore they had no inclination to agree to their requests. it certainly didnt seem to do the business any harm. fascinating stuff. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4Founder Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Remember that the USA's requests didn't always make sense. One of the letters from FWD talked about how a "leather faced clutch had been tested and would not meet FWD standards." As to LHD, FWD cited that the industry had not yet decided with side to standardize the driving position and some prattle about visibility being better on the right ( : < ). Not sure about which engine was being referred to, but I agree that the Wisconsin B was about as good as it got in that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 OK. The visibility argument related to keeping an eye on the ditch beside the road as opposed to oncoming traffic. A few more years and everything would be left hand drive. When did FWD go over to left hand drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Intresting discussion guys! It back up the story that when the US decided to update their vehicles in the 1930's the jsut issued a basic specification and let the industry get on with, becuase of all the complications during teh Great War. I always hypothisies that the US needed trucks, so developed them, while the main mover in UK was the railways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FWDTEXAS Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Thats really interesting and would make sense. I guess that it was about at that time the US Army were looking to move over from RHD to LHD. I am not sure how much of an issue that was though as i have seen many photos of US Army Peerless, Pierce Arrow and locomobile (Riker) trucks which were still RHD even at the end of the war. The clutch was a Heleshaw. I wonder why they didnt like that? A bit too complicated and hard to change i suspect and quite different from their other trucks. The request for a different engine i find strange. Wisconsin were a well known and reliable brand and could meet the demand for the massive British orders that were coming in at that time. I am curious as to what they would have preferred. The cab over engine design results in an overly warm driver (great in Winter Wisconsin) and fuel evaporation (hence most photos of Model B's have their side covers removed), but does provide for a longer body. Moving that means a whole new design of truck, something that Walter Olen would have been reluctant to do at that stage. I would think that FWD didnt really need the order from the US Army as they could manufacture just for Britain alone and be unable to keep up with the demand. Therfore they had no inclination to agree to their requests. it certainly didnt seem to do the business any harm. fascinating stuff. Tim Did Wisconsine stop engines for tucks in 1920? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FWDTEXAS Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Thats really interesting and would make sense. I guess that it was about at that time the US Army were looking to move over from RHD to LHD. I am not sure how much of an issue that was though as i have seen many photos of US Army Peerless, Pierce Arrow and locomobile (Riker) trucks which were still RHD even at the end of the war. The clutch was a Heleshaw. I wonder why they didnt like that? A bit too complicated and hard to change i suspect and quite different from their other trucks. The request for a different engine i find strange. Wisconsin were a well known and reliable brand and could meet the demand for the massive British orders that were coming in at that time. I am curious as to what they would have preferred. The cab over engine design results in an overly warm driver (great in Winter Wisconsin) and fuel evaporation (hence most photos of Model B's have their side covers removed), but does provide for a longer body. Moving that means a whole new design of truck, something that Walter Olen would have been reluctant to do at that stage. I would think that FWD didnt really need the order from the US Army as they could manufacture just for Britain alone and be unable to keep up with the demand. Therfore they had no inclination to agree to their requests. it certainly didnt seem to do the business any harm. fascinating stuff. Tim Did they not stop mft. truck engines in 1920 and concentrated on small stationary engines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgresh Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Here's a site that has FWD advertising, and a whole lot more! http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/search?q=fwd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FWDTEXAS Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 FWD was smart. When everyone else was struggling to build and sell new trucks, they were buying back the surplus army trucks to modernize and refurbish them. I also have one of these catalogs and it's fascinating reading. FWD had some stupid moments too. The Nash Quad might never have come to be had not FWD dug in it's heels and refused to make changes to the Model B to standardize it for military use. Ditto the Militor. The Nash quad was formely the Jeffrey Quad, later Nash was bought out by Oskosh that was founded by William Besserdich a co founder of the FWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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