FWD Model B Gallery

[Runflat]

Tim, I've seen a reference that there is (or was) a FWD at a museum in Orleans, France owned by Club des Ancetres Automobiles. Do you know of that one?

[Douglas]

:saluting:The FWD in Adelaide, South Australia, is now undergoing a full restoration in preperation for centenery commemorations for WW1 starting in 2014 (USA will have to wait a few more years)

Was displayed in its unrestored condition for the last 6 years, but now stripped down for sandblasting and paint prior to reassembly.

Any help greatly appreciated. For example, desperately seeking:-

1918 wheels, spoke or solid

Wisconsen engine - any spare engines to be found? anywhere?

Spare tinware, side panels, seat frame.

Set of control levers

Contact: Military Vehicle Preservation Society of South Australia

P.O.Box 174, Salisbury, SA, 5108

Attention: Douglas

www.military-vehicle-museum.org.au

[Great War truck]

In all honesty Douglas i think that you are already in the best part of the world for finding FWD spares. Australia seems to be the place where these things turn up. Good luck with it all.

 

Tim (too)

[trevor pitman]

been reading the fascinating thread and had to add mine, not a ww1 FWD admitedly but a FWD all the same, hopefully at W&P for the first time this year.

Finally tracked it down to be a FWD HAR-1

[Rlangham]

I was watching 'UFO' on ITV4 the other day, and in one scene the main character is chasing a bad guy around the large film set where the base is (disguised as a film set) in small go karts. At one stage they drive past a mocked up large building with sandbags and an FWD outside - I believe it was filmed in England, so any idea which FWD it was?

[Great War truck]

Interesting question Rob, and exactly the same one was raised in this Months MMI. I know of one that was used in the film Zepellin and wonder if this was the set that they ran by. As to which one it is, i am not yet sure, but i will try and find out.

 

Tim (too)

[Great War truck]

Rob

 

Can you identify the episode from this list:

 

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Programmes/default.html?ViewType=1&Filter=365

 

You will have to be quick mind as they start dropping off the end.

 

Thanks

 

Tim (too)

[Rlangham]

Hard to tell to be honest mate - could be this one though

 

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=46748

[Great War truck]

Thats the one. Well done. About 4 minutes and 20 seconds into the show. It is the same FWD that was used in the film Zeppelin.

 

Tim (too)

[Runflat]

Can someone post a still?

[Rlangham]

Glad it was the right one - I really like 'Zeppelin', i'll have to buy one of the Region 2 DVD imports

[Great War truck]

They still keep turning up!

 

I was unaware of this one which is I am sure the only one in Sweden. It was sent in to MMI who forwarded it on to me. It is almost certainly ex US Army surplus which was privately imported from France into Sweden in the 1920's and sold to the Swedish military who used it in the Stockholm arsenal. Although looking a bit dirty it is in fact in remarkable condition and although not the first Swedish military vehicle, it is their oldest surviving one. Now would it be best to leave it as it is in unrestored condition, or to restore it?

 

 

[ergie]

Truck fom California Auto Museum. Photos by american Enthusiast form webshots.com

 

[4x4Founder]

I've only seen those wheels on postwar trucks. There were some spokers on license built trucks, but I don't recall seeing any like those. The only other type I've seen on the WWI era trucks are like on the Swedish truck pictured earlier. Is that one a license built model?

[Great War truck]

That sort of wheel is not very common, but i have a photo of a US Army FWD taken in october 1918 with that sort of wheel. There were a number of different designs. Five i think it was.

 

The manufacturers plate has been taken off the Swedish FWD, so we dont know who made it. A shame.

 

Tim

[4x4Founder]

Here is some info and pics some of you may find of interest.

http://www.oramagazine.com/pastissues/0503-issue/050312d-old-iron.html

[abn deuce]

A great artical 4X4 ! thats a staggering weight for the wheels 450 LBS each ! all being moved with a 60hp engine plus cargo at up to 16 mph, did they have only rear brakes or did they have a drive shaft based brake ? I d guess the equivalent wheel in say WWII would have been ? 150-200lbs?

[4x4Founder]

They had both rear brakes and a driveshaft brake.

 

Detuned to 50 hp and under 1500 rpm, the big Wisconsin still has a lot of torque. Can't hardly stall the thing.

 

The first one I drove, the owner was going to let me cruise around around on his property alone on several miles of dirt roads. Showed me the basic controls and said, "Go, have fun."

 

Being a modern driver, I looked around for instrumentation. There was none. It was a warm day, so I asked,

"How do I know when it's overheating?"

He replied, "Oh, it'll start spraying scalding water into your face."

"What about oil pressure," I asked.

"It'll either seize , knock or both," he said. "But don't worry, it won't!"

I drove around for an hour until it was almost out of gas.

Edited March 5, 2010 by 4x4Founder

[Old Bill]

Detuned to 50 hp and under 1500 rpm, the big Wisconsin still has a lot of torque. Can't hardly stall the thing.

I managed it, in the middle of traffic lights in Brighton! Took us half an hour of swinging to get it going again!

 

On that front, can anyone suggest what alteration I make to the carb to improve hot starting? It really is a pain with this green petrol.

"How do I know when it's overheating?"

He replied, "Oh, it'll start spraying scalding water into your face."

 

Too true! :-D

 

Steve

[Enigma]

They still keep turning up!

 

I was unaware of this one which is I am sure the only one in Sweden. It was sent in to MMI who forwarded it on to me. It is almost certainly ex US Army surplus which was privately imported from France into Sweden in the 1920's and sold to the Swedish military who used it in the Stockholm arsenal. Although looking a bit dirty it is in fact in remarkable condition and although not the first Swedish military vehicle, it is their oldest surviving one. Now would it be best to leave it as it is in unrestored condition, or to restore it?

 

 

 

 

I quite like it unrestored.

[Gordon_M]

Don't you just love the way they have put it up on axle stands to save the tyres from going flat ....:-D

 

Definite case for leave it as it is, I think.

[Great War truck]

Here is some info and pics some of you may find of interest.

http://www.oramagazine.com/pastissues/0503-issue/050312d-old-iron.html

 

Thats very interesting. 250 surviving Model B's seems a very high figure. I had in my mind somewhere in the region of 50, but admittedly my estimate keeps growing and growing as more come out of the woodwork.

 

Which ones have you driven?

[4x4Founder]

Frankly, when I made that estimate about 15 years back, I polled a number of collectors, averaged their estimates and that's what I used. Admittedly unscientific. With what I know now, I think your estimate is better.

 

I have driven three Model Bs, a M1918 Premier built unit that the Hicks Brothers owned in the '90s (I don't know who has it now), Gordon Claire's wonderful Quartermaster bodied unit and the one in the FWD museum. I would have driven Don Chew's recently on the MVPA Transcontinental Convoy reenactment, except that it conveniently wouldn't start and there wasn't time to mess with it.

[FWDTEXAS]

I just found out that most FWD's and Quadss were returned to the US at the end of WW 1

[Great War truck]

I didnt know there was a surviving Premier in the US, i know there is one in Australia. I am sure it has an amazing story to tell if only it could talk.

 

Gordon's FWD came from the Furrer collection and was recently sold to Hayes Outapalik who then sold it on to a Californian museum. Gordon reproduced the wooden B type body makers plate (by IH Co) for us to copy. It is fantastic that the Furrer FWD's survived in such good condition.

 

Dons FWD looks fantastic. How did it get on with the MVPA convoy? We did just over 60 miles in our FWD in one day and that was exhausting, so the people who did the whole route originally must have been built of sterner stuff . I was quite appalled to see some one in a link on the MVPA blog describing it as "an old fire engine".