FWD

 

The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company – Four Wheel Drive (FWD) – was a pioneering American company in the early 1900s that developed and produced all-wheel drive vehicles well into the 21st century. 

 

Otto Zachow and William Besserdich were running an agricultural equipment business in the early 1900s and incorporated an agency for REO cars. After losing control of a REO car and having great difficulty in getting it out of a bogging, Otto designed a driving front axle and built a four-wheel drive (4WD or 4×4) car, known as the Badger Battleship, in 1908.

 

1908 Badger FWD Battleship – Popo

 

Besserdich’s and Zachow’s patented full-time, four-wheel-drive system combined a lockable centre differential with double-Y, semi-constant-velocity universal joints, to provide steering action.

The company that later became FWD was founded in 1909 by Zachow and Besserdich, in Clintonville, Wisconsin, as the Badger Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company. It dropped the ‘Badger’ moniker in 1910, after Walter A Olen joined the company and reorganised it.

Although the Battleship was an outstanding on- and off-road performer, it was around twice the price of a 4×2 car, so there was plenty of buyer interest, but no takers – until the US Army started looking for an alternative to horse and mule based transport.

 

FWD Model B – Bonneville

 

The success of the Battleship’s four-wheel drive system in early military tests in 1911 prompted the company to switch from cars to trucks, so the prototype Model G (1.5-ton payload) and Model B (three-ton payload) trucks were ready for the US Army’s official testing in 1912.

The FWDs outperformed the animals and other trucks in the tests, but it seems that the decision to opt for a complete departure from military transport history was too big to handle. The generals in Washington sat on their hands. However, Olen and the FWD board could see some commercial applications for their new trucks – particularly the three-tonne-payload Model B –  so production went ahead.

The Model B chassis was constructed with a doubled ladder frame, with a short inner frame carrying the engine and driveline mounted within an outer frame that mounted the suspension and carried the cab and body. 

 

Wisconsin T-head engine cast in a pair of two cylinders

 

The FWD Model B was its first production cab over engine truck and featured the FWD full-time, four-wheel-drive powertrain. The engine was a 389 cubic inch, in-line, four-cylinder, side-valve, Wisconsin Model A, T-head engine that produced 36bhp (27kW) at 1800rpm. Performance was adequate for the time, with a maximum speed of 14mph.

(This same engine was capable of much more output, as evidenced by its use in the Stutz Bearcat, where it put out 60bhp, thanks to tuning and downdraft carburation. 1930s Model Bs used this variant, rated at 55bhp.)

The drive was transmitted to each axle differential via a Cotta three-speed constant-mesh gearbox, via a single-speed, silent-chain transfer case, with a lockable centre differential. 

The centre diff lock could be used to force both propshafts to rotate at the same speed, for additional traction in very steep or slippery conditions, but could also let the truck operate in front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive in the event of a front or rear propshaft failure.

Braking of all four wheels was performed by an external contracting band operating on a flywheel at the back of the transmission. 

 

FWD Model B dump truck – FWD Archive

 

Steering was accomplished using FWD’s patented double-Y constant velocity joints, but steering effort in the day before power steering would have been excessive had FWD not adopted what was almost centre-point steering geometry. The front wheels were mounted with significant positive camber, to bring the tire contact patches as close as possible under the steering knuckle pivot axis.

Also part of axle geometry were two radius rods running from each differential to brackets near the transfer case.

The Model B originally ran on solid tyres, mounted on spoked or disc wheels, but many were later converted to pneumatic tyres. The track width exactly matched Standard Gauge rail dimension (4’ 8.5”), so the road wheels could easily be replaced by rail wheels.

Despite its undoubted off-road ability, initial Model B sales were slow and only 13 trucks were sold in 1913. Then along came Word War I. By early 1915 it dawned on the British that this conflict had not needed by Xmas 1914 as many pundits had predicted and was developing into a war of unprecedented scale and horror. The brits needed capable, front-line transport mobility and looked around for a solution.

 

FWD Model B hauling a six-inch howitzer – Imperial War Museum

 

The first military order for the FWD Model B was from the UK, in March, 1915, for an initial order of 50 trucks. By War’s end, in 1918 the British Army had purchased nearly 3000 Model Bs. More than half of these were used in front-line service, predominantly for haulage of artillery, ammunition and pontoon bridge supplies.

In 1916, the US Army ordered 147 Model Bs for the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico. When it entered WWI in 1917, the US placed orders for 30,000 Model Bs, under the description: ‘Truck, Three to Five Ton, M1917’. 

Order numbers for the Model B were too great for the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company to meet, so the Peerless Motor Company, Kissel Motor Car Company, Premier Motor Corporation and Mitchell Motor Car Company were engaged to build Model Bs. Fewer than half the considerable order number had been delivered by the time of the Armistice, in 1918.

 

FWD Model B ammunition truck – US National Archive

 

Most US Army Model Bs were equipped with either a steel ammunition body or a wooden supply body, although some were fitted with a variety of specialty bodies, including air compressor, artillery repair, artillery supply, baggage repair, spare parts, mobile office, power saw, balloon winch, water tanker, several types of machine shops and a searchlight.

After the War the US government sold or distributed the majority of their Model Bs to local governments and municipalities. This practice was common with armed services around the world and helped contribute to an automotive sales slump in the post-War period.

FWD helped counter this slump by buying up and refurbishing as many War-surplus Model Bs as it could find; blending these pre-owned vehicles with its new-truck production.

 

FWD advert in Horseless Age 1918

 

The company also engaged in publicity events, including featuring women drivers to show how easy the Model Bs were to operate.

Also, a Canadian subsidiary was set up in conjunction with Dominion Truck of Kitchener, Ontario in 1919 and a British subsidiary was set up at Slough in 1921. 

FWD developed upgrades, including gearing changes that allowed 25mph maximum speed or deeper-reduction off-road final drives, for 1920s and 1930s Model Bs and these upgrades could be purchased as kits for existing Model Bs. 

Earl Halliburton, of the global Halliburton Corporation, bought a batch of surplus FWD trucks in 1919 for use on the oilfields and used them for 30 years.

 

1926 FWD BT – Dr Reload

 

The somewhat modernised BT, with enclosed cab, was introduced in the mid-1920s, along with the Model M, heavier-duty truck. Another development was the 6×6 R6T.

 

1925 FWD Model M dump trucks – FWD Archive

 

A relationship with race car constructor Harry Miller resulted in the Four Wheel Drive Miller that competed successfully at the Indianapolis 500 in 1931. One surviving Miller FWD has competed in premier vintage race car meetings, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Last Great Miller by Griffith Borgeson gives a complete history of this landmark design.

 

1927 FWD R6T 6×6 – FWD Archive

 

In 1932, AEC took a controlling interest in the British FWD company and began to use some AEC components in the Slough-built vehicles. To distinguish these from imported US FWD vehicles, they were marketed under the brand name Hardy. 

Production ceased about 1936, but AEC exploited its experience with all-wheel drive in its WWII Matador (4×4) and Marshall (6×6) vehicles. 

In 1937, the US-market Model B looked much the same as the original, except for a rear suspension change to semi-elliptics and 8×40-inch diamond-tread Goodyear tyres.

In what is one of the longest production runs in truck-making history, the FWD model B was still available for order in 1939 and parts were available into the 1990s.

During the Second World War the FWD Model HAR-1, four-ton, 4×4 truck was produced for the US Army and for some allies, under Lend-Lease terms. Variants include COE versions for the British Army. Production estimates vary between 7000 and 9000 vehicles.

In 1958, the company’s name was changed to FWD Corporation.

 

1958 FWD fire engine – MrChoppers

 

In 1963, FWD acquired Seagrave Fire Apparatus which moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Clintonville, Wisconsin. Many tower ladders in the 1990s using Seagrave chassis were branded FWD. 

 

FWD P-2 US airport crash tender

 

In 2003, all assets of FWD, FWD Corporation, Seagrave, Baker Aerialscope and Almonte Fire Trucks were sold to an investment group headed by former American LaFrance executive and ex-Freightliner CEO, James Hebe.