Strange truck quiz

The make should be easy but your mission is to describe the powerplant, gearbox and drive.

Lang

I'll go 2 sidevalve ford v8's side by side?

chocs

Yep, but how did they mate them and change gears?

throttles, clutchs and gear levers were linked together!!!
these ford were built by e&l transport to haul b 24 liberator fusalages and wings in a inclosed trailer with canvas covered roof. 100 trucks and trailers in total. each engine drove one rear axle and the truck could be driven on one engine!. for reliability both engines were changed out after every trip from willow run to fort worth and fitted with 2 brand new flathead v8,s which were 100hp mercurys [99a block] i believe there is only 2 survivors but none of the 63 ft trailers have been found?? i have a old overdrive mag that shows a pic of one taken in the 60,s at chicago
produce markets still painted olive drab

Wow, what a wonderful thread. As somebody commented in a different thread earlier today: it is amazing what surfaces in this group.
For me, in all of the best transport groups to which I belong (rail, road, air, water), it isn't just the equipment, it is also the transport task, the people who made it happen, the social environment in which it worked, the impact on development.
I was surprised by the level of overkill in having two engines, and constant changeovers.
From www.liberatorcrew.com/06_B-24_Specs.htm ,
a B24 Liberator had a mass of 38 000 lb empty: that is 18 t, and includes the engines. Surely a single V8 could haul that? If the engines were a separate task, the mass is even lower. Perhaps the delivery run was over steep mountain passes?

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Well done Ivor,

The only other thing I can find apart from your info is they had all Synchro boxes. I think it would be impossible to operate two engines with the clunky Ford crash boxes just tied together. No matter how closely they matched the engines, clutch release etc there was always going to be a difference and the synchros took care of that.

Rod,

One has to ask the question - why? It is 1,200 miles from Detroit to Fort Worth (roughly Brisbane to Melbourne). There were any number of off-the-shelf 200hp trucks that would have done the job, just not from Ford (although their subcontractor built the twin model it was under their umbrella). Was this another case of Ford influence to rape the Golden Goose of war production. The outrageous corruption that went on during this period involving many big companies but particularly Ford and various Senators/Representatives to gain contracts was the subject of a huge enquiry after the war. Maybe this was a bastard child of the palsy relationship between Ford and various politicians.

Lang

in a attempt to answer mr smiths question ford mass produced the b24 so supply was vital as i said these trucks could and did often run on 1 engine so the slightest hiccup in transit could halt production hence 2 engines plus a changeout every trip!! henry was not short of new flatheads back then!!! and i think? they were a slid in out deal like a lot of military spec stuff today if anyone comes up with a original e&l trailer they could possibly retire on the proceeds

lang you posed a question and i answered it!


as for rod you have to ask the question why!!!!!!
without fords involvement in ww2 you just may be speaking japanese about now!!!!!!!
i find your comments ill informed and highly offensive

Ivor,

I won't comment further after this and the administrators can feel free to pull my comments if they think they are not in the forum spirit.

I was not suggesting that we could do without Ford merely that the American war debt may have been much less had they competed with other companies on an even footing.

NONE of these companies anywhere including Australia were charities, their reason for being - profit - never changed. This is as it should be in a capital economy such as ours but the costs should be fair and not take advantage of desperate times and that includes unnecessary production. They all did good out of the war.

You might ponder the strange fact that Ford Germany continued production during WW2 "under German control - after 1941" but mysteriously, unlike most of the other major industrial players, suffered no consequences and reverted to major American shareholding after the war in the interests of getting the country back on its feet.

g'day all .. there's a good chance the one in the Overdrive mag at the produce markets in the 1960's is the one in the pic....

...just call it ''process of elimination''... how many of these jiggers would have still been kicking around doing a day's work in the sixties?.....cheers