Garford Truck Photos

Does anyone have any photos of the Garford truck as used by the A.I.F (Australian Imperial Force) during WW1?

Thanks

Tom
GuddayM8

By hitn on Google images U can find sum pix n info

Studebaker-Garford was an automobile produced jointly by the Garford Company of Elyria, Ohio and the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1904 through 1911. During its production the car was sold as a Studebaker, per the marketing agreement between the two firms










Selden Liberty Trucks on East Main Street ,
during the third Liberty Loan Drive in 1918.

Due to the high demand for trucks in World War I the United States Army drew up a specification for a standard Class B heavy truck. Because the trucks were made to a standard their parts were interchangeable. Many Model B's were built by Selden in Rochester. Eventually over 8000 Libertys were sent to France during the war. Other Model B builders were Gramm Bernstein, Garford, Pierce Arrow, Republic, Bethlehem, Diamond T, Brockway and Sterling.



Cya
[ch9787]

Tommy - I think you'll find that the Garford truck you're referring to, is what is known in Australian Military descriptions as the "General Service Truck", and by the Americans as the Liberty "B" truck.
The Liberty "B" truck was commissioned by the U.S. Military as a standard design, and built by around 15 different manufacturers, including Garford, to meet the urgent demand for trucks during WW1.

Doing an "advanced search" of the AWM pictorial archives using "truck", "lorry", or "lorries", as the sole search term, and "First World War" as the selected search time frame, will produce results such as this picture, below, of a Holt tractor and a general service truck, in the Middle East, during WW1 ..

You can also search for unit photos, such as the 1st Australian Mechanical Transport Company.

The Americans didn't enter WW1 until July 1917, and their first action was when American troops were placed with the Australians at the Battle of Hamel, to learn current battle tactics, from the Australians.

Fortunately for both groups, the Battle of Hamel was the first battle led by the brilliant Australian commander, Gen. Sir John Monash .. and his tactical skill was so immense, that Monash planned for the battle to end within 90 mins .. and it was successfully completed with minimal losses, in 94 mins.
From that day on, the Australians led by Monash never lost a single battle, and they successfully completed 15 major battles, decimating the Germans every time, up until the Armistice.
It has been stated that if Monash had been put in a commanding position earlier in WW1, Australian troop losses would have been only a small fraction of what it was, under incompetent British military commanders.

As a result of late American entry to WW1, you'll only find pictures of Garford or Liberty trucks in the period from late 1917 to late 1918. Prior to this, British trucks such as Leyland and Albion dominate. Most WW1 truck pictures on AWM are identified as Peerless lorries.

Liberty truck .. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_truck

Thanks fellas for your replies

Some very informative info there

A friend of mine is seeking photos and info on this vehicle so I have passed it on to him.

Keep further info coming...

Tommy - I have to qualify or modify my statement about American trucks only appearing late in WW1. I should have mentioned that the British Army did a deal with the American manufacturer, Peerless, in 1915, for the supply of 12,000 trucks. These were delivered between 1915 and 1918, and the British issued quite a few of them to the Australians.

Here is an excellent forum for you (link below) .. you'll have to join up to see the pics, but the forum users will almost certainly be able to provide more info. There's already a lot of info on the 5 pages of this thread ..

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72254

Tommy - I have started a thread on the Great War forum about WW1 trucks, to see if I can get any pictures of actual Garford trucks in WW1, not Garford-built Liberty "B" trucks.

According to one earlier discussion thread on the Great War forum, the British Army supplied 111 Garford water tankers of 150 gallon capacity, and 30 larger (3 ton) 500 gall water tankers, to the Army Service Corp, in 1916.
There are no photos of the Garfords, the tanks size of which, would suggest 1-tonners.
However, there are some very good quality pics of the 3 tonners, which have been identified as Locomobiles.

Can you tell us the reason for the interest in the Garford? Is it because a WW1 relative drove a Garford? .. or is it because they actually possess the remnants of a Garford, and they want to restore it?

Interestingly, it appears that Garford were the originators, of what we know today, as the forward-control cab - minus the cab of course ..

From around 1913 to about 1916, the Garford truck designers were enamoured with the idea of placing the driver as far forward as possible. As a result, early Garfords show the truck with the firewall placed right at the front of the vehicle, level with the bumper, and the driver sitting right behind it. The engine was alongside and slightly below the driver, and Garford bragged about this "improved feature" of their truck design, in their ads. Cabs, of course, were non-existent. The driver sat out in the open with nothing behind him or above him .. and with no windscreen.

However, the WW1 Nash Quad, and the FWD truck, built by the Four Wheel Drive Co., also followed this same design trend as the Garford, so it must have been a popular engineering idea for a period during WW1.

In this period, truck speeds rarely reached more than 15mph, so driver protection was relatively unimportant. Most drivers wore goggles as protection against rain, dust, and flying dirt and small stones, when in traffic. Roads were rarely sealed in the WW1 era, they were just tracks, improved somewhat, by grading with horse-drawn towed graders. Only small sections of roads around towns and cities were actually properly drained, sealed, or built with cobblestones.

The other forward-looking design of the early Garfords, was the installation of the headlights in the firewall for protection.
Garford engineers came to the conclusion that the lights suspended on irons from the front of the chassis rails, were very vulnerable .. and they were. Remember that this was the era of acetylene lamps. Electric lighting was available, but was very expensive and only fitted to high-priced luxury cars and pricey sports vehicles such as fast and powerful roadsters.

Sometime around 1915, it appears that Garford changed their ideas about their forward control idea (possibly due to increased usage of C-cabs and weather protection - and engine accessibility), and they moved the firewall back to behind the motor, and the Garford started to look like any other truck. Headlights were still in the firewall behind the engine, for a year or two, but by about 1916, it appears the smaller Garfords were featuring a very standardised truck design, with headlights out front.

Incidentally, the Rock Island Arsenal organised a huge Trans-Continental Motor Convoy of trucks across America in 1919. This was to test all the makes and sizes of trucks for military purposes, under real conditions.
It was also a test to see if America's roads were capable of sustaining a large increase in truck traffic, if a military conflict, initiated by "an Asiatic enemy" (they were worried about the Japs, even then?), came about.

The test was overseen by one Lt. Col. D.D. Eisenhower, who wrote up a substantial report on the trip. This gent is the person whom we more commonly know, in later life, as President Eisenhower (1953-1961). Lt. Col. Eisenhower was not in the least impressed by the Garford trucks unreliability and poor performance. Neither was he impressed about Americas roads. They nearly lost the whole convoy in Utah and Nevada, due to quicksands. The lasting impression on Eisenhower, from this trip, plus inspection of Hitlers Autobahns, convinced Eisenhower of the critical importance of good roads. It took until 1956, before Eisenhower could overcome a myriad of obstacles, to present, and get approved, the "Federal Aid Highway Act" legislation, that led to the establishment of the American (Federal) Interstate Highway system.

1919 Trans-continental Motor Convoy .. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Motor_Convoy

Report on above .. www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/convoy.cfm

Tommy - I have to qualify or modify my statement about American trucks only appearing late in WW1. I should have mentioned that the British Army did a deal with the American manufacturer, Peerless, in 1915, for the supply of 12,000 trucks. These were delivered between 1915 and 1918, and the British issued quite a few of them to the Australians.

Here is an excellent forum for you (link below) .. you'll have to join up to see the pics, but the forum users will almost certainly be able to provide more info. There's already a lot of info on the 5 pages of this thread ..

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72254

Great link onetrack I will join up and have a look around.

Tommy - I have started a thread on the Great War forum about WW1 trucks, to see if I can get any pictures of actual Garford trucks in WW1, not Garford-built Liberty "B" trucks.

Can you tell us the reason for the interest in the Garford? Is it because a WW1 relative drove a Garford? .. or is it because they actually possess the remnants of a Garford, and they want to restore it?

G'day onetrack

The fellow who is interested in this info would like to publish a book in relation to trucks used by th A.I.F during WW1. He is finding that detailed info and in particular, photos of the Garford hard to come by :-[

I believe he is also interested in finding any surviving examples to restore.

I will pass on all your info and links so that he can have a look

I appreciate the effort you have put in

Tommy - Pleased to be of assistance. Geez, writing a book about WW1 transport, is going to be a whole lot easier than trying to find a WW1 truck to restore .. :

Good luck to him, I wish him well. He may find the only place to procure a WW1 truck for restoration, is Britain or Europe.

The thread I started on the Great War forum is below. I have added some more info, besides what I put up here.

Incidentally .. I have come to the conclusion that the description, "General Service Truck", in the AMF, was not limited to one particular make of vehicle, but included many makes. It was probably more likely, that the term was applied to the style of body, rather than the make of truck.

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index....showtopic=147384&hl=

Cheers - Ron.

G'day Ron

It wasn't that long ago when a collector here in Western Australia stumbled across the remains of an ex army WW1 FWD truck out on a farm.

I suppose you never know what is still out there

Your thread in the WW1 Forum may provide some good info. I will pass on the link.

Thanks