Garford Truck Photos

Tommy - Yes, I did read a little of the FWD find. Trying to find the missing parts will be where the greatest amount of effort is required.

The FWD company made a 4x4 truck around 1911, and called it the Model A. It wasn't well received, so they built a refined version, a 3 tonner, and imaginatively called it the Model B.
This one was starting to look like a lead balloon, too .. and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy .. when the British War Dept found it, and ordered 200 of them.
The FWD Co must have thought they'd struck gold. The British went on, to order many thousands more of them.

Incidentally, I found that AEC were the first to provide British trucks in sizeable numbers, to the British Army in WW1 .. because they were apparently, the only manufacturer of trucks who had a moving production line. AEC apparently provided 8000 trucks to the British Army in WW1, but didn't start supplying them until 1916.

Also - it would pay to advise your mate, that there's already a book .. called Military Transport of World War 1, by C. Ellis and D. Bishop .. which has quite a lot of background information, and sketches and details of WW1 vehicles.
It was published in 1970 by Blandford Press Ltd, and the ISBN number, is 0 7137 0701 1.
This book will no doubt, only cover WW1 vehicles from a British viewpoint. The Australian viewpoint will almost certainly be different.

Your mate would be well advised to contact the historians at the AWM .. the AWM has the greatest collection of War artefacts, records, and paraphernalia, of any museum in the world. I can recall spending a whole day there, some time in early 1970 .. and you could spend a month there, and still not see everything they have.
I believe they have a huge stockpile of war items that have never ever seen the light of day, for display .. because they either require work on them, or they don't have enough room to display them all.

Cheers - Ron.

Ron, all the British makes supplied trucks for WW1 years in advance of the first shot under the subsidy scheme. The Brits were planning on war so the deal was you bought a truck of standard specification at huge discount (govt subsidy) on the condition that govt could impress it at the start of war. At this time Thornycroft was bigger than Leyland. AEC were in the business of supplying busses to London General Omnibus (hence you see pics of busses with 'General' on side) and trucks were only a sideline, until they got geared up and ended up making the most. It was the tight specifications which included heavy build and high clearance which made all the Pommy WW1 trucks look similar.