Re: Re: H

Posted by Matthew.R on May 05, 2004 at 21:03:20 from (152.163.252.198):

In Reply to: Re: H posted by Andrew on May 05, 2004 at 20:18:32:

These are a few things I found.
M2 Halftrack Car was developed in 1939 by Diamond T Motor Car Co under the name of prototype T14 Halftrack APC based itself on the M2A1/M3 Scout Car (wheeled vehicle). In September 1940 the prototype was accepted for the production and between 1940 and 1943, 11415 specimens were produced by White Motor Co. (8423) and Autocar Co. (2992). Among these specimens, let us note that 1266 were converted thereafter into M2A1 Halftrack Car.

History of the Diamond T Motor Company:

C. A. Tilt founded the Diamond T Motor Company in 1905. C.A. Tilt production was devoted exclusively to autos, which were assembled and marketed in the Chicago area. Trucks were added in the teens and eventually took over total production. Interestingly enough the Diamond T trademark was the brainchild of Mr. Tilt’s father, J.E. Tilt, to identify his line of shoes, which he manufactured in Chicago exclusively for Marshall Field and Co. C.A. Tilt worked several years for his father before eventually spending two years with Charles W. Knight, inventor of the famous Silent Knight Motor.

Diamond T-line had a justified reputation for rugged, dependable trucks with advanced styling and appointments generally reserved for passenger vehicles. C.A. Tilt was widely known for not sacrificing on quality to make his vehicles for cost competitive. They were truly the “handsomest trucks in America.” They were also known as the “Cadillac of trucks.”

So why did Diamond T want to produce a woodie station wagon? Well the answer is easy. To help satisfy the pent up demand of consumers who wanted something different after World War II. This prototype was built in 1945 as part of a product research and feasibility study looking at possible additions to the Diamond-T line to take advantage of the coming market. The team listed above in the Diamond-T Woodies specification listing designed the wagon.

This prototype was built and tested in the Chicago area and then assigned to general company use in 1948. According to R. J. Carter, who often drove this vehicle and later identified it to the Mr. Donald Lake, restorer. According to Mr. Carter the 1945 and 46 vehicles ran quite well and gave many years of useful service around the plant. It was mostly used for guest transportation and routine errands. “With no name plates, logos, or identification, it was a constant curiosity wherever seen for the first time. We had a lot of fun blaming it on Tucker in 1948 when they were active a few miles south of us in the ill fated effort to produce the Tucker ‘Torpedo’ automobile.”

The 1945 prototype wagon, however was not the Diamond T’s first. Actually it there was three station wagon designs! The first is view in the Diamond –T catalog of 1936. There is a very nice photo pictured of a station wagon built on their Model 80 three-quarter-ton pickup chassis. It is unknown whether any additional units were ever produced. If there were, the numbers would have been extremely small.

The Model 80 station wagon was not an all-new design but assembled in the typical manner, using existing components other than a wood body. It used a standard pickup cab with deluxe appointments. Model 80 chassis were built during 1936-1938. This first station wagon ended up on the Wisconsin farm of Diamond-T founder and president C.A. Tilt and was used for guest transportation.

The second was the 1945 model offered exclusively by Cyber Sellers®. It was thought not to have survived and with good reason. It was one Tilt’s personal vehicles and for some reason it ended up in hands of a cook who left it basically discarded to friends in Minocqua Lake, WI. Lake purchased this vehicle in 1972. As mentioned it had 13,600 original miles. Unique and ahead of its time, the product study was a “compact” sized station wagon of 100 –inch wheelbase and 54-inch track and powered by a Continental F4140 flat head engine with a Borg 3 speed transmission. According to Mr. Carter, who Mr. Lake extensively corresponded with before he died in 1991 of cancer, not much was ever shown or publicized about this vehicle, but it was frequently seen around the factory in 1945 and 1946. Mr. Lake received Mr. Carters name from various sources including The American Truck Historical Society, The Woodies Times, a magazine and the Diamond-Reo Archives listing former administrators of the company when it was located in Chicago.

The last prototype was the 1946 woodie wagon. It was quite advanced for its time. It featured an all steel roof. The industry would not adopt this feature till 1949 as a standard construction practice. It featured a roof mounted spotlight which was very unusual and an under seat gasoline heater which was thermostatically controlled and performed flawlessly, a necessity in the bitter cold Chicago winters in a hard-to heat vehicle like a station wagon.

The last two prototypes where obviously fine vehicles and well thought out with features advanced for its time. So why was it abandoned? Basically two reasons. First, the postwar demand for new trucks was so large that production capacity was full. C.A.Tilt did not want to risk losing his company to an unproven idea.

The second reason was that it was felt that the station wagon was so rugged and “over designed” that it would not be competitive in price to other makes therefore would not be a good business risk at the time. Whichever reason you subscribe too it was probably a very good decision. Sales of Woodies peaked in the 1950’s and never regained their popularity

Lastly, Diamond-T produced a number of one and one half ton trucks with thin sheet metal hand formed over a wood frame. This helped preserve the nations steel supply for wartime. During the 1950's, the Diamond-T Co. worked closely with IH The so-called R-Line cab was originally a Diamond T design that IH began building. The CO-190 cab over models were also a Diamond T design also adopted by IH. In the mid-1950's, IH built this model for Diamond T in Fort Wayne and for a time, Diamond T build the heaviest of the R-lines, the models that evolved into the M-series Mixers, in Chicago for IH because of plant capacity constraints in Fort Wayne. But this is as close as the two companies got.

In 1958, White Motor Co. bought Diamond T and moved production to the REO plant in Lansing, MI. The two lines were merged into Diamond Reo® in 1967. Diamond Reo filed for bankruptcy in 1975, two years later the Company was bought by Osterlund Inc. of Harrisburg, PA and production moved there, lasting into the 1980's. In 1993, the company was sold to The New Diamond T Co. and they still build trucks for the export.

Hope this helps Andrew.
And I Hope there is some information that you can use.

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