The FWD HAR-1 was a four-ton, four-wheel-drive truck produced by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company during the Second World War. The US Army ordered it in large numbers, and between 7,000 and 9,000 were built — though most of them went to America’s allies under Lend-Lease rather than to US units.
FWD HAR-1 at a glance
| Maker | Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, Clintonville, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Type | 4-ton 4×4 truck |
| Era | Second World War |
| Ordered by | US Army |
| Built | 7,000–9,000 |
| Main user | Allied armies under Lend-Lease |
| Drive | full-time four-wheel drive with lockable centre differential |
| Company founded | 1909, as the Badger Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company |
| Founders | Otto Zachow and William Besserdich |
| Predecessor | FWD Model B three-ton truck of the First World War |
based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, which covers the HAR-1 in a short section.
History of the FWD HAR-1
A company built on four-wheel drive
The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company — FWD — was founded in 1909 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, by Otto Zachow and William Besserdich. The two men had built their first successful four-wheel-drive car, the “Battleship”, a year earlier, and its success led to the founding of the company; the word “Badger” was dropped from the name in 1910. Their patented system was a full-time four-wheel drive with a lockable centre differential and double-Y constant-velocity joints for steering — in modern terms, all-wheel drive.
From cars to military trucks
The success of the four-wheel-drive vehicles in early military tests prompted the company to switch from cars to trucks. In 1916 the US Army ordered 147 Model B three-ton trucks for the Pancho Villa Expedition, and during the First World War it ordered 15,000 of the same truck as the “Truck, 3 ton, Model 1917”, of which over 14,000 were delivered. Further orders came from Britain and Russia. FWD had established itself as a maker of heavy all-wheel-drive trucks for armies.
The HAR-1
During the Second World War the company produced the Four Wheel Drive Model HAR-1, a four-ton 4×4 truck, and delivered it to the US Army. The Army placed an order and between 7,000 and 9,000 were built for it, although most of these were supplied to allies under Lend-Lease rather than issued to American units. The truck continued the line of FWD military models that had begun with the Model B a generation earlier, and several of the marque’s vehicles from both world wars survive in working condition.
After the war
The company kept its name until 1958, when it became FWD Corporation. In 1963 it acquired Seagrave Fire Apparatus, which moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Clintonville, and many tower ladders of the 1990s on Seagrave chassis were branded as FWD, using Baker Aerialscope booms that FWD had also acquired. In 2003 the assets of FWD, FWD Corporation, Seagrave, Baker Aerialscope and Almonte Fire Trucks were sold to an investment group headed by former American LaFrance executive James Hebe.
Design and features
- Full-time four-wheel drive: the FWD system used a lockable centre differential, a speciality of the company since 1908.
- Four-ton rating: a heavy truck class, developed from the three-ton Model B of the First World War.
- Military specification: built to a US Army order and numbered in thousands.
- Lend-Lease delivery: most of the production run went to Allied armies rather than US forces.
- Long service life: FWD trucks of both world wars have survived in running condition.
FWD HAR-1 versions
- HAR-1: the four-ton 4×4 truck described here, built for the US Army in the Second World War.
- FWD Model B (Model 1917): the three-ton truck of the First World War, of which over 14,000 were delivered.
- FWD SU-COE: a later cab-over-engine four-wheel-drive truck of the same maker.
- Hardy (British FWD): vehicles built at Slough from 1921 and marketed under the Hardy name after AEC took control in 1932.
The HAR-1 belongs with the other military trucks of the FWD collection, and its ancestor, the three-ton Model B, is the best-known product of the same Clintonville factory.
Video: FWD HAR-1 exits woodland at BA Stores Working Weekend, 2013
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Four Wheel Drive, English Wikipedia: company history, HAR-1 production and Lend-Lease delivery