The Motor Truck of Democracy 



It's old and yet it's startlingly new. Fifty experts sacrificed their 

 pet hobbies and buried the hatchet of competition to produce it 



By Joseph Brinker 



THE Motor Truck 

 of Democracy, 

 otherwise known 

 as the standardized war 

 truck of the United 

 States Army, is the 

 greatest achievement 

 of America's motor- 

 truck industry. And 

 why? In the first place, 

 it was conceived not by 

 one man or one com- 

 pany, but by fifty of 

 the master motor-truck 

 engineers, each work- 

 ing with patriotic fer- 

 vor on his share of a 

 great task, each backed up by a company 

 which had heretofore engaged in almost 

 cut-throat competition. That these fifty 

 experts representing competing firms have 

 worked together harmoniously, picking 

 out the good points of one design and 

 often ruthlessly throwing aside pet hob- 

 bies which had been followed for years 

 before, but which did not meet the re- 

 quirements of war, is an 

 exhibition of self-repres- 

 sion as magnificent as is 

 the truck they designed. 

 Long after the war the 

 influence of these pat- 

 riotic engineers will be 

 felt. Not only the army 

 but the business men of 

 the country have profited 

 by their co-operation. 

 The commercial motor- 

 truck will henceforth be 

 differently built. 



What is the chief merit 

 of the new war truck? 

 Why is it great? Chiefly 

 because it is a standard- 

 ized vehicle down to the 

 last nut and bolt. That 

 is why it is a better prod- 

 uct than any truck used 

 at the front today. 



The average commer- 



cial motor truck is not 

 rugged enough to stand 

 the severe tests of war. 

 Our army engineers 

 found this out in our 

 effort to catch Villa in 

 the Mexican wilderness. 

 Our trucks were good 

 commercial products, 

 but they broke 

 down. That 

 was but natu- 

 ral. Some vi- 

 tal part was 

 just strong 

 enough to give 

 sufficient 

 overload capacity over fair to middling 

 roads and just weak enough to break and 

 cause trouble under the excessive strains 

 of war work when negotiating roadless 

 country. 



It is not strange that the average com- 

 mercial truck should fail under severe war 

 tests. It is primarily a business-man's 

 money saver, for use only when it will 



Photo © by Harris and Ewing 



President Wilson Accepts the Liberty Truck 



Although it represents everything new in 

 design it embodies only tried and proved ideas 



The War Chariot of the American Army 



KiiRRcd and massive in appearance, the truck lias worm final drive with 

 a larKo Rear reduction between the ensinc and the rear wheels, so that 

 cxci-ption.al power may be had at slow speeds. It is fitted with the con- 

 ventional caravan-topped army body, and with spriiiK-supiwrted wrioden 

 bumpers in front and at the rear to avoid daniaKe in convoy forinatious. 



74 



