Have you ever thought about the paradoxes of our perception of beauty? What looks ugly enough at first glance can suddenly become beautiful. Conversely, the beautiful initially becomes ugly.
Remember the wolverine? A small animal. Not graceful at all. A sort of walking bag of meat and fat. And the very word "walking" makes those who saw it smile. The wolverine pacing looks really comical. Although experts are well aware that this method of walking provides tremendous benefits. And a hundred kilometers for a wolverine is not a distance.
And suddenly a bear stumbles upon this animal … And what do we see?
And in 9 cases out of 10 we will see the transformation into a beautiful, bold and perfectly able to stand up for themselves animal! And not just to stand, but to expel the taiga ruler from his territory! And then again the comical amble on our own business … Only this comic is perceived by us with respect and understanding of the beauty of this beast. Precisely beauty!
Our hero is perceived in much the same way. Those who see this car in the photo for the first time, especially if this photo is "official", in profile, involuntarily smile. A freak with a big head and a small body. Moreover, this imbalance just hurts the eye. Is the cab and body the same size? Yes, and 6x4 … But this is only at first glance.
We are sure that those who have never seen this car and were not interested in its history will soon see not a big head, but strength, courage and grace.
So, a 12-ton three-axle tractor with a 6 × 4 wheel arrangement Diamond T 980. Readers familiar with the English language immediately noticed the name of the car, which did not quite correspond to the beginning of the material. So freak or diamond?
In order for the name to become clear, we, by tradition, need to make an excursion into the history of the company that created this automobile miracle.
In 1905, Charles Tilt created Diamond T. The company was located in Chicago and was created to produce expensive cars. Hence the name - diamond. But since at that time in the United States there were a lot of all kinds of "diamonds" and other precious stones in the names of firms, the owner added the first letter of his surname to the name - T.
It is a pity, of course, to destroy the fairly widespread version of "T" as the designation of a tractor, but the truth is more expensive. Charles Tilt was a good businessman and already in the mid-10s of the last century realized that it was more profitable to produce cheap trucks instead of expensive cars.
We will leave the version of "T" as a designation for "trucks" without comment. Truck is really a "truck" in English. Still, the "T" in the name appeared even before the reorientation of the company to trucks.
By the way, according to some memoirs of contemporaries, he made this decision after carefully studying the experience of Henry Ford. It was from Ford that the owner of the Diamond T came to understand that it is not the production of expensive piece cars that brings big profits, but, on the contrary, the mass production of cheap cars.
Soon, many different-sized "diamonds" and "diamonds" began to work on the roads of America. Tilt produced trucks of various classes. It was possible to meet both low-tonnage and heavy Diamond T.
It was this approach that allowed the company to survive the crisis of the 30s quite safely. And the commercial scent of Charles Tilt determined its further development - focusing on military orders. In the political environment that was in the 30s and 40s, Tilt got his bearings and identified a solvent client.
Naturally, by 1941, the company offered the army a whole range of army trucks. Moreover, counting on orders from the American army, Tilt developed a family of three-axle all-wheel drive chassis of medium carrying capacity. These vehicles are known today as Truck 968 (4 tonne capacity), Tow Truck 969, Long Wheelbase Truck 970, Dump Truck 972, Pontoon 975.
But there was another model that was developed specifically for the American army, but it is better known as the English order. These are heavy vehicles with a lifting capacity of 12 tons with a 6x4 wheel arrangement. Diamond T 980 and flatbed truck Diamond T 981. We will explain why this is one model below.
By the way, many sources say that only the 980s and 981s were used in the USSR. Let us disagree with this conclusion. How else to explain the presence of the Diamond T 969 tow truck in the museum in Ivanovsky (the science city of Chernogolovka)? True, according to the museum workers themselves, this is the only surviving copy of such a car in the European part of Russia.
We return to the USA in the early 40s. Alas, the absence of front drive wheels on heavy Diamond T 980 tractors played a cruel joke with these cars. They were enrolled by the US military in the "limited" standards - Substitute Standard and Limited Standard (replacing and limited standards).
Therefore, participation in the war as part of the American army was really limited. Diamond T 980 (designation M20), together with a 24-wheeled three-axle M9 "Rogers" trailer, were part of the M19 tank transporter.
The British helped. They paid attention to these cars. More precisely, a competition was announced and Diamond T won it. Affected by the fact that the machines were already "in hardware" and to start their production on a new order, it was necessary to make only small changes, according to the customer's requirements.
For the USSR, these machines were generally new. We didn't release anything like that at all. Even the very concept of an automobile tank tractor had not yet appeared in our country at the beginning of the war. Therefore, the Soviet Union also expressed its readiness to purchase or receive such tractors under Lend-Lease.
Naturally, the British were the first to receive the new tractors. These cars operated in the North African theater of operations. The reviews were the best. The vehicles not only repaired damaged tanks, but also evacuated them under enemy fire.
They often ask a thing that seems to be perfectly clear for specialists. Why is this tractor called ballast?
The answer lies in the design itself. Considering that in the front of the car there is an engine, a front axle with single wheels and an all-metal cab, and instead of a long body it is short and light, it becomes clear that the body must be loaded when towing. Otherwise, the necessary grip of the wheels with the ground simply cannot be achieved.
How was our hero arranged? The Diamond T 980/981 truck is a classic three-axle bonnet ballast tractor. As we already wrote, the engine is located in the front of the frame, under it is the front axle with single wheels. Behind the engine compartment is an all-metal cabin.
By the end of the war, due to the need to produce more cars, the cab was produced in a simplified version - without a roof and with low side doors. The roof of such cabins was a removable canvas, and the side openings above the doors were also closed with canvas valves with celluloid windows.
A Gar Wood 5M723B winch with a pulling force of 18 tons was installed between the cab and the ballast body. It was intended only for loading wrecked tanks onto a transporter. The platform had levers to control the winch and the parking brake.
The winch was driven by a short propeller shaft and a chain drive from a power take-off mounted on a demultiplier. The winch drum is 178 mm in diameter, 91.5 meters (for model 980) or 152.5 meters (for model 981) of a cable with a diameter of 22 mm were wound onto it.
The speed of winding the cable changed depending on the included gear of the checkpoint and could reach 17 meters per minute. The 981 now has the ability to use the winch for self-recovery. There the cable could be passed under the cab and led out through a special window in the bumper forward.
By the way, visually the presence of a window in the bumper (on the left side) is an excellent identifier of the tractor model.
Engine - diesel Hercules DFXE, in-line 6-cylinder 4-stroke liquid-cooled, working volume 14, 7 liters and power 185 hp. at 1600 rpm (torque 902 N • m at 1200 rpm).
The cylinder block was cast from gray cast iron, the pistons were made from aluminum alloy. High pressure fuel pump - 6-plunger from Bosch.
Transmission - Fuller 4B86, three-shaft, four-speed (plus reverse) with direct fourth gear. Fuller 3A86 or Fuller 3A92 demultiplier, three-stage, direct second gear and winch PTO.
Two driving axles - "sequential" (the second was driven by the second cardan shaft from the first). Gears were shifted using the floor lever. Next to it was a hand parking brake and a range control lever.
The steering gear is without power steering, with a worm gear and a longitudinal steering rod. Timken pneumatic drum brakes with Bendix-Westinghouse drive. Wheels Budd B-45530, 20 "in diameter and 10" wide. Tires 12, 00 × 20 inches.
Suspension - spring (at the rear axles - balancing type). There were no shock absorbers, so a rubber buffer was attached above the front spring, which somewhat softened the shaking off-road - however, at low speeds it was not so critical. There was no center differential.
There are some oddities in determining the number of these outstanding machines. We could not find data on the number of cars of both models delivered to the USSR during the war. The number in different sources varies from 295 to 471 cars.
The reasons, it seems to us, lie in two planes, primarily in the ideological one. Even today, some of our citizens are of the opinion that under the Lend-Lease we received "technical waste".
By the way, to be objective, we can say the same about the Diamond T 980/981. The American army used them only as an exception. So they thought there were better cars. And the fact that we never had anything like that, we forget …
And the second reason is lend-lease payment in case of non-return. That is, we recall that the equipment was given free of charge under Lend-Lease, but if it was not destroyed, then it was subject to either return or payment. After much bickering, it was decided to return the serviceable truck to the United States. And what, in principle, was supposed to begin, began.
Ours didn't want to return the cars they liked. A stream of documents rushed about a lot of "not arrived" cars. In combat reports, there were records of vehicles destroyed in battles, reports of sudden raids by enemy aircraft, minefields that appeared out of nowhere …
It was then that rumors appeared, which were subsequently repeatedly confirmed by witnesses, about the deliberate destruction of perfectly serviceable cars. In fact, before being shipped to the USA, the cars went under pressure …
But ours also showed a class in terms of "otmaza".
The total number of produced cars of these brands is known for sure. 6554 Diamond T 980/981. 1000 of them were delivered to Great Britain.
After the war, the production of these models ceased. However, there are examples of garbage trucks produced in the 50s on this base.
Now what distinguishes this particular article from the previous ones. The continuation of the life of cars after the Victory. Not living out, but life.
The tractors that I liked, which we managed to save, were actively used in the USSR until the 60s of the last century. These machines dragged loads across the Siberian and Far Eastern taiga. Although our craftsmen have modernized the Americans decently.
From crumbling in the cold "African" rubber and completely uninsulated canvas cabins, to thin fuel lines and devices for the constant operation of engines. If the car stalled in the cold, then it was impossible to start it without repairs.
Even special warm boxes and devices were built for constant heating of engines in the parking lot. This continued even when the Soviet MAZ and KrAZ trucks appeared. A driver with a torch under the car near the fuel tank in those days - a picture familiar to Siberian motor depots.
And the last thing. It was the Diamond T 980/981 that became the model for the creation of the Soviet YAZ-210 car, similar in characteristics and purpose.
Well, the traditional technical characteristics of the hero:
Dimensions: 7110/2580/2592 mm
Wheelbase: 4556 mm
Track (front / rear): 1927/1905
Clearance: 283 mm
Empty weight: 12 t
Carrying capacity: 8, 3 t
Unladen weight of the trailer: 10 t
Trailer lifting capacity: 40, 1 t
Engine: Hercules DFXE Diesel 14,660cc cm, in-line, 6-cylinder
Power: 185 hp
Maximum torque: 902 Nm
Maximum speed: 37 km / h
Speed with laden trailer: 26 km / h
Cruising on the highway: 480 km
