During World War I, one of the most widely used American-made cars was the famous Ford T, or Lizzie's Tin. It was the most massive, the most popular car in the United States, and there is no wonder that when the war began, it was he who also went to fight in large numbers. The British army alone, for example, used about 19,000 of these vehicles, and to this must be added all the vehicles that the Americans used after they entered the war. Moreover, it was not its manufacturability, which worried primarily its manufacturer, that made the "Model T" popular, but its qualities such as reliability, unpretentiousness, low cost and ease of maintenance and repair.
The design of the machine was extremely simple. The front and rear axles were installed on one transverse spring each. The car had a four-cylinder engine with a working volume of 2.9 liters (2893 cm³) and a two-stage planetary gearbox. In the design of the car, such innovations were applied as a separate cylinder head and pedal gear shifting. The brakes were only on the rear wheels, and at the same time they had both a foot and a manual drive. The latter also took part in gear shifting. At first there was no starter: the engine had to be started with a handle.
It is clear that such a machine could be easily adapted for a variety of needs. It could be a command vehicle, a light truck, a light van, a light patrol car, a communications vehicle, and even a motorized rail for traveling on rails. But the most important version of Lizzie's Tin was the ambulance. During World War I, even before the United States entered the war, several charities offered the Model T as an ambulance to the Allied Command and began delivering it. At the same time, only the chassis was sent to Europe, and the body was already made on the spot, at the Kellner enterprise in the town of Boulogne, near Paris.
An ambulance could carry three patients on a stretcher or four seated, and two more could sit next to the driver. It was in this version that Lizzie's Tin proved to be the best in the war. The light weight on a dirty and pit-covered military road made it easy for even two or three soldiers to pull it out, well, they were constantly encountered on the front roads. It was also, as already noted, very easy to maintain and repair, so that it could be repaired right on the road without going to a repair shop. By November 1918, 4,362 Ford T ambulances had been shipped from the United States to Europe, where it became the most common vehicle of this type used by the Allies during the war. Many American Red Cross staff and volunteer drivers have driven this car, including writer Ernest Hemingway and future cartoonist Walter Disney.
In the early twentieth century, the Mac Brothers Company in Brooklyn, New York City, with great success, made the transition from horse-drawn carriages to gasoline-powered buses. Therefore, even before 1914, this company has earned an excellent international reputation. Well, at the beginning of the First World War, the Mac brothers began to produce trucks for military purposes.
The first model of such a truck went into production in 1916, and for the sake of cheapness, it did not even have a windshield! The transmission was reliable but heavy, with a chain-driven rear axle. However, it was because of this that the AC soon earned a reputation as a very reliable machine, so that many even said that it was capable of almost impossible tasks. While other trucks could easily get bogged down in the mud of the French hinterland, this truck was not a hindrance. Well, the truck earned its nickname "Bulldog" while serving in the British army, where over 2,000 of these trucks were delivered. Apparently, one of the engineers who tested her, said that she looked like a bulldog, that's how the nickname "bulldog" stuck to her. Well, in England this nickname was very honorable, as the British loved the bulldogs, so in 1922 the Mac company adopted it even as a corporate emblem. Adopted as the standard 5-ton truck, the Mac was shipped in 4,470 to France with an American Expeditionary Force. American soldiers soon confirmed the high quality of this truck. It was also supplied to the French army.
The Jeffrey Quad was also one of the very popular trucks of the First World War. It was developed by Thomas B. Jeffrey's company in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the United States in 1913. It was a 2-ton 4-wheel drive vehicle with a 4-cylinder engine and a gearbox that had four speeds forward and the same amount in reverse. At the same time, he had steering on all four wheels, which gave him a very small turning radius, which was only 8.5 meters. All wheels had brakes, so at a speed of about 20 miles per hour, its stopping distance was equal to the length of its body. Production of the truck began in 1913, and the peak of production - 11,490 vehicles fell on 1918. In August 1916, Charles T. Jeffery (son of the founder of the company) sold it to businessman Charles Nash, who renamed it in his honor, after which the cars also became known as "Nash Quad".
Four driving wheels, and besides, all driven wheels made this car a champion of dirt roads and very popular in several armies at once. In the first place, of course, in the army and in the US Marine Corps, but it was also used by the armed forces of France and Great Britain, where it was used as a general carrier, a tow truck and, again, an ambulance. In the USA, it became the basis for the creation of an armored car, and in Russia, where these trucks were also supplied, the Jeffrey-Poplavko BA was built on its basis.
The French army also used it as a vehicle, but instead of towing the famous 75-mm cannon of the 1897 model, Jeffrey Quad carried it in its back using special loading ramps. The reason for this decision was the thought that the spoked wooden wheels of this implement are not suitable for high-speed towing, and that an all-wheel drive vehicle will be able to retract the implement more easily than to tow it in the traditional way. This improvisation increased the mobility of the French artillery, but in the end it did not take root, although at the end of the war, as many as 33 regiments of such artillery transporters were formed in the French army.
The Garford Motor Truck Company, founded in 1910 by entrepreneur Arthur Garford in Elyria, Ohio (a few kilometers from Cleveland), initially produced cars, 1 ton pickup trucks and trucks with a carrying capacity of 2, 3 and 5 tons, as well as dump trucks based on the latter. The cars were equipped with engines of their own production, and the engines of 3- and 5-ton trucks were located under the driver's cab, which, therefore, were cabover. In 1912, the firm received an order for a batch of trucks for the needs of the US Postal Service, and with the outbreak of World War I began to supply trucks for the army. The army mainly purchased cars and ambulances, 1 ton pickup trucks and 5 ton trucks and dump trucks. In 1915, the Russian procurement commission of General Sekretev purchased several dozen 5-ton Garford chassis for the Russian imperial army, where powerful cannon armored cars Garford-Putilov were made on their basis.
In 1918, Garford, together with Holt, designed and built the first American 3-ton truck with a half-track undercarriage. In the same year, 978 Liberty standardized army trucks were assembled at the plant's facilities.
In July 1917, the US Army, which needed a reliable command vehicle, chose the Cadillac Type 55 Touring after extensive testing on the Mexican border. During the First World War, 2,350 vehicles were delivered for use in France by officers of the American Expeditionary Force. These were cars with a powerful 70 hp engine. with., which allowed them to develop a decent speed, and in general they were distinguished by their high quality.
In late 1914 - early 1915, the problem of towing heavy guns arose in the British army, and there was an acute shortage of tractors needed for this. And now the first standard tractor for this purpose was the American Holt agricultural farm tractor with a gasoline engine and wide tracks.
The company was founded by Benjamin Holt, who introduced his first steam tractor at the end of the 19th century. In 1892 he founded his own company to manufacture them, and between 1890 and 1904, Holt had already produced about 130 steam tractors. After successfully testing his tractors in 1904 and early 1905, Holt focused his efforts on petrol-powered tracked tractors and succeeded. The Holt brand became a trademark in 1910.
The first caterpillar tractors of his company came to Europe in 1912, after which the Holt company opened its offices in many European countries. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the Royal Artillery seized the Holt tractor with a 75 hp engine. as the main means of transport for towing heavy implements. However, the first deliveries of the ordered vehicles were made only in January 1915. The tractors were tested at Aldershot and immediately sent to France, where they became the main vehicle of the British army, and were engaged in the transport of weapons such as 6, 8 and 9, 2-inch howitzers.
The tractor weighed about 15 tons and had a top speed of only 3 km / h while towing and 8 km / h without load. Steering was carried out by blocking one of the tracks in the direction of the turn and turning the steering wheel. In general, the "Holt" did not have very good maneuverability, but all the first tanks in England and France owe their birth to him. It was looking at this tractor that Colonel E. D. Swinton, who was at that time in France, invented his own "armored carrier of machine guns", well, and then it was on its basis that the first French tank CA1 of the "Schneider" company was created.
Two armored Holt chassis were also tested in the USA as tanks, but did not satisfy the Americans and remained prototypes in history. As for the British Army, Holt tractors remained in service there as artillery tractors until the twenties. In 1918, they were also used to transport 3-inch anti-aircraft guns. In Mesopotamia, they were used together with tracked trailers to transport goods across the desert. Holt tractors even served in the Austro-Hungarian army, and produced them under license at the plant in Budapest.
