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Not sure where to post but I received a flier in the mail today. Auction is July 25th in Friesland, WI. Most trucks are Diamond Ts but a few Macks (1921 AC, 1947 EF, 1951 LJ, and 1960 B68), some IHs and Buick cars.

Interesting listing and pic of a 1957 Diamond T 730C twin engine cabover (RD450 and 350 Buick V8).

Here is the link to the auction http://www.usauctioneers.com/July25/indexJuly25.htm

Ken

PRR Country and Charter member of the "Mack Pack"

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Its a good thing I'm broke I can see me spending a lot at that auction.

"Any Society that would give up a little LIBERTY to gain a little SECURITY will Deserve Neither and LOSE BOTH" -Benjamin Franklin

"If your gonna be STUPID, you gotta be TOUGH"

"You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need"

  • 2 weeks later...

What was the point of the twin engine cabover? Looks like it would be unwieldy in traffic.

bulldogboy

This goes back to World War II. In 1943, the Thorton Axle Company in cooperation with E&L Transport (of Dearborn, Michigan) produced just under 100 of these specialized T8 6x4 tractors, utilizing many Ford components, for pulling 63'6" long trailers loaded with B-24 heavy bomber fuselages and wing sub-assemblies.

Ford was one of the war-time producers of B-24 "Liberator" bombers, in addition to Consolidated Aircraft (of San Diego, California) who'd designed it.

The creation was branded "Thorco Dual Motors" and had two Ford (some say Mercury) 100 horsepower V-8 engines.

The B-24 sub-assemblies were carried between Consolidated's California and Fort Worth plants, between Ford's Willow Run (Michigan) and Douglas' Tulsa plant and North American's Dallas plant (or something close to that). There's also mention of them hauling something between Loudonville, Ohio and Buffalo, New York.

What was innovative about these truck is the two engines were installed on a roll-out sub-platform, for easy maintenance and replacement.

One engine drove the front-rear axle, and the other drove the rear-rear axle. So to finally answer your question, if one engine blew up, the driver could disconnect the two transmission's paired linkage and limp in to a Ford dealer on the remaining engine. The ability to readily get parts and service from Ford's national dealer network was another reason they went with off-the-shelf Ford parts.

These tractor-trailer combinations were 70-feet long and weighed about 50,000 pounds. The eighteen tires were all 8.25-20s and average cruising speed was 40 miles per hour.

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  • Like 1

What was the point of the twin engine cabover? Looks like it would be unwieldy in traffic.

bulldogboy

This is the truck BDB asked about.

029dt.jpg

There was an article about it in Wheels Of Time some years back. The owner wanted more power so he added another engine.

  • Like 1

I remember the article but can't seem to find the right issue of WOT.

Memory says that some sort of Buick engine was added as the second powerplant.

Jim

Jim,i believe it was a "Nailhead" 401 C.I. Buick engine installed.if I remember correctly........................................Mark

Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate.

Bill Johnson just posted the complete price list,on the ATHS website,car prices too.I'd forgot to ask the auctioneers about the B-68,it brought $3000

Wasn't that B-68 on the block at South Bend,Mike?

IF YOU BOUGHT IT, A TRUCK BROUGHT IT..AND WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH IT, A TRUCK WILL HAUL IT AWAY!!! Big John Trimble,WRVA

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