U.S. Army Diamond T Vehicles in World War II

Introduction

The story of the company with the diamond, founded in 1905 and called the Diamond T Motor Car Company, is closely linked to one exceptional man, Charles Arthur Tilt.

Charles Tilt was born on June 28, 1877 to Canadian parents, Joseph E. Tilt (b. 1842) and Sarah Bowes (b. 1854). In 1875, the family immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Illinois in 1878. As the heir to a rich shoe industrialist, Charles Tilt made good use of the family firm’s reputation, going so far as to borrow the advertising symbol created for his father’s company products. This showed the letter T, the first letter of the family name, inside a geometrical shape displaying a diamond. The prodigal son built his first motorized vehicle in 1905 but it was not until two years later that regular car production really began, with three models in the catalog.

1911 was the year in which the first big change occurred in the new Diamond T Company. Responding to a special request from a customer, Charles Arthur Tilt built his first truck.

Called the Wrecker Truck No. 1, this Diamond T from the late 1920s was classified in the 10-ton, 6x4 category. It carried a bridging structure with manual handling only that could easily lift the little 1927-Model Chevrolet that has been modified as a telephone-line-laying vehicle. (U.S. Army SC-100920)

He was quick to realize that this was a commercial niche where there was room to grow, since the world of private automobiles was in the hands of the big manufacturers like Ford where competition was tough and profit margins small.

Assembling liberty trucks was the first partnership between the U.S. Army and the Diamond T Motor Car Company. Some 638 trucks of this type were assembled by the Chicago firm. These pictured here are garrisoned in the U.S. (Private Collection)

The Diamond T Motor Car Company’s best year for civilian truck production was 1936, a 12-month period in which 8,750 trucks were registered. During the firm’s 53 years’ existence, it is generally agreed that around a quarter of a million trucks came off its production lines.

The first military production was during World War I with the Diamond T Motor Car Company being one of 15 companies assembling the Liberty 4x2, 3-ton Class B trucks. Out of the 9,452 built, 638 came from the Chicago workshops in 1917/18.

In the mid-1930s, Diamond T became one of the Army’s official suppliers. But it was not until 1940 that orders for the brand new 6x6, 4-ton trucks began rolling in: some 36,500 were supplied between November 1940 and August 1945, proving that the Chicago company had indisputably asserted itself in the sector. On September 19, 1956, Charles Arthur Tilt died after spending more than a half-century at the head of his company.

The postwar period was difficult for the automobile industry and in particular for the Tilt family. In 1958, the White Motor Corporation swallowed up Diamond T which became a subsidiary, but this wasn’t enough to save the company. In 1967, White merged its Diamond T branch with that of Reo, bought up in 1954, to form Diamond T-Reo Truck Inc. In doing so, the last vestiges of the Diamond T Motor Car Company disappeared after 62 years’ existence. In 1975, Diamond T-Reo Truck Inc. was declared bankrupt and its assets sold off. Subsequently, the Swedish company Volvo bought the White assets and with the various buyoffs, today holds the rights to the brand names of three American vehicle builders.

Diamond T Dump Model C from 1934, a 4x2, 1½-ton truck used by the Corps of Engineers. The vehicle was powered by a 4,311-cc, six-cylinder Hercules JXB engine, rated at 68 bhp at 2,100 rpm. (U.S. Army SC-114443)

1st Cavalry (Mecz), Fort Riley, September 6, 1939. The wrecker was powered by a six-cylinder, 7,015-cc Hercules YXC engine, rated at 93 bhp at 2,300 rpm. The axles were made by Timken and the main four-speed gearbox as well as the transfer case by Brown-Lipe. (U.S. Army SC-100924)

On September 14, 1939 at Fort Belvoir, the 5th Engineer Regiment tested roadblocking techniques. A simple roll of barbed wire stretched out in the middle of the road very quickly stopped any vehicle trying to force its way through. (U.S. Army SC-114442)

Where It All Began

One might think, wrongly, that the U.S. Army’s mechanization has a long history that began in the early 20th century. Although it is true that the need for motorized vehicles exploded because of World War I, progress slowed right down during the interwar period.

It was not until 1939 that the auto industry could start supplying vehicles again. The Army was authorized to start buying vehicles originating directly from civilian production through invitations to tender, and could impose on suppliers changes in some features such as radiator and headlight protection, and towing hooks.

The only characteristic that could not be changed was the payload. A list of five categories was published and on it, alongside the ½-, 1½-, 2½-, and 7½-ton categories, was one that proved providential for the Army: the 4-ton, 6x6 truck.

In the race to obtain Army orders, the White Motor Company received notice to produce 85 vehicles with contract W-398-QM-7509 and registration numbers USA-W-00287 to USA-W-00292 for six of them, with the designation Cargo Wrecker. The others bore registration numbers in the USA-W-412873 to USA-W-412951 series as simple cargo trucks, the 950 x 6 Model trucks. (White Motor Co.)

The 5th Infantry Division on winter maneuvers, Fort Custer, Michigan, February 1941. With registration number USA-W-412900, this White 950 x 6 Model truck was one of 79 6x6, 4-ton cargo trucks (Cargo Trucks, 6x6, 4-ton, in military parlance) which the Army ordered in 1940 from the Toledo firm. (Associated Press photo, ref.: 23190)

Coming directly from civilian production, the 950 x 6 Model proudly sports the White grille behind that added protection for the radiator and headlights. As they also had to take on the role of prime movers, the vehicles had two spare wheels, both installed on the front axle alongside the normal wheel to increase traction. (White Motor Co.)

Each order, be it for a particular unit or for personnel use, had to be made through an invitation to tender, the order going to the lowest bidder. Three orders were placed at the beginning of 1940 under such conditions, with three separate companies.

For the same type of 4-ton, 6x6 vehicle, the Army received three different vehicles, as follows: eight made by Ward LaFrance Truck Division of Great American Industries Inc., 11 by Autocar Co., and 85 by the White Motor Co., although the only difference requested was the fitting, or not, of a winch.

This gave rise to two different designations: Cargo and Cargo/Wrecker. In the military jargon of the period, the qualification Cargo/Wrecker did not mean a vehicle equipped with a hoist, but merely a breakdown truck used as a field workshop.

When war broke out in Europe, the Senate changed the rules of the game and authorized the Army to make use of negotiated contracts. New orders for 4-ton, 6x6 trucks were placed after tests and comparisons, and strangely enough it was a fourth player who was to reap the benefits, the Diamond T Motor Car Company.

When, at the end of 1940, it was a matter of agreeing a contract using the new negotiating procedure for 22 cargo/wreckers and 388 cargo trucks, all with winches, various other manufacturers turned up, but not Ward LaFrance which withdrew, whilst Reo Motors Inc. presented a rather sketchy, unfinished prototype.

The eight vehicles supplied by Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation were Model 106s, part of contract no. W-398-QM-7748 (USA-W-412981, USA-W-482639, USA-W-00949 to USA-W-00951, and USA-W-00953 to USA-W-00955). They all had a cargo body. (Private Collection)

In U.S. Army nomenclature, the registration numbers beginning with a double zero designated vehicles for special use. In the 1940/1 rolls, it is quite usual to find normal trucks registered like this and designated as cargo/wrecker trucks (Trucks Cargo/Wrecker in military parlance) which actually made them breakdown vehicles. This 00 prefix was to be found again with the cargo vehicles, for example the GMC CCKWK-353 trucks ordered (18 examples delivered) and the Dodge WC-5, -12, and -14 trucks (596 delivered). These did not carry handling equipment, but were delivered to the units as field workshops. (Private Collection)

Even though there was no open talk of war as yet in the States, great strides were made in standardization, which only intensified in subsequent years. The tarpaulins, wheels, and even the heavy metal cargo bodies were already similar and common to the various builders who avidly shared the meager 1939/40 orders. (Private Collection)

On the other hand, Diamond T had carefully studied the market and its competitors’ vehicles. It sold its Model 967 truck to the Quartermaster Corps, and the Autocar C-7066, the White 950 x 6, and the Ward LaFrance 106 trucks were soon forgotten.

When the United States entered the war, military orders took on a new dimension.

Now that the equipment was satisfactory, the Army was able to modify the orders both for quantities and specifications. It was also freed of all civilian contingencies since the government had requisitioned the car industry for the war effort. This process was set up in mid-1940 but took almost a year to become totally operational.

This first order placed with Diamond T Motor Car Company in this new era, for 6x6, 4-ton trucks, was not an isolated example. The Chicago firm also received orders for some 309 4x2 vehicles of all sizes, just prior to the order for 5,871 12-ton, 6x4 prime mover artillery tractors, and this excluded the thousands of halftracks which came off its production lines.