GMC Model CCKW Trucks
Fortunately for the world, America was the birthplace of the automotive industry. Having such a vast supply of cars and trucks close at hand enabled the United States Army to become the first military organization in the world to be fully motorized and to respond accordingly when advancing Allied forces needed supplies during World War II. The Allies were able to get thousands of tons of supplies where they were needed daily by developing a massive convoy of supply trucks known as the Red Ball Express.
The Red Ball Express operated around the clock. According to the National World War II Museum, there were, on average, 900 “deuce-and-a-half” trucks operating on the Red Ball Express highway at any one time. “Deuce-and-a-half” is just one of the nicknames for GMC model CCKW cargo trucks like this one, located at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles in Lexington Nebraska.
Also referred to as the Two and a Half, the Jimmy and the 6×6, these trucks are on my mind because I found this 1941 maintenance manual under a pile of junk in a dusty old antique store the other day:
The CCKW was a six-wheel-drive vehicle with a payload of two and a half tons. It was approximately 7 feet tall and 7 feet wide. The model 353 had a longer wheel base of 21 feet, while the 352 was shorter at 19 feet. The engine was a 6 cylinder 270 with a max speed of 45 mph.
Driver’s view:
Tool kit:
Amazingly, this old War Department memo is still stuck in the front cover:
As you can see, the memo was issued by order of General George Catlett Marshall, the man Winston Churchill called the true architect of victory in the West European arena. He was a great American, and he did it, in part, with this great American truck.
Handley-Knight MotoMeter
My husband and I went to an auction at an old car dealership in rural Nebraska a few years ago. My daughter had a broken leg at the time (one of many broken limbs acquired during our little tomboy’s childhood) and I was pulling her around on a wagon to keep her from being bored. Luckily, my husband was paying attention to the auction and bid on (and won) this rare beauty:
I had never before seen a MotoMeter with a Handley-Knight logo. What a find! The Boyce MotoMeter Co. of Long Island, New York, manufactured radiator cap-mounted temperature gauges such as these to allow drivers to monitor the engine cooling system. This particular MotoMeter is marked with a 1913 patent date, and the company dominated the market for the following two decades until dash-mounted temperature gauges began to appear. Business was booming during this time as there were so many automobile manufacturers and many wanted a MotoMeter that was tailor-made for their brand. Here is a Ford example:
So, what of Handley-Knight? Handley was a car manufacturer based in Kalamazoo, Michigan that built cars from 1920-1923. The Handley-Knight was built from 1920-1922 and featured a Knight engine as did all cars using the term “Knight” in the title such as the Stearns-Knight and the more recognizable Willys-Knight. The Knight engine was a four-cylinder motor built by Willys-Overland and was a sleeve-valve engine, meaning that it had sliding sleeves between pistons and cylinder walls that served as valves. These engines are sometimes referred to as “silent sleeves” as they operated quietly, and they were also said to improve with use because the carbon build-up aided efficiency by making a better seal. Genius.
The Handley Company was purchased by Checker Motors in 1923. The website Conceptcarz states that there are only three known Handley-Knights in existence. If that is true, I certainly feel fortunate to have my own little piece of Handley-Knight history.
The Marmon Roosevelt
Quick! How many cars can you think of that are named for a United States President? There is more than one (and no, Ford doesn’t count), but only one proudly features a picture of the man himself on the radiator badge. I am referring, of course, to the Roosevelt, named for President Theodore Roosevelt. The Roosevelt was built by the Marmon Motor Car Company of Indianapolis, Indiana in 1929 and 1930, and the radiator badge was a 1 3/4 x 1 3/8” oval that looked like this:
Regarding that famous radiator, Marmon bragged that “It not only has new lines – but new feeling, reflecting the staunchness, the energy, the character of the great name which it bears.”1 Everyone knows President Roosevelt was a vigorous man of action, but I like that they also invoked character. He often emphasized the importance of character, calling it “the chief factor in any man’s success,” and believing that, “all the laws that the wit of man can devise will never make a man a worthy citizen unless he has within himself the right stuff, unless he has self-reliance, energy, courage, the power of insisting on his own rights and the sympathy that makes him regardful of the rights of others.”2 Good advice then and now.
The Roosevelt automobile was available as a Five-Passenger Sedan, a Victoria Coupe, a Coupe with rumble seat and a Collapsible Coupe with rumble seat. It featured a straight-eight 70 hp engine and was the first 8 cylinder to be priced under $1,000. It was also the first automobile to come with a radio. By the end of the 1920s, three manufacturers (Transitone, Delco-Remy and American Bosch) were offering automobile radios. The Roosevelts were factory-equipped for radio installation, but dealers selected the brand at the buyer’s request.3 Like the automobile, the President was associated with many “firsts” as well. He was the first President to ride in an automobile (while in office). He was also the first President to own a car, to fly in an airplane and to be submerged in a submarine. How appropriate that Marmon described the president’s namesake as seeming “to invite motion – to be away quickly.”4
As you can see here, the Roosevelt was a beautiful automobile featuring clean, straight lines:
This is a picture of one housed at a local museum, Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, but you do see the occasional Roosevelt for sale. Until I have the opportunity to own one, I will have to be content with remembering that President Roosevelt also said that self-respect is the most invaluable of all possessions, and I still have that (I just can’t drive it)!
- “The Roosevelt.” The Pittsburgh Press 21 4 1929: 79.
- Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (Np: CreateSpace, 2016), 16.
- Tad Burness, Cars of the Early Thirties (New York City: Galahad Books, 1970), 256-257.
- “The Roosevelt”, 79.