From: John Seidts (jseidts@astory.com)
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 20:48:31 PST
Dave,
I think there are lots of things like this floating out there in the
military vehicle sphere. Unfortunately, hard to prove, as the contracting
info is hard to find. I have a few suggestions.
First, check to see if there were any licensing agreements between
the companies. Ward LaFrance may have been appended to a contract just to
have the opportunity to manufacture an item, or perhaps to manufacture
components such as frames or springs (or whatever they had the facilities to
manufacture) to fill out orders. This is the case with Ford and spare parts
for Jeeps during WWII. They got on the contract just to sub-contract large
numbers of parts, and wound up being the largest supplier of spares. I
don't think this was a mistake on Ford's part. With the cost plus system,
Ford made more money only by selling more items.
Second, have a look at the ownership of the companies. White motor
company bought up most of the large truck manufacturers at the end or right
after the end of WWII. They continued to badge the companies with the
original marque (Autocar comes to mind). Ward LaFrance may have had White
as an owner or a shareholder. If this was true, then White may have used
the corporation of WF as a contracting shell. There were lots of things
like this, and they were structured like this for tax advantages usually, or
for name recognition and market share. Corcoran Brown for instance.
Motolamp was a trade name for an auto headlight company which CB bought out,
and continued to manufacture under the name Motolamp. Same with Autolite-
owned by Ford Motor Company, but Ford still badged its parts as "Ford"
manufactured in the parts books (look at the early GPW manuals, under
manufacture for voltage regulators and generators- it says "own" even though
Autolite made them).
Just some ideas on areas to research. Hope it helps.
----- Original Message -----
From: <ddoyle9570@aol.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 10:54 PM
Subject: [MV] six ton 6x6 question, please read
> Folks I have been doing a bit of research here, and need the collective
knowledge of all of you to confirm, or disprove a theory that I have
developed.
>
> During WWII there were a number of varieties of 6 ton 6x6 trucks built of
the same design (excluding the Mack NM). All the common reference
books....Crismon, Berndt, Vanderveen say that these trucks were built by
White, Corbitt, Brockway, and Ward LaFrance.
>
> I have absolute documentary evidence that in fast White, Corbitt and
Brockway did build these. That is not the case for Ward LaFrance. They are
not listed as builders of this chassis type in the April 1949 ORD 3 SNL G-1,
the TM9-2800-1 of February 1953. Nor are they listed as a builder of these
vehicles in the 1940-1944 list of Administrative and Tactical Vehicle
acceptances.
>
> The records and name of the Ward LaFrance Company are now privately owned,
and copies of their archival records are supposedly available for sale, but
thus far (over a year), the new owner has been remarkably non-responsive.
>
> The website has a dead link to what is supposedly a photo of a 6 ton 6x6
bridge erection truck they claim to have build in the early 1950's!!!!
>
> Moving on, I have in my collection a photo of a model 666 6x6 truck with a
bed mounted on it very similar to the bed used the M328 (IH 5 ton M139
based) bridge truck.
>
> I now believe that in the 50's Ward LaFrance may have been contracted to
rebuild/rebody the the WWII era trucks built by others.
>
> Somehow, over the years, someone got this wrong, and each succeeding
writer repeated the error.
>
> Help prove me right or wrong....does anyone have a operators manual, parts
list, data plate, or truck indicating that a 6 ton 6x6 truck was built by
Ward LaFrance?
>
> Does anyone have a rebuild tag, etc. to support my 50's rebuild theory?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> David Doyle
>
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