Time to salute our veterans, and what better way than with a military veteran, especially a deuce and a half. Next to the Jeep or Humvee, it is the quintessential military wheeled vehicle, the classic Army Truck. And since this one was sitting at the curb, it was just begging for a bit of appreciation and a closer look.
The M35 was developed shortly after WW2 to eventually supplant the really classic 2 1/2 ton truck, that was also built by Studebaker and was one of the great heroes of that war. The Germans loved to get their hands on them, and held it in great esteem. What better praise than that?
Originally developed by REO, the early versions of the M35 used gasoline engines. But later versions, like this one, used a “multi-fuel” engine, that operated normally on diesel, but could also swallow kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil and even gasoline (in a real pinch). Running it on gasoline was to be done in an emergency only, and a quart of motor oil was to be added for every 15 gallons to lubricate the injector pumps.
The LDT-465 was built by several manufacturers, this one by White. Even with a turbo, it made all of 134 hp. This one was obviously retrofitted in 1986. More recent versions often have a more modern Cat diesel engine. Remember as a kid seeing those convoys of Army trucks on the freeway, and how they would all be doing about 40 or 45 mph? This is one reason.
There’s the manufacturer’s ID plate, which shows this to be a M35 A built by Studebaker in South Bend in 1962.
The gearing didn’t encourage freeway driving, although the tags on this one shows fifty-five as the maximum speed in top gear.
Who can resist the allure of an Army truck cab, with all those dozens of knobs, levers and other mechanical porn? Army trucks are the ultimate toy for hard-core freaks of having it all be rugged and exposed, in high quality metal too.
The drive shaft runs over the top of the differentials.
The view between the rear axles is quite accessible, as is pretty much everything else about this rig.
A tough truck always ready to take on the toughest jobs, just like our veterans. Our hats are off to all of you, as well as those still in active duty.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
We called them a “deuce and a quarter”. The later models made a whistling sound from the engine. That style endured for decades. Our Air Force deuces were bought off an Army contract.
Close. Deuce & a quarter was street slang for Buick’s top model, the Electra 225. Deuce & a half was military slang for the 2 1/2 ton Army truck.
For the German take on the American 2 1/2 ton truck and the contrast between American and German military vehicle design and production philosophy, Youtube has an interesting video.
Studebaker had a military contract and it still couldn’t save the company.
Our signal unit in Vietnam had a couple of 2 ½ ton M35A2C hardtop cargo vehicles for on-site maintenance along with the Dodge M37 ¾ ton truck. Great workhorses.
Nice ;
In the mid 1960’s we had one of these on the farm, it was blue from Ayers A.F.B. .
It was gasoline powered .
-Nate
Dad drove one while stationed in the Philippines circa 1946. Repeated the story many times on how double clutching wasn’t so easy. A buddy had one back in college, forty years ago. Manual depicted instructions on how to disable the engine using automatic weapons fire –cool.
What a weird shift pattern!
(I see there was some discussion about it in the comments from the original post)
These rigs were greatly appreciated by the Italians in the Carrara mountain region after the war. They were used for transporting the heavy white marble that was harvested before Italian truck manufacturing got up to speed. Very likely appreciated where ever they were abandoned.
The Studebaker US6 was primarily sent to the Red Army (often thru Iran), where it was apparently very popular; it was the GMC CCKW that the US Army preferred. And there was the CMP, built in large numbers by Chevrolet and Ford of Canada for Commonwealth allies.
Much is made of the Willys Jeep, but I think the trucks were more important for victory.
While the Germans had the Krupp Protze, which was well-designed but rare, and the Opel Blitz, which was civilian grade. I doubt they could’ve been able to fuel enough trucks to displace all the horse wagons.
The German economy was simply not large enough to produce warfighting equipment and trucks. Couple this with them German propensity to avoid a sheetmetal stamping when a precisely machined steel billet would do just as well and you are in transport trouble, conscripting plough horses and scrounging the used truck lots of Europe.
We had two of these assigned to my unit in Korea – when things in the office got boring, I’d take one out for a spin around the base perimeter. Lots of hills and ruts. Always came back with a grin on my face.
These were much more “military-like” to drive than the larger 5-ton M939s – those had a big Cummins and an Allison automatic – and air seats…More comfortable but less fun.
When i was a Private in the Army Guard, we rode many a miserable mile in those old trucks. Durable, you betcha! But you could feel it even running over a popsicle stick!
You are incorrect about a PTO from the rear axle to power a trailer. Never was designed to do that The pinion is visible just because of the interchangeable axle design. I owned a half dozen of the various versions. I owned M35products.com which supplied aftermarket enhancements for these trucks. Look me up on Wayback Machine to see the products.
I’ve amended the text. Thanks.