FWD Truck Books - History and Models

FWD Trucks 1910-1974 Photo Archive

Established in 1910, The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company was created to produce automobiles. "The Battleship," America's "first successful four-wheel-drive automobile" was offered for sale in the company's 1911 sales catalog.
However, the start of World War I in 1914 and the unsuccessful expedition to Mexico to capture Pancho Villa in 1916 led to a change and the production of over 24,000 FWD Model B trucks.

Over the years, FWD produced a variety of specialized vehicles for road construction and maintenance, snow removal, utility construction and maintenance, oil exploration and production, cement mixers, logging, and even school buses. All of these are featured here in sharp black and white photos with in-depth captions.

FWD Fire Trucks 1914-1963

Long recognized for the production of specialized vehicles for use by highway departments, utility companies, construction firms, and the oil industry, Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. also established an enviable reputation for the manufacture of fire apparatus.

Manufacturers of four-wheel-drive vehicles since 1910, FWD built its first fire truck in 1914, continuing production into the 1970s. All of the vehicles produced by FWD relied on the design principles first developed in 1907 and patented in 1908.

Combining high-quality black and white photos with in-depth captions, this book presents an in-depth history of FWD's fire trucks up to the time FWD acquired Seagrave. Includes many never-before-published photographs from the FWD/Seagrave Fire Apparatus archives.