CHARIOTS OF W, HAVE DRIVEN.
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A Corporal in the A.S.C., M.T., Gives His Ad
,rvice Experience with an American Light Van.
IN THE SUMMER of 1915 a Studebaker 15-20 h.p. light van on pneumatic tyres arrived in company headquarters, and my curiosity concerning the behaviour of this typical low-priced American delivery ve,riunder war conditions was at once aroused. Already a few Fords were said to be doing very creditably, but the Ford is really in a class by itself, whereas this Studebaker, which was to demonstrate how it would withstand a test to destruction, was representative of a type which had become popular in England during the previous year or two on account of its smart appearance and moderate price of £290 or thereabouts. It had seemed to me doubtful whether these vans would give satisfactory service to the average small tradesman for a sufficiently long period to make them a cheap proposition.
Over two years experience of Studebakers on sustained war service in the worst conditions has removed my doubts and convinced me that, in ordinary commercial use, with reasonable care and attention, this class of van would last for several years or scores of thousands of miles without frequent spells in the repair shops. Both our Studebakers (the second being necessitated because of an extraordinary accident which destroyed the first) had a four,cylinder engine, 31 ins, bore by 5 ins, stroke, leather-faced cone clutch, three-speed gearbox combined with the bevel-driven rear axle, full elliptic rear springs, all brakes on rear wheels, separate torque and thrust members, and an abundance of electric gadgets, of which more anon. The first had a very smart box-van body with doors at the back, each door containing a circular window. It was brightly painted and varnished in a style which looked rather vivid in the war zone, where all motor vehicles had their individuality smothered by a coating of " Service-colour " grey paint. ''' In fact, the van cut a dainty figure. A tray for light articles fitted in the upper part of the body proved useful to the driver for carrying parts of his equipment and personal belongings. With the folding glass windscreen up and the side curtains down, this van could be converted into snug sleeping apartment for the driver.
The Successor of this vehicle had no claim to beauty, having been effectively camouflaged, and with bodywork that had apparently been intended for a mineralwater or greengrocery business. However, we soon converted this' into a fairly presentable box van with doors at rear and matchboa,rd sides in place of the loose curtains.
Whereas our first Studebaker was variously rated '15 cwt. or 1500 lb. capacity, the second was more correctly and modestly designated suitable for a 1000 lb. load. Actually, 6 cwt. or 7 cwt. is an ample load for such a light van on war service, and that weight was seldom exceeded. But there were times when both cars had to carry well over half a ton, either in the form of passengers or stores. As a rule, live loads consisting of passengers were carried, but.sornetinaes dead, or half-dead men formed the lo-ad.
For the first five -months, during which the van ran about as many thousand miles, our new Studebaker's mechanical career was knonotonously uneventful. Then it was spared from duty for a week, during which the cylinders were lifted and cleaned, valves ground, and one big-end bearing slightly adjusted. The operation of removing thecylinder casting demonstrated the inaccessibility of the holding-down nuts, also a peculiar, though commendably economical de
tail of Studebaker engine design. I refer to the valve tappets which, thatigh adjustable are of simple design without. rollers or pins. No separate tappet guides are employed, the base of the cylinder casting serving instead. The tappets are durable and reasonably silent, but they promptly fall into the crankcase directly the cylinder block is lifted off. If one is wise to this beforehand, the tappets can be held in position with wire when taking oft and refitting the cylinder. Before leaving the base, the electric starter had given some•little.trouble and been forthwith removed. Doubtless it was regarded as an-unwarranted luxury on a war chariot, although its advantages on a light motorvan, used principally for urban delivery work with frequent stops, could hardly be disputed. Other Studebakcrs I have noticed retained their electric starters during war service, the drivers greatly appreciating them. As we had always to use the starting crank, adfantage was taken of the first spell off duty to make it a fixture. Later it was found that the starting dogs, both on crankshaft and handle, wore out rather .quickly, • having been intended for occasional use only instead of the regular service which they were called upon to perform.
Succeeding months revealed this little van as a good stayer, and the amount of workshop attention demanded was small indeed, considering the racking ordeal in the advanced war zone to which it was subjected. Once the driver quite believed its hour had struck. A high explosive shell burst so close that the concussion burst open the light, metal-panellel body, breaking the sides away from the framework and battens, and blowing them outwards. Yet there was no sign on any part of the body or chassis of a fragment of shell striking the van. An hour or so at headquarters made good the damage.
Finally, this hardy little war chariot became a casualty, at the end of nearly 12 months' useful work, in a rather remarkable manner. It was standing, with engine stopped, on a road along the edge of which ran a broad-gauge railway. Both road and railway were war products, so the railway had curves and gradients which would not be safe enough for a more permanent ",permanent-way." A steep gradient and sharp curve coincided just a few yards from our doomed car, the unsuspecting driver of which was quietly reading at his steering wheel. Suddenly he became aware of a noise like a "Jack Johnson" coming over, and looked up to see several tons of runaway railway trucks approaching round the curve. Before he could realize what was happening, the trucks left the rails and sent Studebaker and driver rolling over and over to the other side of the road. The driver was very fortunate to escape with bruises and abrasions, but our motor. van was converted into a mass of wreckage, which we later dragged and threw into a three-ton lorry for removal. What happened to the debris when it arrived at a repair base a few days later I cannot tell, but I doubt if it was considered worth rebuilding.
Our second Studebaker differed from the first in that the driver's seat was on the left side' with centrally-placed change-speed and hand-brake levers. On both cars the pedals were set rather close together, so that it was easy to declutch and accelerate with one foot, especially when that foot was shod with an Army boot. As was the ease with all low-priced American cars at one time, the leg room was insufficient, except for a driver of short stature. Apart from these small inconveniences the Studebakers were easy and pleasant to drive, and free from idiosyncrasies. One needed to change down early on hills and in traffic to keep up engine speed, the power at slow speeds scarcely coming up to my expectations. At the same time, the average fuel consumption of about 14 miles to the gallon was quite satisfactory, having regard to the conditions. The brakes were soft in action and effective. Adjustment of the external band brake needs some study and care, but cai be carried out so that the bands do not rub if one is patient. I found that the lever on the steering box shaft was inclined to become loose on the shaft after a time, but it was easily tightened. Spring shackle bolts and steering joints did not give trouble or show so much wear as might have been expected.
Except for larger wheels and tyres, there was ,no noticeable difference between the chassis of our vans and the passenger-car chassis sold in large numbers in England in 1913. The wheels were fitted with detachable rims, size 875 by 105, and on these we used 920 mm. by 120 mm. tyres. These large diameter wheels an tyres usefully increased the road clearance beyond that obtained with the passenger chassis, but nevertheless the clearance was not always adequate, for there were times when the pressed-steel back axle struck the road.
For the weight of the vans the 920 mm. by 120 mm. tyres were ample and lasted well, some covers running nearly 6000 miles on the rear wheels. In course of time .the projecting lugs on the periphery of the steel rim which bound the felloes wore and had to be replaced by steel plates, which we screwed on. I refer to the lugs which prevent the detachable tyre rim creeping. ' The wear would not, perhaps, have occurred under less trying conditions of service.
The tyre rims were split transversely, so that they could be contracted to facilitate tyre fitting. We were never able to use this feature, however, because of difficulty in expanding the rim to its normal shape when the tyre was mounted. Perhaps some missing tool would have permitted the operation, but I believe it is supposed to be performed with the hands and feet of the tyre fitter. If so, the makers had seemingly over-estimated the strength of the average man just as they had under-estimated the length of his legs when determining the relative positions of seat and pedals.
All wheels had Timken tapered roller bearings, and what little wear occurred was easily taken up by ad-. iustment. During the 23 months or so we had the .Studebakers the mechanical troubles were confined to broken front spring leaves on two occasions ; three worn-out second-speed gearwheels on countershafts; one gearshaft bearing and housing worn out ; a
c34 smashed set of differential bevels and one worn dutch leather. Not a bad record for such drastic conditions. The second car was not new, but was in good condition when it came into our possession. We did not begin to wear either car out or reduce them to that senile state after which frequent troubles outweigh a cat's usefulness. When we parted with them there was no sign of general debility. The second car had to be used for a few months without an intermediate gear. It happened that during those few months the mileage run was high and the road conditions without precedent for frightfulness. The severity of the test of car and driver can be imagined by those who care to drive their vehicles for, say, one day, without using the intermediate gear or gears when changing up or down.
The Sehebler carburetters used on the two cars were really adjustable without tools by the average intelligent driver, and are, therefore, of a type which would appeal to enthusiastic owner-drivers. In dusty weather the dashpot arid piston of the autonAttic air valve needed to be occasionally removed and wiped clean and dry, or the valve behaved erratically. The petrol cock at -the bottom of the float chamber was specially appreciated when a little petrol was needed for plug cleaning, priming or such like. Why is it these handy little drain cocks only appear on Yankee cars The electric equipment provided us with practically all the small worries that one experiences with cars or lorries on war service. Ignition is effected through the medium of induction coil, contact breaker, distributor, and the same set of batteries which supplies current for lighting. Provided the batteries were in good order, there was no bother with ignition but I found that in driving, the spark lever had to be used mc4e frequently than is the rule when magneto ignition is employed. I noticed a Studebaker belonging to another unit had a magneto, driven from the shaft, on which normally the contact breaker earn was mounted. The driver was enthusiastic concerning the improvement in power which had followed adoption of the magneto. Certainly the. power output of these Studebakers, especially at moderate or slow engine speeds, rather disappointed me, but they were free from the " pinking ' and super-sensitiveness so common to the high-power-for-size engine and were, therefore., perhaps the better suited to light van work. Moreover, the power was adequate and the vans would climb any hill on intermediate gear.
The electric lamps were splendid light givers, but suffered severely from vibration, which caused broken filaments, frayed connections, short circuits with consequent burnt-out fuses, and so forth. The dimming arrangement, whereby the headlights were reduced to a mere glow by pressing ,a switch, proved very convenient.
Until we got accustomed to the very rapid evaporation of water from the batteries and made arrangements to replenish the water regularly, some battery trouble was experienced. This, of course, was duo to no fault of the cars or their makers. In fact, the lighting and ignition system was good, and encouraged the belief that in tithes of peace, good roads, and distilled water, the amount of attention needed would have been reduced to almost nothing. The electric generator on both cars never gave us any trouble or anxiety, and the same can be said of the automatic cut-out.
Naturally, a low-priced light delivery van such as the Studebaker needs rather more attention given to details than the more expensive British vehicle, and the finish is not do good. At the same time, it is good enough for the purposes for which the vans were intended, and some minor points such as the simple fan belt adjustment and the rubber-cushioned generator driving coupling were excellent. Altogether the Studebakers stood an exceptionally trying war test far better than I would have expected.