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4 isit any vehicle recovery show and
you'll see some of the most advanced truck rescue monsters that ever graced an accident scene. Based on the most powerful sleeper-cabbed/multi-wheeler chassis they offer the very latest in speedy rescues. Long under-reach lift and tow arms to get under the low slung air dams, hydraulically operated traversing cranes and winches with wanderlead or infra-red controls are standard fittings.
They have shapely bodywork with fabulous air.brushed designs over the bright paint jobs and bedecked with as much chrome as is affordable. They could just as easily win the Prettiest Recovery Truck title but their looks are deceptive.
They're really buffaloes dressed as cattle.
Known colloquially as wreckers (a term abhorred by modern-day recoverers) they mostly earn their keep working along some of the busiest and most dangerous stretches of motorway and trunk roads in the world.
They've big rear spades and plenty of ballast but rarely venture off the hard shoulder. When heavy winching is called for, it's done with extreme care because the Department of Transport doesn't take kindly to having its tarmac holed or rolled up. However, when it comes to extracting halfburied tracked diggers from stodgy land reclamation sites very few modern wreckers can hold a candle to a 53-year old 6x6 Ward La France.
That's the view of recovery ace Dave Walter Wallsgrove—Wally the Winch to his mates! Like most people in his trade he lives and breathes truck rescue, but unlike the rest he knows the capability of his old tank recovery truck from World War 2.
Built at the Elmira Heights factory in New York as part of the US/1.11( Lease Lend programme, it survived the war in Europe and was then demobbed in 1946.
After a few years hauling round-timber near Henley-in-Arden it found its way into Roger Dyson's recovery fleet at Tanners Croft, Redditch (now a major recovery vehicle builder, based at Droitwich). It also acquired a bright yellow coat at this time.
Around the late 70s, the Ward La France's condition had deteriorated and it was about to be disposed of when Wallsgrove stepped in. A winching purist, he saw it as an interesting restoration project but with the potential to earn its keep among Cross Roads Garage's wrecker fleet at Napton near Daventry. Since taking over the business from his father in 1954, Wallsgrove has used a succession of other light to middleweight recovery trucks from old WW2 Dodges to a more recent Guy Quad. But the Yankee wrecker proved a strong attraction.
Together with his friends Ken Bailey and John Watt he took the old relic in hand and so began a three-and-a-halfyear project.
• ROTTED WOODWORK
Local coachbuilder Roger I lailey restored all the rotted woodwork and the chassis, body and recovery equipment were refurbished to as near original as possible.
It was then given a matt green coating and US army decals plus beacons, lights and reflectors to comply with present legislation.
The original Continental straight-six petrol engine was too thirsty so it was replaced first with a Leyland 600 diesel then a more powerful 680 version.
To shoehorn the longer diesel unit in, Wallsgrove and friends modified the nose section taking the radiator forward by 12in (300min). Apart from a five-speed constantmesh gearbox from a Leyland Octopus eightlegger the remaining Ward La France's driveline was retained.
The transfer box, which was rebuilt at Napton, and axles are all Timkin-made in the US and are identical to those used in a range of other wartime makes.
Today the veteran Ward La France 6x6 is in excellent working order but deploying the stocky little 12-tonner highlights some limiting factors.
4I Without an tmderlift it's no good for motorway jobs and in any case in 6x4 drive its top speed is only 30mph which it manages uphill and down dale.
Fortunately most of the heavy winching work is in the Warwickshire/Northamptonshire border area so Wallsgrove is happy to keep within a 50-mile radius.
Travelling through leafy lanes to a job, the Leyland engine's throaty growl is unmistakable and turns many a head. It takes a little while to get there and its original 5.0 tonne Garwood crane is limiting on lifts.
However, it must be remembered that the Ward La France 6x6 was built specifically for tank recovery in battle and the crane would also have been perfect for engines changes.
Despite the longer diesel engine displacing the front Garwood winch, its star qualities remain its excellent traction across heavy ground and winching capability At 12 tons gross the 6x6's traction is outstanding," says Wallsgrove, "and its military tread tyres really grip the ground."
On back-road routes it copes admirably with the cow muck and mud mix, often the root cause of many rural rescue jobs and with all wheels driving there are few areas that it cannot cross.
But in emphasising its terrific winching capability Wallsgrove points to the way the leaf spring packs are mounted to the chassis.
III SWINGING SHACKLES
Unlike most mad going vehicles, it has swinging shackles at the front and a fixed pin at the rear which gives it a strong tendency to really dig down when winching in bogged vehicles. Once in position, the 6x6 can pull its full 22.5 tons or using snatch blocks anchored to trees, to other plant machinery or a series of ground anchors, you can divide heavier pulls to keep within the winch's capability The rear of the Ward La France's body is festooned with bracketry for accepting sprags, stiff-legs and other bracing attachments.
In addition the vehicle has a range of extra equipment such as ground anchors, scotches, stiff legs, snatch blocks and rope shorteners. They're either real McCoy items or are made by Wallsgrove to original patterns.
He's also improved one or two items like his bigger wheel-wedge scotches which now have centre ribs on the underside to stop the wheels from slipping sideways when winching at an angle. A typical example of this extraordinary pulling power is the rescue of a .C100,000 Samsung digger from a nearby Biffa landfill site. The 32-tonne machine was down to its track tops in heavy clay, totally immobile because of the angle of repose and it had to be dragged uphill too.
It needed snatch blocks on the casualty and on a nearby Caterpillar D8 but eight hours later the digger was free, leaving Wallsgrove to wind the cable in, clean his gear and load up.
He is clearly proud of his Ward La France and its tremendous capability Many's the time he says the 6x6 has been down to the top of the body yet it's never faltered.
It's sometimes a problem locating the scotches and other attachments in deep heavy mud and often the crane is needed to lift them out.
It may lack the technology of one of the more modern rescue trucks but the 1942 veteran clearly has its own charisma.
The wood framed two-seater cab is austere yet functional but you can get in and out easily enough.
There's some pretty basic instrumentation but the windscreen wipers operate from a compressed air supply.
Ahead of the seats are two PT-0 handles and there are levers for 6x4 and 6x6 high and low ratio to their right The Ross cam and lever steering is heavy on the road and could do with power assistance but off-road the large diameter wheel ensures a nice positive movement for negotiating heavy ground.
The pedals, accelerator and gearlever all look durable which is just as well in case you take a while to master the crash-type gear changing.
Stopping power is good thanks to its standard full-air brakes on all wheels. The chambers are tucked well out of the way.
Its parking brake is a transmission disc brake modified by the addition of a ratchet device from an old trailer. This is rated at 40 tonnes but only has 12 tons to cope with. The crane luffs and slews but only by a hand mechanical system, which is fine by Wallsgrove.
Would he ever buy a modern recovery truck? "No thanks," he says. "This one will see me out" The big wrecker companies have the motorways sewn up but as long as he can work within the rural areas between the M1 and M40, the Ward La France suits him fine. There are no dedicated 6x6 recovery vehicles made today and there's very little else that can beat it over heavy terrain.
He gets a big kick out of watching people's faces when he turns up with it. "You know exactly what they're thinking but when their dead machines have been hauled out, then they realise what this little beauty is capable of."
E by Bryan Jarvis