Chariots of War I Have Driven.
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No. 1. -THE PACKARD.
A Story of the Early Days of Life in the ACT., A.S.C. 90 Miles 16 Hours.
By One of Our "Despatches" Contributors.
Before joining His Majesty's Forces as a motor driver in the M.T., A.S.C., I handled sundry lorries which were destined to become chariots of war, and have since had my interest momentarily aroused by a passing glimpse of one or another of these one-time commercial vehicles on active war service in England or France. My heavy-vehicle experience having been confined to European-built machines, the first actual war lorry entrusted to me, a Packard, had the charm of complete novelty, and I might also say mystery. For it was in the darkest and coldest hour of a wet February morning that I was introduced to the Packard, being conducted with some 20 others who, out of nearly 200 M.T. recruits, confessed to heavy vehicle experience, into a yard where stood a new, lorry for each of the 20-odd to drive away. The driving came later.
A Yankee "Truck."
After being told off to the assorted lorries indiscriminately, I found with the aid of a pocket torch that mine was a Yankee " truck" and therefore a complete stranger to me. I was impressed, as day dawned and enabled me to get a proper view, with the un-English appearance and proportions of the monster. The short, squat bonnet and radiator of wondrous, unsymmetrical and meaningless shape, perched high on the frame, gave me the impression of ugliness, which was increased by the position of the front axle relative to the power unit and dashboard. Of course it was because its appearance was decidedly new to me that I thought the Packard ugly. Since I have seen scores of them doing useful work in France, and realized that the makers, in common with many American " truck " builders, have aimed at big paying-load capacity in proportion to overall length and wheelbase, a commendable object, I take the Packard as a matter of course, although it would never be my choice on the score of appearance. For its other qualities I have much respect.
A Non-starter.
Meanwhile I groped round in the darkness and endeavoured, with the aid of my electric torch, to find out how to start the engine. At first there appeared to be no starting handle, but I presently found this member folded and tucked away under the front of the chassis frame. Evidently another effort to keep down the overall length and avoid damage in collision. The carburetter, not the least unfamiliar part of this complete novelty, had two controllable air shutters. By the time I had tried combinations of these and switch positions on the dualignition coil, and had found someone who could swing the motor—it was more than I could manage, although my "full marching order" had been gradually reduced to fatigue dress—the day had dawned. Nothing would start that engine. It held out in spite of treatment to which the other two Packards present had submitted. We tried towing for a short distance and were ready to put her back for more leisurely 'attention at other hands when a Canadian came along: "What is this—a Packard'? Can't start, eh ? Let's look." He could swing any of the big Yankee motors, understood the Packard, and was accustomed to the folding starting handles. Ile certainly knew enough to get the better of this machine, and soon had her running for us.
Incidentally, I found in sub quent conversation that I knew him by name and as the motor man of a former customer in Canada, although, being separated by some 3000 miles of Atlantic we had not met before.
90 Miles to "Somewhere."
Almost directly the engine was started I got my first war load, consisting of motor drivers who had no lorry experience but were to be moved from the palatial workhouse that. had been our home for a few days to somewhere else in England ; perhaps there will be no harm in mentioning that the " somewhere" was on Salisbury Plain, and getting there involved a journey of nearly 90 miles.
How to Enlist in the M.T., A.S.C.
The proportion of recruits in this batch with previous lorry experience must have been about normal. Actually most of the drivers of the heavier chariots of war had never driven anything but touring cars before enlisting. Some of them had not driven any sort of motor vehicle. Indeed, I have heard that oneway to enlist in the M.T., A.S.C., without previous experience in those early days was to borrow a chauffeur's livery and perhaps a testimonial. This may not be true.
To return to the Packard. At starting we drivers were unaware of our destination ; then, as now, all movements of troops and stores being wrapped in mystery. I was too much taken up with the novelty presented by my car and that wonderful extravagance, a novice M.T. convoy, for any immediate concern regarding my destination.
Dual Ignition Not so Good as Hallcompression Gear and a Good Magneto.
I discovered in the firstfew minutes that the battery ignition was "no bon," perhaps because the lorry had been standing out in rain and snow that had penetrated to the inadequately protected coil and switch on the dashboard. It is very rarely that one finds the batteryand-coil ignition retained where a dual system was originally pro vided. The unreliability of the coils and switches, and the difficulty of getting batteries properly cared for make dual ignition quite unsuitable for War service. The battery-and-coil system is very nice for the big engines that are hard to swing, but it is "up to" the car makers to give us compression-release devices and magnetos that give a hot spark at slow speeds ; then the complication of the extra ignition system, to say nothing of its initial cost and upkeep, is eliminated.
Governed to 9 m.p.h.
The governor on my Packard permitted a maximum speed of about nine miles per hour, and this governor setting proved irksome all day, making it most difficult to keep pace with the remainder of the column, nearly all the other lorries being much faster. It was also a source of worry to my load, especially as most of them had no previous opportunities for knowing the limitations a governor puts on road speed. While it is true that both war and commercial lorries need engine governors at present, future improvements in suspension and in engine design should render these necessary evils undesirable from every point of view.
A Peculiar Change-speed Gear.
The change-speed movement on the Packard is peculiar, and seems to have been designed by a chess player, the movement necessary for putting in reverse resembling the knight's move. The gear change was delightfully easy, although I found, when reversing, that my knees fouled the speed-lever and
caused it to slip into neutral. Probably a larger acquaintance with the car would have enabled me to avoid this small trouble. The quadrant change made it impossible to slip into neutral when coasting down hills, my favourite method of taking easy hills and one that would have been specially useful on this occasion to discount the speed handicap imposed by the governors.
Heavy Steering; Drivers Like Plenty of Power.
The steering was heavier for the driver than it generally is on Eng lish lorries. I have noticed the same thing with other Yankee "trucks." Clutch and brakes were all that could be desired, but the most pleasing feature cif the whole car was the running and power of the big engine, although the gear ratio was too low for our good English roads and the light load. In spite of the advocacy of mediumsize engines by their makers and their undoubted economy, drivers will always plump for the big engine which develops good power at slow speeds, hangs on to top gear and will pull without fuss. This preference of drivers is one of the main reasons for the popularity of the good American trucks out here.
Eliminating Tyros.
After many delays, during which gallons of petrol were consumed, running idle, we got away. As is usual in novice convoys, one or two incompetent or unfortunate drivers and their vehicles were soon eliminated by accidents. Twenty-five mites or so on the journey we were ready for a meal, having breakfasted about 3.30 a.m., so we stopped the convoy and the engines. The meal was served in a novel manner, loaves, cold cooked joints and cheese being thrown from the ration lorry among an assembly of hungry men. There was plenty for
everybody, whether lucky in the scramble or not, so this rough-andready methoel of distribution proved satisfactory.
Frequent Petrol Famines.
The drive was pleasant and uneventful enough after that until late in the afternoon, when first one lorry, and then another, fol. /owed by several more, ran out of petrol. ' For some reason the spare petrol lorry had been left far behind, the kind of thing that usually happens on recruit convoys. After a long wait, during which the units of the convoy got more and more widely separated, the desired petrol turned up. But being still unaccustomed to the Army rate of consumption, and knowing there could be only about 20 miles to go, everybody took a normal supply for that distance. Thereafter, most lorries experienced continual petrol famines, involving stops and begging for spare petrol all round. Probably owing to these delays, we got no tea.
Fireworks. "Don't Touch the On a bad part of the road, in a wood, and when inky darkness had set in, a halt was called (engines running} while two lorries were extricated from a ditch. This incident put up the petrol consumption enormously, so that in the end the officer in charge had to send on ahead and get a supply sent out to us. Much rain commenced to fall, and fireworks under the Packard's boenet caused sundry stops and added to the by of our experiences. Because of the short circuits, due to wet, I isolated the magneto from coil and switch by cutting the leads, to the accompaniment of protests from my load, who were timid of any interference with that mystery they variously referred to as the " mag " or " rnaggie." However, the isolation proved a cure for the fireworks and stops. Tank Filling in the Dark.
Having to pour petrol in the tank in darkness (it was impossible to detach a lamp because the toolbox was locked and my pocket torch was exhausted), I found the small filling orifice in the tank a decided disadvantage. After 16 hours at the wheel of the Patkard we reached our destination, although some units of the convoy were not, 80 lucky, and one was out all the night Effective Radiator lkounting.
Packards have earned a highly creditable reputation on war service, and they are of the robust, heavy-duty class which, if well made, as the Packard undoubtedly is are bound to make good. noticed favourably the unusual and effective style of radiator mounting. Whether Packard radiators have given as much trouble as some other Yankee " rads " on war service I cannot say, but the spring brackets for attaching this member to the frame should protect it effectively from strains due to frame distortion.
A Thoroughly Ditched Lorry.
Recently I was interested to see a live-axle Packard, which also looked a thoroughly well-made job. The one I drove in that first convoy had chain drive.
The most thoroughly ditched lorry I have seen out here was a Packard. It had overturned into a deep, wide, but fortunately dry ditch, and was completely upside down, so that one got an excellent worm's-eye view. This, of course, was the result of an accident which was not caused by any peculiarity of the car, but by a villainously greasy patch of road and night driving without lights.
The task of putting this lorry right side up on the road was no enviable or easy one, but the M.T., A.S.C., have tackled some bad cases of the kind, and this one did not take too long.