Army trucks and vehicles are cool because they are designed and built to fix a problem, meet a need, or surmount some sort of obstacle that existing means can’t In this case we have a old video featuring the Australian Army and the testing/development of a tracked truck intended for use in the tough conditions of New Guinea where the Aussies were fighting at the time. Using a 95hp Ford engine (flathead V8?) and a few tough but rudimentary systems, this rig would never win any awards for beauty in styling but it sure looks functionally awesome to us. You’ll get a full tour of the the truck and then see it climb hills, slog mud, drag a helpless Jeep out of the mire, and generally handle any surface that the driver put it in.
The New Guinea campaign during WWII was a hard slog for the Australian forces who fought largely alongside the Americans. Tough and capable fighters the Aussies initially got pushed back when the Japanese attacked in 1942 but by the time 1945 rolled around, they had dealt the Japanese a crushing blow. Battles were fought in places like Buna-Gona, Wau, and other islands and they were hard. Vehicles like this one made sure that the Army was properly supplied and able to move through the jungle terrain.
As workaday and simple as this truck is, the service it provided was anything but.
