This week’s CAT Scale Rig of the Week is a classic truck with a sweet history.
The Walter Auto Truck Manufacturing Co. started out as a maker of automobiles and race cars. However, the company eventually became well-known for its four-wheel-drive trucks.
The success of the Walter Brand was built on 100% traction, which rested in the torque proportioning bevel drive. This differential is designed to find the wheel with the most traction, a process that is the opposite of standard automobile differentials.
This 1922 Walter Snow-Fighter, assigned Unit No. 29, is presumed to have been in operation for the Fifth Avenue Coach Lines of New York City to move snow along the routes run by the city’s double-decker passenger buses.
Walter Snow-Fighters boasted a third bevel drive unit built into the transmission that drove power from the front to the rear. This enabled the truck to run like a conventional single-axle — until there was a loss of traction on the drive tire, which caused the bevel drive to kick in.
The Walter Co. built its first four-wheel-drive truck in 1911, but before building vehicles, the company made equipment used in candy-making.
Do you use the CAT Scale app and have a rig you’d like us to feature as the CAT Scale Rig of the Week? Send photos and details to [email protected].
A former military public affairs specialist, Cody Graves has a journalism career that has spanned radio, television and print. For the last ten years, he produced special sections for Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper. During his time in the U.S. Army Reserves, Cody served tours in El Salvador, Iraq and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a local band and spends time with his dogs, Lucy and Daisy.
I would like to know where this Walter is. I have some information about it