The patriotic task of hauling B-24 “Liberator” bomber assemblies from Michigan Ford factories to destinations as far as California demanded a special vehicle. A mere 46 of these Thorco dual-engine Fords (and similar trucks built by others) assumed the yoke of this responsibility, logging about 3800 such trips, according to the listing here on Facebook Marketplace. Two are known to exist, and a single payment of $1,250,000 buys both, one restored and one rough. Peer through the grille and you’ll notice two radiators, each supporting a Ford flathead V8 making about 100 HP. Thanks to reader T.J. for spotting these Amarillo, Texas heavy haulers.
According to HistoricVehicles, the Thorcos began life as a single engine COE (Cab Over Engine) Ford truck which then had a second engine and drivetrain fitted, each engine driving a single rear axle. With twin powerplants, the trucks could haul heavy loads over the Rocky Mountains faster than a crawl and achieve higher speeds in the flats.
Admirable symmetry keeps things easy to understand if you picture twin driveshafts spinning the offset differentials. Clever engineering lets the operator control both engines with a single clutch, throttle, and shift lever. Most interestingly, the truck could utilize either motor separately or both together.
The second truck comes with the deal and will need heroic effort to equal the first. That said, it will be easier than restoring a Duesenberg in similar disrepair.
Dual controls above the instrument panels ignite the olive colored beast, with (presumably) chokes outboard, keyed ignition, and push button starters inboard. Art deco instruments look original with the possible exception of the two circular gauges in the chrome panel.
The left engine and driveshaft spin the rear axles while the right pair powers the forward drive axles. Thankfully someone has taken the time and resources to save at least one of these fascinating war-time behemoths, and we hope someone steps up to buy this pair and shares them with the public. I’d pay at least $10 to check this thing out. What future do you see for these amazing ’40s Thorco Fords?
I have seen several pictures of them yet didn’t expect that any had survived.
Halleluiah! at least two have. Although I would not expect the parts truck will get restored unless Jay or someone else with the passion and resources ends up with it. USA wartime ingenuity is very fascinating.
Had heard about these yet this is the best and most detailed coverage to date.
Be cool to see this at the Oshkosh air show in July.
Thanks, Todd.
Wow absolutely wild rig. Never seen one , thank you Fitch. Wonder what the transmission is…
Each of the engines has its own transmission. The right engine sends its power to the forward of the two rear axles which has the diff case offset to the right. The left engine powers the second, rearmost axle, with that diff case offset to the left.
I have never heard of these. Very, very interesting vehicles– both their story, and the engineering involved. Excellent write-up Todd. The seller places them in the “realm” of the GMC Futurliner; I’m not sure I’d go that far, but the comment is not that far-fetched. Like Jack says, wartime ingenuity, indeed.
American ingenuity, direct and effective: need more oomph? Add an engine!
Cool ride! American ingenuity, for the most part, faded out in the 1980’s, and were replaced with the ultimate greedy and clueless finance, accounting, and Wharton MBA’s. Hopefully, we can get our DNA revived again.
This is Wild!!! I never knew about these. I’d love to see one driving. Like Stan said, I’m wondering what transmission, or transmissions were used? That has to be wild hearing 2 Flathead Ford V8s pulling a grade. Of course, gas mileage is probably nowheres near Prius territory……. But who cares!!! Nice find, great write up Todd I enjoyed this a lot.
One of the most reliable military vehicles ever. Two identical trucks in one. Instant, on the spot parts availability for quick field repairs.
I recited the pledge of allegiance after reading this article
This,,,was the ultimate,,,for the time, that is. Diesels were around( Detroit in 1938) but they hadn’t been proven, and these flathead V8s were stacked to heaven in a warehouse, I bet. I read, it had an unusual drive train, one engine powered one axle, the 2nd powered the other, could be used with one motor or both, controlled by a single throttle and shifter. It should be noted, the brainchild of this unit was Alfred Rzeppa, designer of the U-joint on most cars today.
Dual motor trucks trickled into regular society, and some wild concoctions were the results, all hoping to have the extra oomph to get over the hill. None survived and diesels have been the choice ever since. I read, these were incredibly thirsty, with “gallons per mile” hauling something, but war was all about getting the equipment to the fronts, and these did the job. I too salute this vehicle and the brave men that drove them, they were sitting ducks for the enemy. Amen.
This vehicle was used stateside to transport aircraft subassemblies, according to the article. The only “enemies” these guys ran into were at Ports of Entry and scales.😉
Thanks for that, I assumed they were used as prime movers in war, and those guys transporting tanks were the sitting ducks. If our military has trouble at a scale, I’m out of here.
What about the guys transporting DUKWs? I believe that those would be “moving ducks”.
I’ve never heard of these either. They’re pretty wild. One hundred percent American ingenuity. This is why I search BF everyday. At a minimum. I am always learning new things about cars and trucks I am familiar with and on rare occasions, like today, I see something I have never seen before. Good write up, Todd.
Mike76. I am the same as you. I learn a lot from Barnfinds. After I read here I Google for more on the subject that interests me. Thank you Barnfinds.
Better hurry ! …….They won’t last long at that price !
Sometime in the 50s or 60s, GM sold medium sized trucks with two V6 engines in line. I think they shared a common block, but didn’t call it a V12.
You must be thinking of the twin six.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/09/1960s-gmc-v12-engine-for-sale-in-wyoming/
Years ago, at a hot rod show, fellow showed up with an early Sixties GMC pickup. He’d extended the nose so accept one of those V-12s. Must have been a beast. Being a Ford guy myself, had always hoped to see a F-100 with a 477 or 534 V-8.
Neat read. I wonder if you could broaden the torque curve by using different axle ratios in the two axles?
No.
I couldn’t help noting the speedo topped out at 60 mph.
I saw that too. Wishful thinking? Did you see the shift points on the speedometer for when to upshift? Ahh days before tachometers. You’re hunting for 3rd gear at 12 mph with this. I’m thinking 60 was a bit optimistic.
I did notice the 60 mph speedometer but hadn’t noticed the shift points. They are crazy. I figured with a 60 mph speedo the typical cruising speed might be 40 mph. Maybe less.
4th gear at 25 mph. It might hit 40 but probably be more comfortable
to cruise a little less than that.
Ford trucks used same instrument panel as cars except they had those shift point speedometer even the pickups.
I’ve never even heard of these trucks. It would be incredible to drive, or even ride in one of these beasts. And the sound! Has to be amazing.
Hey, just imagine this thing with quad glass-packs climbing the Rockies! Could probably hear it in Dubuque!
Oh, and did anyone else note the welded-in two foot section to the front axle? Hmmm…. wonder if the joints were well stress relieved… ‘Twould be a helluva thing to have the axle part while shepherding a Liberator fuselage down the back side of the Rockies.
A company that I worked for built a lot of custom vehicles for Disney. One time, we built three vintage looking double decker buses for EPCOT. They used Ford C-8000 front axles with a section removed to narrow them to scale. After they were jigged up and welded back together, I had to clean up the axles to eliminate the visible welds while sculpting fake casting ridges across the weld on the top and bottom of the axle with the grinder. Then it was off to the lab for magnafluxing. All three axles passed.
Crazy cool, posted 8 weeks ago.
The story of Fords creation of the Willow Run plant for production of B24’s is even more interesting than these trucks, which existed to facilitate the transport of the very large sub-assemblies to the three Consolidated plants which also performed final assembly on B-24’s. At the time Willow Run plant was built, it was the largest building in the world under one roof.
If you have ever seen footage of a flathead block in production you may have marveled at the numerous machining operations happening simultaneously. Ford did something similar with the B-24.
One of the things Ford had to put to a stop was the near daily changes being made by the Army and Consolidated. They finally said that it would be impossible to build the bombers at the rate wanted with constant changes to the design. So Ford demanded the design become fixed so they could build them and the Army and Consolidated could then modify them after they were finished.
Henry didn’t cotton to too many ‘changes.’
Cool very rare but over a million never going to happen Owner will be lucky if someone offers 100 thousand Never going to get over a million no matter how rare
I’m not sure. I think I’m seeing those digits wrong !!!!
An enterprising Ford dealer in the late ’30’s ordered a few Lincoln V12 engines, claiming they were to replace some that had bit the dust, and put them in Ford trucks, and drove them to Detroit to convince Ford to make them that way. Ford was not convinced and it never happened, but the trucks were a real improvement, power wise, over the ones powered by the V8. I am amazed that Ford agreed to make these. Not even Jay Leno would buy this one at that price.
I understand it was Grico who developed and built these trucks and that Spangler, E&L, Merry-Neville and Thorco also built them. Here’s an interesting article. https://historicvehicles.com.au/truck-feature/fords-twin-engined-trucks/
Thank God! I’ve been looking for a way to move my B-24 out of my garage!
Thank God! I’ve been looking for a way to move my B-24 out of my garage!
Sorry for the dual post, but then again, it IS a dual engine.
How does the left driveline get past the forward rear axle. I see an indention on the rearward rear axle. Does the left driveline go through something on the forward rear axle?
It’s not uncommon for diff input shafts to be placed at an offset above the axle line which, perhaps along with elevating the engines slightly above the axles, could allow the rearward driveshaft to simply pass above the forward axle housing.
Or, as you noted, that boss on the rearward axle opposite the diff could be the same on the forward axle but flipped over, so perhaps the rearward driveshaft passes thru that.
Hey Jay, are you seeing this? You’re the only one who could afford these trucks.
A gent I knew back in the mid-60s was having a custom motorhome built to his specs. Among the interesting bits was a twin-engine front-drive install, dual Toronado mills, one for each front wheel. He had a two-engine boat throttle quadrant and two manifold pressure gauges and used the hand throttles to fine-tune/equalize the intakes on the two engines.
Don’t know if he ever finished it but it would have been a real bear.
I never knew about these. Thanks BF.
Consolidated factory in San Diego:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Information_Warfare_Systems_Command#/media/File:US_Navy_100624-N-9999x-004_An_aerial_view_of_the_Space_and_Naval_Warfare_Systems_Command_(SPAWAR)_Headquarters_in_San_Diego.jpg
Doggone it! Been having troubles with my account lately. Found the trouble but missed out on a whole bunch of good stuff, including this truck. There were a few articles describing this in the V8 Times.
At one time there was talk in the Ford circles to outfit the trucks with V-12 engines. I don’t think there would’ve been much of an improvement using those because the 12-bangers didn’t deliver much punch but they were sure smooth.
A driver would really need to have his wits about him if he was to run this truck. I’m sure it would be almost as involved as running a twin engine airplane, albeit not as dangerous in a dead-stick landing.
One thing’s for certain: Take this to the show-n-shine and it would be the only one of its type there. I wouldn’t be surprised if you would encounter the same thing at an ATHS convention…
Hi Geo, glad you’re still “with” us. I kvetch about some of the lackwits that clamor through, but I want to emphasize, the membership helps the site with great posts like this, and helps the writers salary. The stuff we learn here is a wonderful composite of everybody’s experiences. For a mechanical guru like yourself, this must be the epitome of engineering. I read, the engines are on a cradle and can be removed from the from as a unit. We’ve discussed twin engines before, and the most unusual one I found, was a Diamond T cabover an IH 6 cylinder with a Buick V8 attached to the front. The builder claimed it worked well.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/and-thats-the-truth-frank-gripps-twin-engine-diamond-t/
I remember that article. The old saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” (Close quote) or something like that. The early COE models all had a subframe that slid in between the two main frame rails. You just uncoupled everything and slid it ahead. Of course no one accounted for dust and other grit, and salt making the entire mechanism solid. I helped a guy work on a Ford COE and it was a western plains truck where they used a miniscule amount of salt. Just the same, pulling the engine was a major task. We didn’t slide it back in because the cab was off by then and everything was refurbished. But I think that Tilt-Cabs were a major improvement…
I have seen this truck in person.. It has been to a few ATHS National Shows over the years.. The was an article about these trucks in the ATHS Wheels of Time magazine a few years ago. I also knew the owner, a past President of ATHS, who passed away a couple of years ago.. Apparently his son is selling off some of Dad’s collection??? So fa I have not seen any ads in the antique truck magazines??.
Think of how hot it would have been in the cab sitting on top of those two engines and the noise.
Great article years ago in Cars and Parts magazine about these trucks . . That long trailer presented a problem when having to make a turn in some of the small towns . . Something said about the drivers being courteous and well trained . . Saw something about another COE truck with 2 inline 6 cylinder GM engines installed side by side . . Said the carburetor of one was exposed through a hole cut in the floor near the driver’s right foot . . With no air filter , the driver had his pants leg rolled up a bit to keep it from getting sucked into the carburetor . . Interesting
Nice find BF , enjoyed the read and comments! keep up the good work!
I think the twin engine Chevy/GMC was called the Eisenhower?? Have seen an article or website post about it somewhere????
Brocky . . I saw that article ..,
The Eisenhauer, covered by Curbside Classic: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/trucks-and-heavy-equipment/truck-stop-classics-eisenhauer-twin-engine-freighter-twin-strikeout/