Lafayette man’s 1944 Army M3 gets 1 mile per gallon
David Krumboltz’s regular column is on hiatus until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, we’re running some of Dave’s favorite past columns. This one originally ran in October 2011.
Have you ever had an obsessive fantasy? For example, have you ever wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or maybe swim the English Channel or visit Des Moines? Well, Lafayette resident Dennis Reid did, and he has made his fantasy come true.
As a kid, Reid always liked the Army Halftrack truck. So in 2000, he bought one.
Smiling, he said, “I just figured that everyone should have one before they die.”
Sometime between his childhood and his purchase of this issue’s 17,000-pound 1944 Model M3 Army Halftrack, Reid became an expert on its history.
“When the country was approaching World War II, the Army was interested in a vehicle they could put together quickly that would transfer troops in a protected mode, run alongside the tanks and would operate both on-road and offroad,” Reid said. “To get the vehicle quickly, it was decided to use as much from commercial trucks as possible, so they started with a White over-the-road truck from the 1930s, including the fenders, engine, radiator, Timken axles, gauges, brakes and ignition. Everything was right off the shelf. The result was they had the vehicle they wanted in less than a year.”
He said there wasn’t much testing needed or done, as the vehicle was
made from proven truck parts — and it worked well. They substituted sprockets for the rear wheels to drive the tracks, but no special brakes were required and they didn’t need to train drivers, as it just drives like a normal truck.
“They could throw a farm kid in there, and off he goes,” he said.
The M3 Halftrack was designed to carry 13 troops with their equipment and had a mounted machine gun. This vehicle was built in January 1944 by an Indiana truck manufacturer called Autocar (they make garbage trucks now), but the design was done for the Army by the White Motor Co. of Cleveland. Since White could not produce the number of vehicles required, Autocar and Diamond
T also built identical units for the war effort. Reid estimates about 50,000 were built.
Reid, a mechanical engineer, bought the Halftrack from a classic vehicle dealer in Wisconsin. He paid $25,000 and had it shipped to California. He knew what he wanted, and he got the model he favored, even if it wasn’t exactly in the condition promised. First, he wanted his Halftrack to have the original quarter-inch Army armor that will stop 30-caliber bullets, typically fired from rifles or machine guns. Next, he wanted one with the “de-ditch roller” in front instead of the model with a winch.
“The roller,” he explained, “is useful when the Halftrack is driving
through ditches. The roller kicks up the front wheels of the vehicle and lifts it right out of a ditch.”
Reid did most of the restoration work. The engine is a standard commercial 386-cubic-inch-displacement flathead six-cylinder White Motor Co. engine used in their trucks; it only generates 147 horsepower. It has a nonsynchronized four-speed transmission with two-speed transfer gears to engage the front wheels as drive wheels and to increase the power.
The tracks are a little pricey and made of rubber so the vehicle can travel on- or off-road. They cost about $4,000 each, and Reid says they only last for about 400 miles. When you pull into the neighborhood gas station to fill it up, you
can expect to pay more than $200 to fill the two 30-gallon tanks, and that won’t take you very far.
“The Halftrack doesn’t get miles per gallon,” Reid said, “it gets 1 mile per gallon.”
The grill is really armor slats that close like a Venetian blind to protect the engine if the vehicle is fired on. An armor plate that has about a 6-inch vision slot can be dropped down over the windshield. Similar protection is on both side doors. There is no top, so overhead protection is nonexistent. Special headlights and taillights provide adequate lighting for the driver but cannot be seen from the air.
This is not Reid’s best financial investment. He has about $65,000 into this vehicle that he believes has a market value of about $35,000. In fact, he doesn’t refer to it as an investment; he calls it his “de-vestment.” That doesn’t take away any of the pleasure of owning his M3, though. The Fourth of July is a special time for Reid and his 97-year-old father, a World War II veteran.
“We ride in the Pleasanton parade, and Dad is cheered as a hero.”