EXOTIC EIGHTS
Between 1928 and 1933, five different British manufacturers produced experimental or pilot-batch all-wheel-drive eight-leggers. The configuration therefore preceded the four-axle commercials with undriven front-ends that became the backbone of UK road haulage from the mid-1930s until the mid-1960s.
But like so many great inventions and innovations originating in the UK, since the 1940s, the traction advantages of four driven axles have been exploited to a far greater extent elsewhere. No wonder we Brits could claim credit for inventing the concept of good sportsmanship (a.k.a. being a good loser).
Research indicates the claimant to being the first-ever 8x8s were the B10E gun-tractors designed by Armstrong Siddeley, a British engineering group. Quirkily, the initial version was powered by a five-cylinder, 75bhp water-cooled aircraft radial engine. With front and rear wheel pairs mounted on walking beams, steering was by articulation of the separate front and rear chassis units. More of a contraption than a truck, it was certainly a pioneer of the pivot-steer principle characteristic of earthmoving plant and specialist on-/off-highway load carriers.
In parallel with the Leyland and AEC civilian 8x8s described in Part One last month, the War Office’s Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment tested bonneted 8x8s built by Morris-Commercial and Guy Motors. Unremarkable in appearance apart from the twin front drive/steer axles, the normal control Morris-Commercial had skinny tyres (with twin rears), a straight bonnet with side louvres, canvas cab top and horizontally-split windscreen glass. Allin-all, its appearance reflected the primitive
