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Oddball deuce or?????

IsaLandr

Tartaned Goði
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Centralia, WA
Red Diamond stuff

The INC. military gassers (m62, m54, m139) had Continental 6602s, a 602 ci six cylinder. The red diamond is a old engine that was even used at the of the WW2, this engine is one of the BEST engines that INC has built, it is a torque monster, like the 6602
I'm not sure what INC means... International Navistar Company, maybe? Probably doesn't matter, but the current company name is "International Truck and Engine Corporation", or ITEC. I'm a long-time die-hard IHC/Navistar/ITEC sucker, having owned quite a few over the years, and still have five left in my collection.

The Red Diamond inline six cylinder engine is indeed one of the best gas sixes ever built. It's a pretty amazing engine. Durable, tough, torquey, versatile. Available in displacements of 223, 279, 298, 318, 361, 372, 401, 406, 450, 472, and 501 cubic inches. These are *big* engines. Even the smaller displacements have a very large block. However, unlike other engine manufacturers, IHC did not machine the same block casting to different displacements. Every displacement is a unique casting, and this holds true for most of their gasoline and several diesel engine lines prior to 1983.

Designed just prior to World War II, the Red Diamond entered military service in a number of vehicles beginning in 1941, primarily for the Navy and Marine Corps. For example, every IH halftrack had a Red Diamond originally. Some of the 6x6 (M-5-6/M-5H-6 and related) IHC trucks had Red Diamonds, though some (Army, mostly) did get the Continental engine. All of the IH M425/M426 tractors had Red Diamond engines. There were others. That engine family saw a lot of use in a lot of applications.

A lot of larger IH trucks, buses, and even chassis sold to other companies had Red Diamond engines in them. It was the default gas option in many of their larger trucks, and it was the delete option in many models that specified a different default. It's also found in a number of IH tracked vehicles and tractors. There are a lot of Red Diamonds out there, they were sold domestically for about forty years (longer overseas) and were put in a lot of equipment.

Fred Crismon wrote a couple of books with this information in them. I highly recommend these books to anyone interested in old truck history. They're pretty pricey though, if you can find them, now that the author has died and they're out of print.

So what's the final verdict on that truck? Do we know what it is/was yet?
 
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rustystud

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Fred Crismon wrote some good books on military vehicles too. What ever you do IsaLandr don't sell your IHC books by him ! The cost has really gone overboard on his books.
 

RAYZER

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That looks like an old gasser dash which I have seen before in older deuces that were converted to diesel, usually if the old dash was left they would hang a tach underneath in a fabricated bracket.
Everything ealse looks like it's been modified to fit the outfits needs.
 
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ccf460

Member
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18
Location
granite falls/N.C.
Anyone know for sure about 52 being the first year of the M35? If so, that would be awesome, my deuce is a 52. That would be cool to have the first year!
I figured out what the frame and axles of the truck in question came from.......

1945 Diamond T model 968 or maybe a 969 (due to the 3 pto outputs),
Still trying to figure out the powertrain, the Diamond T's supposedly came with a Hercules I6, but don't think that is what is in there.....looks like a Red Diamond

I started to do a google search and got "1945 Diam" entered, and it autofilled " 1945 Diamond T 968", followed that search and recognized the front and rear differentials and suspension
 
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clinto

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or Diamond Reo.
 

m16ty

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or Diamond Reo.
I may be wrong on this as it's been awhile since I've researched it but I don't think Diamond REO was around in '45. They didn't go to Diamond REO until White Motor Company bought both brands and combined them.

As A side note, White bought a whole bunch of brands over the years before finally being bought out by Volvo. I know they owned Diamond T, REO, Autocar, Western Star, and of course the White branded trucks. They also had joint ventures with Freightliner and General Motors.
 
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clinto

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I may be wrong on this as it's been awhile since I've researched it but I don't think Diamond REO was around in '45. They didn't go to Diamond REO until White Motor Company bought both brands and combined them.

As A side note, White bought a whole bunch of brands over the years before finally being bought out by Volvo. I know they owned Diamond T, REO, Autocar, Western Star, and of course the White branded trucks. They also had joint ventures with Freightliner and General Motors.
My internet searching also seems to agree with M16TY, Diamond REO was a union that occurred much later than 1945.
Your both correct.

What are the odds that the person at the DMV who typed that out also knew that?

How many deuces out there are titled as "Kaiser" or "Jeep" instead of "Kaiser-Jeep".
 

m16ty

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WillWagner,
Please tell me more more about these Memphis trucks? Were they hybrids of different series?
They are just standard military trucks that Memphis Equipment rebuilds and customizes.
 

ccf460

Member
327
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18
Location
granite falls/N.C.
Could this beast be one of these? I am really interested in saving the cab, and maybe the chassis, and associated paperwork for a crew cab deuce build (but don't want to go too far outside of reach on what it is supposed to be for registration purposes). I would also love to see the rest of the driveline go to someone who is into them.
 
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